Lalibela - Werota, Ethiopia - Another butt kicking road...

just some pix of the crew. to the left is the assistant driver of the truck i was in. he was fluent in english after i was done with the hitch...






another day at the office for bubba...

Everything is for sale, even friendship.
- Farangi Rule of Acquistion #121.

Hard day @ the office. 14 hour transit day. Started at 0600 with a 28 birr landcruiser ride to Gashena, a nothing collection of desperate huts located at the junction of the Lalibela and Woldia/Werota highway. In Gashena, I met up with the Spanish for unfortunately, the last time. Antonio and I would have breakfast (scrambled eggs and bread). It wasn't till 1100 that a "friend" (actually an annoying tout that was after a "tip" - I really hate these guys who push their way into a transaction. This has happened several times in the last while. I'll have to be more vigilant and less swayed by these touts because I'm taken to the cleaners each time) helped me find a ride to Werota. Werota is located about halfway between Bahir Dar and Gonder. The ride turned out to be convoy of 2 Isuzu trucks with a crew of five. The asking price was 60 Birr to Woreta. A little pricey but I figured I had to take it considering my already 2 hr. wait and my usual luck at hitching rides. My personal average waiting time for a hitch is 4 to 5 hours. Btw, Luis and Antonio waited about a half hour for a ride to Woldia in a comfy farangi car (a vw bug). I wished I had that kind of luck. I climbed on board while they strapped my back pack to the load. Before long, I realized that I had signed on with the slowest Isuzus in all of Ethiopia. As I found out later, they were hauling a massive load of concrete mix!! Reminded me of the time I was hitching in Tibet with trucks loaded with rocks. The crew guys were pretty nice. I was lucky the driver was pretty cautious. The scenery was spectacular. It was obvious we were on top of a plateau of rolling pasture land. Occasionally, we caught glimpses of the gorges surrounding us. Just before sunset we descended a thousand metres onto the lowlands which seemed to stretch forever into the horizon. Dramatically jutting out of the plains was a Lord of the Rings-esque, solitary, massive monolith (a Ethiopian version of the Devil's Thumb). I was really hurtin' by 1900h. The road and cramp conditions took their toll on the ol' body. I had been pretty chatty most of the day, giving the driver's assistant English lessons. As the sunset waned, verbosity gave way to silent meditation (my mantra is usually "it's not so bad...we're almost there" in response to the pain). At 8 PM, in the pitch dark, we hit tarmac. Soon, the lights of Woreta were close. I felt so relieved. The crew put me up at a great hotel for 25 Birr, the local price. Bonus.

The GPS reading for Werota was N11 55.557 E37 41.733.

Out of Canuckistan: A travel blog, Apr 10/07
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Lalibela, Ethiopia - It's becoming a freak show...

Still here. I woke up and didn't know where to go. The fact that transportation out of here is sparse and nothing short of a chore in arranging made me want to hide under the covers. Procrastination is a dangerous game to play though with the oncoming rainy season. There has been daily late afternoon torrential downpours. It's been refreshing but not conducive to enjoying trekking if I was in the Simiens.

As for the health, I've felt better. Hopefully, with a good night's sleep I'll be ready for whatever happens tomorrow.

Strange day today. The entire hotel was awaken this morning at 0230 by the hysterical screams of a woman on top of the steps leading to the rooms. I mean these were really freaky screams. I thought there was mischief or even rape at play. Anthony and Jesse ran to her aid. According to Jesse, she was fully clothed and looked relatively well off. She must have screamed for at least 15 minutes at the top of her lungs until someone dragged her off.

Suffice to say that incident was disconcerting. I rather see a riot instead.

There was a lot of people walking around with bandaged heads today. I guess breaking the fast brings out the worst in Ethiopia. They really like hitting the sauce around here.

Out of Canuckistan: A travel blog, Apr 9/07
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Lalibela, Ethiopia - running out of pseudo-ephedrine fast...

i should do a little more research but i still haven't figured out why the churches of Lalibela were built underground. perhaps to hide from invading armies of heathens? there are examples of similar christians hiding techniques, like the christians of Byzantium hiding from the Romans by building underground cities on the Anatolian plateau. the practicalities of defending these churches defy logic though. this is set of pics i took of my favourite church in Lalibela, Bet Giyorgis or St George's Church.


the books describe the church as having a height of 15 m.

Story has it that St. George was pissed off when he found out that none of the Lalibela churches were dedicated to him. He brought up the matter with the king and the finest church was built for him.

Bet Giyorgis was built in isolation, separated from the other clusters in town.

the congregation piling outta Bet Giyorgis...perhaps in an attempt to "beat the traffic"?

this is inside the trench. i like this photo.

