This is the (Ethiopi-) End
Trip Start
Jul 26, 2004
1
22
23
Trip End
May 31, 2005
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Monday, March 28, 2005
Ethiopia is a very religious country steeped in biblical history. There are traces of Jewish settlements predating Christ, as well as strong Orthodox Catholic and Muslim communities all living peacefully with one another. When we arrived we felt as if we had taken a time machine rather than a plane, as it was like stepping back a couple of thousand years
Church of St. George
. History isn't from a book in Ethiopia, you live it walking through the streets. People wear robes and carry staffs, mules cart goods, and homes are made of rock, mud and cow dung. Luckily our hotels were not, but they weren't that great either. Running water is viewed as a luxury item in many places, including some of our hotels. In some towns the only sign of modernity was the Coca Cola sign welcoming us, a strange sign of commercialism in an otherwise completely non-commercial area. As per usual we wanted to keep in touch with you (and sports news) so we were excited to see a sign boasting an Internet cafe. As we approached we caught the real sense of wireless communication: there were no wires connecting the keyboard to the computer because there was no computer or keyboard! The owners looked at us sheepishly and said, "The Internet is not working", as if the Internet had something to do with a fishing net, hair net or volleyball net.
Our first stop along the historical route was the town of Gondar. Besides being a town with a name that could fit into The Lord of the Rings, it professed to have a castle that was built by King Fasil in the 1600s. Four generations of the royal family lived in the compound, each king building a more impressive structure than the last
Ethiopian Sistine Chapel
. A great thing about Ethiopia was how accessible all of the sites were. There were few barriers and we could walk throughout King Fasil's castles. After a brief stop at a market, where we saw how primitive Ethiopian society can be, we headed to a church that was widely known as one of the most beautiful in Ethiopia. That is saying something as the northern historical route is filled with amazing churches. This one's claim to fame was its incredible painted artistry on the walls and ceiling, an Ethiopian version of the Sistine chapel. Many years ago its very first priest covered the walls with interconnected murals showing scenes of Mary and Jesus and St. George (a popular saint in Ethiopia), however the ceiling was the piece de resistance. It was filled with faces of hundreds of angels looking down "from Heaven". The style of the these paintings were simple and bright and very distinctive. Even the church's grounds have religious significance, as there are 12 pillars (representing the disciples)surrounding the church, each housing a small room for the monks to live in. Everything was vibrant and bright, even the nun's robes were fluorescent yellow! The church was special in the hearts of the Cathoics as it was said to be protected by bees who had stung invaders centuries ago.
At night we found an Ethiopian restaurant (go figure!) but the menu was limited
Hip Hop Priest
. The Orthodox Catholics, which constituted 99% of the northern population, fast for 55 days leading up to Easter. That meant no meat, which wasn't a problem for Lara, however they even ran out of 'fasting food' in some of the places we went. Restaurants often listed 20 items on the menu, but the reality was only 3 choices were available. Our next stop was the tiny town of Lalibela which was tucked away in the barren, northern mountains. This place was really primitive. They were celebrating their first few months with electricity. The houses were either tin shacks or round mud and stone huts hidden in the hills. Everywhere you looked people were walking, breaking their backs carrying water from the fresh streams (no running water) or huge bundles of firewood (for cooking and heat).
The jewels of Lalibela are their churches, which we visited over 2 days. They are UNESCO protected because of their construction. They were carved directly out of the hills or up from the earth, huge monoliths with different shapes. To get to them we had to walk down into the ground and some were accessible only by caves and tunnels. Each church has its own set of "treasures" which include numerous paintings of the trinity and Cathoic divinities, crosses, unique to each church, and even some books written in the old Geez (pronounced "guyEEs") language on goatskin pages. To this day these wondrous structures are being used for masses. On our last day we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of their traditional three hour daily service at one of the churches built into a cave. Truly unbelievable!
It is official now that Lara has spent more time in churches than in synagogues in the last 10 years
Lucy ...you've got some 'splainin' to do...
