I had the chance to take a
four-day trip to Northern Ethiopia to visit Lalibela & Bahir Dar. I spent
two nights in Lalibela and one night in Bahir Dar. Lalibela is famous for its
rock-hewn churches that were built around the 12th or 13th
century. Luckily, I met another
girl who was traveling by herself (Jennie from UK) and she was nice enough to
let me join her on the church tour.
We visited the Northwestern Group of churches that consists of 11
churches all built out of the rock and connected by tunnels and pathways. It
was amazing to think that these churches were carved out of the rock by just
using small hand tools. The
churches were built over a period of 23 years using a workforce of approx.
40,000 men. One tunnel we walked thru
was complete darkness. We had to use our hands along the side to feel where we
were going. It is supposed to represent walking thru hell and finding light on
the other side. I don’t know that it felt like hell but it sure was a little
unnerving. Lalibela also has beautiful scenery; lots of mountains and plateaus.
It reminded me of Arizona. The
second day I took a mule ride to the top of a mountain where Ashetan Maryam, a
monastery sits. I had two guides –
the mule boy and then a tour guide who spoke English. They picked me up at my hotel and we proceeded thru town
with me riding the mule. It seemed
a little odd being the only one riding.
I felt like Mary riding the donkey thru the villages. We climbed about
1,500 feet to our destination. Parts were very steep, so I got to walk those
parts, which I had to do very slowly because it was hard to breathe due to the
altitude. As we were going up, there were people coming down with huge loads on
their backs and most of them barefoot. It was market day. There were many
villages almost to the top of the mountain. The only school for the children is
down in the town, so the children go up & down the mountain every day. I
can’t imagine doing that! The views were just amazing. I actually felt like I
was on vacation! As we were going along, there were different crops that we
passed: wheat and soybeans, etc. I got to eat soybeans straight from the field
as we were hiking along. On the way down, I walked a lot of the way because it
was too steep to ride the mule. We had to be really careful even on foot
because it was very rocky and you just slide even with my hiking boots. It
didn’t matter if you had any tread on your shoes or not. This was definitely the highlight of my
trip. Later that day, I was
walking to a spot to see the sunset and I met two brothers who were 17 &
18. Their parents died about 5
years ago in a car crash and they live with their grandmother now. They both go
to school and hope to go to university. They sat and watched the sunset with me
and we talked for about two hours. They were really sweet. Of course, they were
hoping that I would buy them books or shoes, but I told them that I couldn’t
because I have already been asked by 5 other boys to buy them things. They said
“no, problem.” But then later, they were talking about a friend who went away
to university because he had a sponsor. So I am sure they are hoping I will
decide to sponsor them. I stayed
at a very nice hotel called Tukol Village. The hotel was designed as the
original bi-level huts that the local people live in. However, the inside was
nice and modern instead of the normal dirt floors.
On to Bahir Dar. Bahir Dar is a lakeside town. Lake Tana is Ethiopia’s largest lake.
There are many monasteries on the islands of the lake. Tourists can take boat rides out to
visit the monasteries. I decided to skip this and headed to the Blue Nile Falls
that is about 45 minutes out of town. It was about a 90-minute hike to the
falls. It was so beautiful. The falls were spectacular. We even were able to
hike right down to the bottom and feel the mist coming off the falls. On our
way back, we were given some sugar cane to chew on and suck out the sweet
juice. There was also an amazing
sunset that lit the whole sky red.