I feel like shit. I think I caught a chill last night at the sleepover. Damn it.

It's time to move on though. I'm not quite sure of where to go next. As usual, the logistics of even getting out of Lalibela is somewhat warped. Just to make it easier, we've moved to a hotel closer to the bus station/main road.

I'll decide my fate tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope my head doesn't pop open because my stuffed up sinuses.

I met with the Spanish boys over lunch. They spent 3 days in the Simiens. Incredibly beautiful they said. Watch out for the park staff who tried to pack on extra unnecessary days onto the itinerary. Check. Mmm...someone trying to rip off a farangi? There's news... Weather was good.

From Lalibela, the boys head back down to Addis.

Out of Canuckistan: A travel blog, Apr 8/07
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Lalibela, Ethiopia - Happy Easter.

scary, scary, scary stuff... not really. just people praying and slumbering.

More church today. Gone were the mad crowds of worshipers. In their place were annoying tourists which was too bad. At least there were a few of the ascetics praying about.

Like Anthony, the Polish guy said, the most appealing thing about these monuments is that they are for the living. I had a look at his photos. I wished I were a better photographer. It seemed like we were taking photos on 2 different planets yesterday. He is by far the most talented photographer I've met on this trip. [click here for his blog].

Perhaps the big event today was everyone attending night church. Festivities started at around 2300. Felt a little eerie walking the churches at night.

angel-like figures huddled outside and inside bet medhane alem (one of the largest churches). they have to get rid of that ugly scaffolding. they're killing my style points...

little did i know i was walking into a big slumber party. ok, i knew it was going to happen but not to this extent. they really packed them in.

outdoor festivities. i thought the candles (passed out to everyone) were a classy touch.

more ceremonial stuff.

at one point, the official party, i assume, streamed out of the church and circumambulated around the church in a anti-clockwise direction.

more followers made the same walk around the church. took me back to memories of the animists of tibet. they walked around the sacred mount kailash (centre of the universe) in the same direction. the tibetan buddhists circumambulate kailash in a clockwise direction. i digess however i find these similarities fascinating...

Just before heading off to the ceremonies tonite, I met antonio and luis, the spanish guys from the omo... crap, it's a small world. I'm going to meet them tomorrow. hope they can give me the low down on the simien mountains. anyway, it really nice seeing them.

Out of Canuckistan: A travel blog, Apr 7/07
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Lalibela, Ethiopia

bet medhane allem

It was so nice to get off the bus routine today.

It was Good Friday today. So, I picked a fine time to be here. The churches were packed and buzzing with devotees.

These churches, 2 clusters within Lalibela, were unlike any churches that I have ever seen. They are carved underground. They were huge, with some as high as 10 metres, surrounded by trenches and courtyards.

The above church is bet emanuel. The outer walls (to the right) of the trenches were pockmarked with hermit cells and bone-filled tombs.

The volume of rock excavated to create these structures must have been biblical in proportions...

Within each cluster churches were connected to the others by tunnels and trenches to form a pretty impressive complex.

it was fun scurrying around the trenches...

The Lalibela churches have been around for at least 800 years and in those years have been subject to erosion. Unfortunately, the solution to the problem has been to erect a lot of scaffolding and construct ugly corrugated metal roofs over some the churches. Not eye pleasing, eh?

interior details...keeping in mind the whole structure is a monolith.

JHC or a lowly saint?

Anywhere else in the world these ancient churches would have been monuments, but in Lalibela, they remain as active religious centres in the community. There are still hermits in holes-in-the-wall, and other ascetics chanting daily in the hallowed halls of the churches. But, because it's the Easter holiday, the churches were filled with white clad worshippers today.

the pulpit... you're looking at orthodox christianity so sermon's done singin' style...

i was surprised part of the worship rituals entailed prostrations. reminded me of a similar practice in tibetan buddhism. fascinating...

standing room only...
Out of Canuckistan: A travel blog, Apr 6/07
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Dessie to Lalibela, Ethiopia

Road construction Ethiopian style. Apparently, the Chinese have a hand in alot of the road construction taking place in Ethiopia. They just need to put in a few restaurants and laundries now.

It's not good when traffic gets stuck in the construction site. It's readily apparent watching trucks being unstuck is a popular national spectator sport.

The way to Lalibela was just up...

and way up...

Fields of tef. Tef flour is the key ingredient of injera. Fair to say that injera, a flat bread, is the raison d'etre for which all Ethiopian dishes are based. Take away injera from the Ethiopian diet leaves you with only a bunch of hot sauce. I'm exaggerating. My favourite dish was firfir: injera wrapped in injera drenched with hot sauce. mmm...take me home to Ethiopia.

