Mountainview Hotel, Lalibela, Ethiopia

I have really enjoyed the Mountainview Hotel Lalibela.  I was able to phone ahead from Lake Tana and book it over the phone.  The manager spoke English well.  A lot of the staff spoke English as well. It was only about $70 US a night and well worth it. Clean and friendly. The great view from the room and from the roof top balcony were terrific. I had several meals in the restaurant and enjoyed them all.  Wifi has been pretty good.  The bathroom was clean with bath and  shower with hot running water.

A Tuk Tuk motorized rickshaw took me to the churches for a 100 Ethiopian Brr. I could walk safely walked there and would have if I hadn’t re-injured my knee this trip.   This hotel is the last one on a line of tourist hotels with the centre of town about a 15 minute walk.  Banks machines and shops are there but sheep and donkeys and goats share the town with us.  I liked the Tuk Tuk.  I really enjoyed drinking the coffee with milk on the balcony well writing and sorting photographs.  The Rock Hewn Churches reall are truly amazing.  

The view from my balcony was  incredible and so relaxing.  I had a couple of nights of rain with great electrical displays. It’s an arid country and everyone was pleased with the rain.   

Endy the guide recommended for the church tours was very helpful and informative. I learned a lot and at  $50 a day for me individually it was well within my budget.  

Ethiopia - Lalibela-Yemerehne Kirstos Cave Church

The Bilbilla Church Circuit is 30 km north of Lalibela.  Endy, my tour guide, organized a delightful driver with a Toyota 4x4 crew cab truck to take us the 42 km to the Axumite cave church of Yemrehana Kristos.  Bradt describes 3 other medieval church’s but I was content with just going to the one. I think the very exciting donkey ride tired me out.    Just as Bradt described the rental for a 4x4 necessary for the trip given the rough unsaved roads was $65.  The hike to the churches was described as 20 minutes. This was also true for Kristos. George and Laura Bush visited this church.

Yemrehanna Kristos church is at an altitude of 2700 feet and the gentle hike up was still a slog in the heat but well worth it. I rode the donkey for a stretch, the poor thing screaming at his owner ,”He’s too heavy.”  Meanwhile the cinch wasn’t tight enough for my weight and another big man came to the owners rescue as the donkey threatened to suicide over the side of the cliff rather than carry the fat man any further. I was laughing too hard but would recommend this ride up the mountain to anyone not 6 foot tall and over 200 lbs.  The donkey told me he had a contract and it said 150 lbs and he was going to be speaking to the Ethiopian Donkey Union.  

The church architecture is an example of Axumite alternating layers of wood and granite faced with white gypsum.  Inside the church there was this beautiful wood interior like the original door. The church is a thousand years older than the rock hewn churches. It dates from the 11 th century. Endy was glad I had my ‘Mountain Coop headlamp’ as he used this to point out the amazing inlaid and coffer ceiling.  There were even paintings of elephants in the ceiling.   Cruciform carved windows and the etched door were particularly intriguing. The priest showed us a remarkable Coptic gold cross.

St. George , martyred in 303 is a great saint in Ethiopia. Originally from Capadocia, he is also called the victory bearer. As a young Roman soldier under pagan Roman Emperor Diocletian he was martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ brief years before Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the empire. He is most commonly depicted as spearing a dragon/serpent/crocodile from atop his white steed. The story goes this water creature prevented the townspeople from getting their water so they began to sacrifice virgins. When the princess was to be sacrificed St. George appeared and slay the dragon.  

Outside the cave church there was the other building where the Zagwe emperor a predecessor of King Lalibela was said to live for a time. It’s more a storage area now but shows a large room cool in the heat of the day.  Behind the church is an area where many skeletons have rested sometimes for hundreds of years. People from as far as Egypt wanted to buried there near the holy church their bodies were transported here, their  bodies wrapped in skins.  

There is a large area of cave space with drums and cymbals used for groups chanting.  There is also a tomb of the king there covered in colourful canopy.  

Outside there was a pool where ‘holy water’ dripped off the cave roof.  

