Blogs from Lalibela, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 3

Yes, the 10 hour bus ride to Lalibela was enough to calm me down and digest the previous day. After Alex tried to get into my hostel and called me several times the day after to apologize, I am apologizing now for the generalization that was offensive and disrespectful. I wrote my blog entry while I was still pissed off and it was the anger and disappointment that spoke. But still, telling my stories to my friends they agreed that for a girl travelling alone and trying to make friends in Ethiopia is pretty tuff. I was always jealous, how Moritz could easily make friends and hang out with them without any problem, but neither Susi nor me found it smooth to get on well with guys here. You always have to consider that they might ... read more

Woooow, the view from my window was stunning!!! But visiting the 11 churches carved from the rock was even more amazing. The trip started with the so necessary and unavoidable negotiation with the tour guide, who wanted to charge us 500Birr for one day (approx 20€). Which for a tourist is not too much, but knowing my friend Esset who is a primary school teacher and earns 600Birr/month, I felt it very unfair. With my Amharic knowledge and with my mom’s heritage of being good at bargaining I made betam kennesed it to 100Birr each. The churches are divided into 3 groups, representing the 3 first, second and third heavens. According to the legend in the 12th-13th century King Lalibela was poisoned by his half-brother and while in a coma he went on a journey to ... read more

I like Axum. Small and relaxed it allows me to comfortably recharge after the Simien Mountains and the ridiculously bumpy (though scenically beautiful) journey from Debark. The town is of great significance to Ethiopians because it was the Kingdom of Axum that first brought Christianity to the country after King Ezana converted in the first half of the fourth century AD. Locals passionately believe the Ark of the Covenant resides in the St. Mary of Zion church here, although I skip going inside because the church is a recent, and not especially attractive, reconstruction. The biggest draws for me are the numerous stellae here; large, decoratively carved obelisks marking various important Axumite tombs (98% of which remain un-excavated). The largest is 33m high (or long seeing as it promptly collapsed when attempts were made to erect ... read more

Geo: 12.0743, 38.8785NOTE: Carole has updated this with more details about our time in Lalibela - plus photos!We came to Lalibela yesterday via Ethiopia Airlines. Interesting story to come on that experience.Richard had purchased the tickets online before we left the US and sometime after that his credit card was used fraudulently so the card was cancelled. We get to check in at the airport and the ticket agent asked to see the credit card. Hmmm, this was obviously going to be a problem because Richard cut it up. After lengthy discussion trying to explain what happened (by the way, the charge had been processed and Richard had already paid the bill) we ended up having to buy tickets all over again. It is important to note that this is not just an Ethiopian Airlines policy. ... read more

More Amazing Churches, More Amazing Dad Dancing Natala La'ab Monastery Wednesday Morning. Some of us go for a short drive to the Natala La'ab Monastery(?), built into a cave near Lalibela. Our first stop is a religious school near the monastery. The teacher, who we are told is 83 years old, has a class of about 10 boys (no girls) who are training to be priests. The boys are all chanting different passages from the bible and the priest seems to be able to hear each individual and pick out their mistakes. The boys show complete respect for the teacher - {just like being in the UK really!!}. In the monastery some of the religious ceremonies are explained to us and we are shown the hand-written bible which is 600 years old ... read more