Looking through the cockpit of the bus... decor was kind of frilly, eh...? don't tell that to the driver.

Did I already say the bus kept going up and up? Well, we topped out on this vast plateau. Then the bus broke down. Something about leaking brake fluid. Yikes...

Try to spot Jesse the Aussie... We got to socialize outside while the driver tried to MacGiver a solution. The Ethiopian dudes and dudettes on buses were real nice folks. Always shared snacks with us.

Had a lot of fun at the bus races this morning. Me and Jesse got up and looked out the window to see a crowd of about 200 people jammed up against the bus yard gates. Packed up real fast and we waded into the sea of people. We came up with a plan and that was summed up in one word: run. Run like the wind. Stay on our feet. Do not get trampled. Difficult in practice because it was only 0400 and dark out (save the 4 bare light bulbs illuminating the yard). We were amongst the first to find the bus. That wasn't too bad...

The drive again was through brilliant scenery. More mountain passes, cliff hugging roads, and a good bit of bleakness, particularly around Lalibela. Ethiopia must be the cat's ass in terms of African beauty. My camera skills could not possibly capture it. Most of day, the bus struggled to gain a vast bleak plateau. There we suffered our first mechanical problem. Normally, it would be really irritating, but we all had to pile out, giving us time to take in the bleakness.

We arrived in Lalibela at about 1600. For the life of me, I don't understand why we ended up in a hotel that was at least 3 km and downhill from the bus station. It's going to be a helluva time getting out of here.

Walking through town opened my eyes. Lalibela, because of it's collection of churches, is a tourist town. It's a little more prosperous. But, the hassling is, say, above average. One kid wanted money for a soccer ball. I said no. The kid pointed to the tears streaming down his face. It's too bad...

[ed. note: i gave out a record amount of money on this trip. i usually give money to really old people and people with physical disabilities. i figure there is absolutely no social safety net here and these groups have it the roughest.]

Tomorrow it's off to the churches and probably more hassling. Should be exciting since Easter is approaching.

Out of Canuckistan: A travel blog, Apr 5/07
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Addis Ababa to Dessie - On the road again...

So nice to be back on the road again. I'm on my way to Lalibela, home of Ethiopia's greatest group of rock-hewn churches. It's going to take two days on the bus to get there, overnighting in a hick town called Dessie.

As with all bus trips in Ethiopia, it was a very early start this morning. Got to the gigantic Addis bus station at 0430. It was quite busy already. I loaded up on snacks bought from the few vendors lining the road and made my way to the gates. I mentioned where I was going and the station gatekeeper let me in. I think it was because my farangi status. At least I found my bus before the stampede.

I sat in the bus for the longest time, bathed for a while in a cloud of toxic exhaust. I looked out the back door and saw a white guy. He stood there for the longest time. Surely he must be going my way, I thought. Why would any farangi be out here in the dead of dawn? The bus was about to move was when he jumped on board. He took his place, sitting on a cannister of cooking oil in the aisle. Turned out he was an Aussie. Jesse was his name.

The scenery again was just incredible: multiple airy passes traversed, tremendous views of spiny ridges that jutted from the surrounding scorched earth, spine-tingling/hair raising descents into dry, arid valleys. The descent down to Debre Sinn, for lunch was pretty dramatic. We dropped over 1 km in no time flat, hoping the bus' brakes wouldn't give out on one of the innumerable switch backs.

Eight hours later and we were in Dessie. In pouring rain, I teamed up with Jesse to find a room in a local hotel adjacent to the bus yard. In Ethiopian fashion each floor had an assigned goat.

Tomorrow's another early start...should get my elbows sharpened and ready for the stampede.

Out of Canuckistan: A travel blog, Apr 4/07
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what's nice road like you doing in a place like ethiopia...

some people back in the day had a whole lotta time on their hands... l to r: st. george's church, bubba.

so much for real time reporting. i should have said real africa time. the internet costs in lalibela were nothing short of extortionate. prices were written in stone, however. ha.

i'm exhausted. let me summarize. 4 glorious days in lalibela. i almost got married. good friday was great.

lalibela was a very difficult place to get out of.

i had to hitch a mammoth ride from some truck drivers. they had the slowest isuzu in the universe. it was 14 hr. day on the road.

got to werota. nothing to write home about.

bahar dir and the island monasteries were interesting but not overwhelming. i've come to the conclusion that guidebooks like lonelyplanet and bradt (to a lesser degree) really overhype some of these places. i hightailed it outta there. bad vibes.

hopped on a minibus for the super smooth ride to gonder (not to be mistakened for the fictional gondor). there is a big medieval church/fort here.

will now prepare for sleep. big day tomorra.

i forgot. here i am: n12 36.518 e37 28.129