Ethiopia - Lalibela - Rock Hewn Churches

I’m staying at the Mountainview Hotel.  It’s divine.  I slept well last night.  In the evening the power had gone out several times for only minutes at a time. I was in the Hotel restaurant waiting for a steak. The staff brought each table a candle. I had a superb steak cut up in mouth sized bits and served with pasta in a tasty brown sauce.

I had Coca Cola and drank two.  I’m really enjoying coke here. There had been a downpour in the evening and the hills all became a luscious happy emerald green.  It’s was magical.  This morning the vegetation is more khaki again. Still the plants all look happy today.  There is joy in the land.

I awoke at 4 am having gone to bed at 10 pm.  I opened the curtains and walked out on the balcony naked and sat in a chair along time.  Gentle pre dawn breeze and night fragrances.  I talk to God and listen.  I read for a bit then, tried to nap but couldn’t.  Seeing a thin line of pink over the mountains I got up and took a picture of dawn in Lalibela.  I had a long hot shower and thanked God for the modern bathroom.  I reorganized my bag a bit, something travellers are ever doing considering how little stuff one carries.  All of it’s important.  Right now my jeans and a shirt are being done in the laundry. I put on my fresh jeans and a clean shirt then went down for breakfast. 

The bread with jam was delicious and the rest was mostly fruit with some sweet pastries. The Asian couple with mother badgering the children were already there.  It was 7:30 when I was out on the balcony waiting for a Tuk Tuk That’s what the locals call the 3 wheel auto rickshaw .  The name came from Thailand.

I’d spoken with the manager to arrange a tour at the old churches 42 km out of town tomorrow..  It will cost $65 for the ride and $50 for the tour guide.  Today I visited the southern cluster on my own having reread Bradt.

The first in the southern cluster of churches was the Bet Gabriela Rafael, twin churches.  When I entered a priest was giving communion to a group of mostly elderly ladies all dressed in white. I nodded at one and she nodded to the chair so I was able to catch the last of this solemn service.  I enjoy being invited and included in worship services. It’s a blessing I’ve known most of my life. I hope they sense I’m a true seeker.  The service ended and they all ushered out leaving me alone to meditate and pray. I walked to the next room where I was alone so sat again for more reflection, asking the saints from protection and guidance.  I’ve been asking forgiveness too. My greatest regret has been being untrue to women, yet my greatest joy in life has been the love of women.  

This church is thought to have been the original residence of King Lalibela being built on the remains of a fortress dating from the 9th century.  After this church I was walking outside and a beautiful girl in black with white shawl pointed me back, as I’d missed the entrance. She was with a handsome young man and an elder woman and children..  She was laughing as she lead me down into the darkness, her daughter, I think about 9 years old dancing past me as I climbed down the steep steps. What I assumed was the white clothed grand mother followed. 

The daughter pointed me on into the darkness. I just felt the wall and did my night tai chi hunter walk  turning my phone off and on in hope of some light from my phone but it was so dark that this only showed me where my phone was and destroyed what little night vision I had. It was really a faith thing one hand on the wall, more for balance. . Y

I continued on what seemed like a long way until my head brushed the ceiling then the light of a door way became apparent.  The light was coming in from the ceiling and I climbed steps up to the entrance to Bet Mercurios church.  The young woman emerged laughing followed by the rest of the family. Following them was small group of German ladies. Everyone was laughing. I was thanked all round for leading the way. I reached into my bag and found the tiny pocket light I had and gave it to the young lady. Then found my head lamp and showed I was ready “next time”.. Everyone was laughing including the guards and priests. It was a fun encounter.

"

In Bet Emmanuel I prayed some more. There were a group of westerners about my age and I enjoyed observing them. Lovely people. The priest was interested in their photographing the Lalibela Cross with the father, son and Holy Spirit.  I sat for a bit giving thanks. This was one of the peaceful places like Golgotha and Tomb of Adam in the Northern Cluster.  

I followed the sound of chanting and heard the leader and many voices coming from somewhere in the centre of the Northern Cluster.  There was drumming and the congregation was sing. I loved that these shrines were still serving and not just monuments.

Outside the gates, another church service was taking place under a great tree.  All these women and men were walking in a great circle while others looked on. Apparently every day there are church services at around 730 am which I could attend. I might well yet.  