. Maybe that should read 20 years. While in Lalibela we met some Israelis who had no problem communicating in the Ethiopian local language. It seems that it is very close to Hebrew - not surprising, knowing Ethiopia's Semitic history. Lara's parents would be so proud of her as all those years in Hebrew school finally paid off when Lara was able to communicate like a local. Hah- just kidding. Actually, the only things she could say were swear words and she was able to order dishes in a deli, which was of no help to us at all.Unfortunately at this time another illness had struck Lara. By the time we got to our next stop, the town of Axum, she retreated to the room. However, that did not stop Chris from going on an exhausting tour with the most excitable and informative guide yet...Seasi. Like all the other Ethiopians, Seasi was very proud of his country's history and treasures. He had worked with an archeologist and was an avid reader of Ethiopian folklore and was not afraid to share ALL of it with you. A little history from Seasi:...Axum was one of the pre-Christ world powers and its reign of power spread throughout all of northern Africa to areas as far as the Middle East. There were tons of buried treasures all over the city and in some cases, when erosion occurred, a burial ground would appear where the city's main road was and a team of archeologists would race in to see what was there.
So try to keep pace for these were the sights Seasi showed Chris in a VERY long afternoon:
1. The city's most popular sight: the stelae fields. These huge granite (20 metre high) towers stand above the burial sites of several Axumite kings
On their way to the cave Church
. It felt like Chris was in Egypt as he went under ground with a torch to visit their tombs.2.The Church of St. Mary of Zion and Monastery. Although this was the biggest and most modern church in Ethiopia, it was far from the most impressive. Across a field stood the smaller church which Ethiopians believe houses the original Arc of the Covenant, which the Son of the Queen of Sheba had taken from King Solomon in Israel under the guidance of angels. When Chris asked to see it he was informed that only one monk is permitted into the Arc's holding place as it is sacred and filled with other golden crosses and crowns. If only Indiana Jones had done some research he would not have had to fight the Nazis for the Arc.
3. Queen of Sheba's Bath. A huge pit filled with water that has stood 3000 years. Now locals use it to do their laundry.
4. King Kaleb and his son's tombs. More torch-lit visits to tombs on a hillside that overlooked the mountain range that led to the country of Eritrea.
5. Queen of Sheba's palace. Another discovery thanks to the erosion of a field. It was huge and still had some ornate pieces that have lasted the test of time.
If you are overwhelmed, just think how Chris felt. Seasi had so much knowledge that a TV crew from the capital city of Addis Ababa had flown in looking for him to give them a sound bite on some of the city sights. Seasi's father was a priest (Catholoic Orthodox priests can marry) and taught him the ancient language and songs which he unapologetically sang to Chris for 20 minutes. At the end of such a long day Chris was happy just to meet up with Lara and collapse in their room.
Unfortunately at this time the bug (which turned out to be parasites) was affecting both of us. We flew into Addis Ababa and went straight to a hotel where we both spent the day resting and attempting to recover. Our guide Solomon met us the next day and took us on an abbreviated tour of the capital city, which included a visit to the National Museum. Here we saw "Lucy" the oldest fossil human remains in the world. Unlike modern Ethiopians, she was much shorter than Lara. The busy city was too much for us to absorb in such a short amount of time, but we got a sense of it, which only renews our interest to return someday.
Our original plan was to head straight to Uganda where we were to begin our 3 weeks of volunteer work in a school in a rural area at the top of the Nile. Some confusion with our tickets took us back to Nairobi instead, and as it turns out it was for the best. Still not feeling well, we booked ourselves into a fancy hotel and planned to relax by the pool until we got better. Unfortunately we couldn't leave the room, and in our hearts we knew that the end was near. After much deliberation and a few tears we made the difficult decision to return home. Although we know now that it was the 'right' decision to make, it was nonetheless heartbreaking. We feel extremely fortunate that we saw all we did in the past eight months, and met so many great people, but a part of us can't help but still be disappointed. However, there is a silver lining as our traveling isn't done. We will be returning to Europe at the beginning of May and finishing off the last leg of our trip as originally planned.
If you are interested in contacting us we are staying in Toronto, actually Thornhill, and can be reached by phone at 905 731-9562 or by email. We will be in Canada until May 6th, when we leave for Europe, and we will return for good ( or at least long enough to plan our next trip) on May 31st. We've been relaxing and seeing several doctors, but all is well and we are recovering under the friendly gaze of Lara's parents.
So, unless you want to hear all about what it is like being in your 30s and living in your parents or parents-in-law's basement, this concludes our travelpod. Like we said at the beginning, we set out to prove that any 2 monkeys could do a trip like this, and we think we accomplished this goal. No animals were harmed during the production of this adventure, we made it back in one piece ( although a collective 30 pounds lighter), and we have experiences that will undoubtedly enrich our lives, and bore our friends, forever. Thanks all for taking the ride with us.
