Maria

After having spent some days in Gonder, Aske and I were very grateful to not take any more busses anywhere in Ethiopia. We flew with Ethiopian Airlines from Gonder to Lalibela and it was a very pleasant and short flight.

When we arrived at the airport, there was a representative from our guesthouse waiting for us, and he showed us to the shuttle service that brought tourists from the airport to their hotels, very fancy. Our guesthouse was really great and the owner very friendly.

However, despite this good start, we had a bit of a bad first day in Lalibela. On our way to Lalibela, we had met two very nice Italians who wanted to share a car with us up to a beautiful church some 20 km away. It sounded like a very good plan to us, but it turned out that the Italian had not booked the car through his hotel, but just kind of found the commission agent. However, we got a good price, so we decided to go with them. When we reached the car, the agent told us that there would be one more person in our car which at this point had turned out to be a minibus. He went on to urge us not to tell this fifth person that we were paying 700 birr altogether, because the fifth person was paying 400. We didn’t really like that and for a while we wanted to back out, but then we decided to see what this fifth person thought about the whole thing and possibly share the whole cost equally.
When we picked up this fifth person, he was very surprised, because he had been told that it would be a car for two, so the first thing he did, before getting in to the car, was to ask us how much we were paying and we of course told him the truth. The whole thing turned into an argument with the commission agent who got very mad at Aske who got very mad at him to. In the end we agreed to split the cost equally and to only pay 800.
The ride to the church was terrible with sharp turns and terrible non-asphalted roads. Halfway to the church, the commission agent who earlier had promised to be our guide got off at a village, because he said that we had broken his deal. It was a bit unpleasant, but we kept on driving and eventually reached the small village with the church.

The church itself was amazing. First we had to walk on a small path upwards for about 10 minutes and then we reached a big rock which had a natural gigantic hole in it. When you went under the rock there was this old church dating from the 12th century. Perhaps my description earlier with the hole in the rock was a bit off, perhaps I should rather say that the rock was shooting outwards and in that way provide a natural roof for the church. Anyways, there is a picture of it as well, perhaps I should just let you look at that instead of trying to explain.
There was also place in the back where there were tons of skeletons. Apparently this was a church that pilgrims sought in order to die there, and throughout the years, their bodies had been put in the back of the cave.

It was all amazing and a bit surreal. When you first came, as I earlier mentioned, you walked for 10 minutes in glorious sunshine among lush plants, then you arrived, went through the gate under the rock and suddenly all was calm, cold and dark. The atmosphere was amazing and the place reeked of history and mystery.

Our way back was not so pleasant. The driver had got a plastic bottle filled with a brown liquid. Aske’s and my first reaction was to ask him if it was Tala, a local beer. He said no, it was coke. Okay we thought, that’s probably true, but already then we had become a bit unsettled. Later the driver also started to chew Cat, an intoxicating plant which is legal in Ethiopia, which made us a bit more unsettled, but as I said, it’s legal, so there’s not that much you can do or say. Later again we picked up the commission agent from the village and the car just reeked of alcohol when he entered. Anyways, even though the trip was a bit frightening, we made it back safely to Lalibela. When we arrived, we had one more argument with the commission agent and then it was all over and we paid what we had agreed on. Phew, what a first day.

The second day we played it safe and booked a guide for the rock hewn churches of Lalibela through our guest house. Lalibela is famous in Ethiopia because of these eleven churches which are simply carved completely out of the rock. The place became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978 and ever since tourists have started to come to see these amazing churches. At first they had to come on mules, because there were no roads, but now, because of the increase in demand, there is a road and an airport (amazing considering that only 8,000 people live there) and tourists are pouring in constantly.

The tour itself was amazing and took around five hours. It was hard to image how people, 800 years ago, could simply dig into rock and free a church entirely from it. The place was also packed with tunnels running between the churches. We went through one which our guide told us symbolized hell. He told us, that in the tunnel we would not be allowed to use any kind of light, instead we must hold our right hand above our heads to make sure we didn’t bump our heads into the rock and our left hand to our side so that we could feel which way to go. The tunnel was 50 metres long and after the first metre it got pitch black, I couldn’t see a thing. So, we felt our way forward with the winding of the tunnel. After a while I almost panicked, because I couldn’t feel anything to me left side, but after a short while, I found the rock again and could move forward. It seemed like an endlessly long tunnel, but finally, we could see light ahead. This our guide told us symbolized coming to heaven.
This tunnel I thought was a very strong experience. One of the reasons is probably that I have never really tried navigating without seeing before. At home there is usually a window which offers a bit of light from the moon or stars, and if not you can turn on the light. But here I couldn’t see anything at all and it was a very strange experience to have to rely on your other senses completely. It was such a relief to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I think I understood why the Ethiopians had given this tunnel its symbolic meaning.
Lalibela was filled with these small symbolic meanings. Sometimes it got a bit too much. For example, they connected all numbers to something. No matter how many there were of something (unless it was 6 of course), it always symbolized something. Nothing was just coincidence, it all had a deeper, symbolic meaning.

One other thing that was fascinating was that the churches were still in use. The story goes that king Lalibela built Lalibela because it was too dangerous to go on pilgrimages to Jerusalem and many of the pilgrims died on their way. So, instead, clever king Lalibela built a new Israel in Ethiopia. So, in Lalibela, there was the river Jordan, there was Jerusalem and there was Bethlehem. To this day today thousands of pilgrims go to Lalibela every Christmas. Even though we came right after Christmas, there were always people and priests in all of the churches. It is an amazing though that these churches have been in use for 800 years and that they are not just monuments on UNESCO’s list, but places of immense religious significance to many Ethiopians.

On our third day we went on a trip up a mountain. We had heard that there was a beautiful church around two hours away, however, we did not feel like hiring a guide, so we just decided to walk and if we reached the church, then we reached it, and if we didn’t, then we’d just enjoy the beautiful nature instead, no big deal. However, it was Saturday and locals from the mountains were walking down the mountains with heavy burdens to sell their goods at the big Saturday market. So, every time we walked in the wrong direction, someone local, headed for Lalibela, would say: “No, no, you go to church, that way,” and point. So, in the end, after a beautiful walk, we reached a rock with a narrow rift in it. When we came closer, we saw that we were supposed to walk through the rift and sure enough, on the other side there was a small rock hewn church.
I actually think that this trip was my favourite in Lalibela. The church was far from as impressive as the ones in Lalibela, but it was such a beautiful walk and the view was amazing. Lalibela itself lies at 2900 metres, so we probably reached 3300 metres or more and the panorama view was breathtaking. It was also great to just walk for 2 hours and then actually reach a church in the middle of nowhere on the other side of a rock. A real experience.

On day four we had to catch a flight to Addis, which we didn’t mind at all. Taking a bus would have taken 2-3 days, but the flight was just great and only took an hour. This time we even got a free muffin and free juice, so we were both very happy.

We arrived to Addis at around six in the evening, but I think I’ll save telling you about Ellen’s arrival till the next time I’m online, 1.700 words are enough for now I think.

Take care everyone!