I walked down the road to an extended collection of small mud and brick houses.  A pleasant young man asked me only, “can I help you?”

I asked if it was okay for me to walk through the village.  He said yes. It seemed quite a warren and I confess I was concerned that carrying a computer in my bag and cameras I was at risk of being robbed.  So I asked if he’d walk with me and I’d give him money.  Then I headed in remembering the other times I’d left the beaten path.  The young man followed. A 3 year old boy joined us and tried to take my hand.  Then he took the young man’s hand. I’d thought him a stray.  When he walked with the other I asked “Is he your brother?”  He laughed. “No, my brother’s son.”  

I liked seeing the burro tied outside a hut and chickens outside another and cows outside another.  The inside of the huts looked dark and cool.  A woman called out to the young man and he called back something I assume in Amharic, the language of the land. Not knowing how, I’d become lost, and was glad to find my way out.  I paid the young man and he was very happy.  I told him he could get tourists by offering a tour of a ‘traditional village’.  He was shy but laughed. The little boy was adorable. The children often just stand curious looking at you like some strange creature. Other’s somewhat older  more jaded begin to beg.  I like the former.

In Lalibela there’s not been any of the intrusiveness of Addis or Lake Tana.  People approach here, I say no, and they don’t push.  At Lake Tana when I stopped to look at something the vendor would then follow me trying to sell so I stopped looking and decided not to shop on the streets but wait till I could buy something in the museum’s and malls where there wasn’t the pressure.  

I took a Tuk Tuk back up the hill. It was already hot. There’s a lot of climbing up and down stairs in the churches. I was thankful that I could still walk and climb. I’d had the same thought visitting the underground churches of  Cappodoecia.  These pilgrimages are not set up for wheelchairs or walkers or for those with major heart or lung conditions.  I am glad I haven’t ‘put it off’ because pilgrimage may be for the mature and even old but not for the very old.  One poor fellow with a gut was huffing and puffing and asking the guide which was the shortest route with least steps.  The southern cluster was indeed a bit more physical. My legs were weak .  My knee is better today but the effort for my other leg left it weak.  I was  rather  tired.  I’d left at 8 am  and it was 10 am.  It felt like 12 .  So going up the hill I was glad to flag down the Tuk Tuk and take the leisurely way back to Mountainview Hotel.

Now I’m in the shade on the balcony. I’ve finished the liter of Pristine treated water in my Contigo water bottle. I’m now having more of the incredible Ethiopian Coffee with Milk. I was glad to have it along today as I could have used it yesterday.  The view here is amazing.  I”m very blessed and content.  God is good. 

View from my balcony



Bete Rafael and Gabriel





Entering the tunnel





Lalibela Coptic Cross


The family




Church








View from my table

Ethiopia — Lalibela -Arrival

I’ve just arrived at the Lalibela Airport . I watched Lake Tana departing below us then the Ethiopian Bombadier plane was flying over this mountainous countrt, True highlands of  Amhera.  The flight took less than an hour.  The drive into town from the airport was about a half hour in the hotel’s shuttle bus. I made reservations by phone last night.  The hotel guide Andy is taking me to the first church this afternoon.  My injured knee was still troublesome this morning despite the brace so I advised him I had to go slow and he was good with that.

The young men and women are very solicitous of the elderly here.  As everyone is so young I’m definitely in the elder class especially with the gimp leg, deafness and right hand tremor.  I’m rather pleased that my back doesn’t hurt and that so many parts are working well.  

Here I am blessed to be sitting in a roof top cafe looking out over the most beautiful countryside.  I asked the driver what the principle agriculture was and he said “sorghum, wheat.”  I asked him if they grew grapes or figs and he didn’t think so. It’s so reminiscent of Northern California, southern France and the Okanagan.  

They build houses out of sticks they layer with mud around the sticks.  Once the mud sets it lasts for decades. The monastery I visited yesterday had walls made the same way I saw people on the way here doing. No change in thousands of years. A working design. Igloos require the right selection of snow. I wonder if the mud is a particular mud or is it mixed in someway.  Yesterday’s monastery had a grass hut.  The monk told me they didn’t leak. Here I saw grass roofs and also corrugated iron.  

My hotel is one of several finer establishments. This building has flat roof construction but looking over at new buildings on an adjacent hill I see standard roofing. Modern construction is much more involved but there’s a whole lot to be said for the traditional construction like the Canadian log cabin. The design and materials stand the test of time. 

I loved driving along the gravel roads and passing all the farm animals along the way. Grandad Hay being a rancher and farmer has left me with a true appreciation of rural communities.  Having been a country family physician in Morris,  Manitoba increased my appreciation.  Here I saw a lot of people walking about. Few cars, one four by four Jeep passed us. A couple of buses.  Mostly these three wheel two seater one driver covered trikes. They look with their frills and personalization something I’d expect more in India.  

All these walkers.  I’ve seen no fat people.  Like I saw in Russia, exercise makes the people slim.  Our cars have made us too sedentary.  I like the motorcycles here though. I recognize the Yamahas 250’s and 600’s.  The girls are all the heavy carryiers with children on their backs or wood or bags of all manner of things.  The men were commonly walking in groups of two or three carrying tools the most common being picks and shovels. There was so much construction going on and work in the farming fields.  It seemed if a man could use a shovel or a pick he’d have work and a place in society. Not so in Canada so much where even construction needs increasingly advanced training. It was obvious looking at the mud  huts and corrugated iron homes that there was not a lot of insistence on codes and no  building inspectors.  I fancied the less regulated society, a certain simplicity. It’s lost in the modern world.

I felt a bit like I feel I might feel in Nepal. People have returned saying the people were spiritual and the communities were organized around religious buildings and monasteries like here. There they are Buddhist whereas here they’re Coptic Orthodox Christian.  The land dictates the mood to some extent.  A couple of months of the year they have torrential rain.  That’s why the river beds are dry right now.  Later they will be full.  

The driver said that though it was dry now drought wasn’t common in his memory and the land had sufficient rain in those two months to grow sufficient food.  

Lalibela is a little town. A market place with a few buildings. Definitely no high rises, the highest building I’ve seen so far is 3 stories hotel. There was a garage. There’s a bit of the Whistler tourist feel to the collections of hotels and restaurants catering to the tourists and pilgrims who come to see the churches.  

That’s why I’m here.  Andy , the tour guide attached to the hotel, is going to take me to my first one this after noon. Right now I’m waiting for the Visa connection for the hotel as they’ve been unable to connect to the German bank to process my Visa. They asked me for cash but I’ve not got a few hundred dollars three nights would cost.   I’ve been having problems with bank machines.  Several haven’t worked and when I’ve been able to get money out it’s been restricted as per my request.  The rooms here are roughly $65 US a night.  My guide is $50 a day and the Churches require $50 for the week.  The three night stay is $5000 brrr and my 10,000 brr is roughly $450 dollars. I can draw $4000 brr out at a time. Were I to come again I’d just bring American cash which everyone likes here and use little denomination brr for tips and such.  I really always have had difficulty translating amounts.  Waiters and waitresses seem happy with 10 or 20 br tips whereas the guides who are more canny seem to work the system.  If I say or look like  I am happy the price goes up. I don’t like that because it makes a society of paranoid dour people concealing their wealth.  Ethiopia is a poor country so there’s a lot of reductionism.

When I say I have a motorcycle it’s translated into ‘rich’ and ‘expensive’ and it’s not something discussed in terms of enduro versus road bike, size of engine.  I talk about cars and get the feeling most people I’ve talked to are at the “I’ve got a car or I don’t have a car “ place. We take it for granted that we can choose from a dozen cars because we have the $5000 to $10,000 for a new one, less for used or for the down payment to get into the car ownership game.  Certainly Addis Ababa was a rich city with wide variety but Lake Tana and here it’s more rural basic.  

Leaving Lake Tana I saw they were building a new road with guys breaking up the rocks which girls were carrying on stretchers to be used as foundation. There simply weren’t any machines.  I suspect machines are used sometimes and somewhere but with lots of labor and people liking work it’s a different approach. Burro’s were pull carts at the road building too.  I love the burps and mules. Such great little workers.