5 Day at Mbare Farm

We started the day with a made to order omelet breakfast followed by Wilson, the Mbahe Farm manager, briefing us on the climb.  Wilson described the itenerary and route, suggested a few places to see and things to avoid doing.  We should make sure we see cathedral towers and avoid climbing lava tower, because of it's erosion.  Then a three hour hike up and down slippery semi-steep terrain through the village, the Merangu Gate and Mbahe Waterfall.  We returned from the hike, were served a full lunch at 2:30, and were told to meet back at 5:30 for an even bigger dinner.  In between meals, we had an inspection of our gear, followed by a weighing of the gear bag inside the big green army bag the porters carry it in.  John and I both, with some adjustments, easily hit the 16 kilogram maximum.  The reason we needed to eat so early was so we could clear out of the area and make way for the returning New Zealanders, who had a successful ascent.  After climbing the mountain you are invited to a post climb party with some of the porters and your guides.  Tomorrow we head out early and travel 3-5 hours to Simba Farm, which is an advanced base camp.

Wilson illustrating the Western Breach trail in detail by memory.

The view from the dining area at Mbahe Farms.

Mbahe Waterfall.

Rotarians do good work and this makes me want to join, like Pompi.

Happy kids.

Michelle & John and the Merangue Gate.

Michelle, Allison, Otis, Amy, Wilson, Melissa and Kaylee at the briefing.

23 Churches of Lalibela, Built to Honor Jeruselum

Lalibela is a15 hour plane ride from DC, yet 2-3 thousand years in the past.  One of the first things we saw after getting off our Dash 80 turboprop was families plowing their fields with oxen pulling wooden plows.  It's the time of year to plant tej which is the grain used to make injera.    Lalibela is set in the rugged, steep, green mountains and the fields are terraced for crops.  The churches are amazing in size and craftsmanship.  They were carved out of solid rock 800 + years ago.  The carving varies from simple to ornate.  They were carved in a way to mimic built churches.  According to the legend, King Lalibela had all of them carved because Jerusalem was too far and dangerous of a pilgrimage.  Historians believe the churches were built over a period of a few hundred years.  The churches are living, breathing churches to this day.  On our way to the airport on Sunday morning we saw hundreds of people with white shawls walking toward the churches.  We woke up to the priests chanting at 4:00 AM.   The priests charge $50 per tourist to visit, and they don't share the money with the community.  We learned one thing they do with the money is invest in hotels.  The people are working with the government to try and change this.  UNESCO is working here to develop and preserve this world heritage site.  Many families were relocated when the big shelters to protect the churches were built, in the last 5-10 years.  Elderly people who used to go to church daily are now only able to make the now long walk, once a week.  I suggested asking the priests to pay for daily shuttles for the displaced old people.  If Lalibela was in a more accessible and tourist friendly place, there would be millions of visitors each year because it is breathtaking.    The mountain views are stunning, with miles of mountains in every direction as far as you can see.  The hiking potential is unlimited and is barely developed.  You can trek with donkeys and stay in tukuls (round houses) in some places.  I asked John if he wanted to trek with donkeys some day and he said he's 'finished' with Ethiopia:). We've been here twice!

Michelle standing by the entrance used by women.  There is also an entrance for men, and one for priests.

Each church had a priest on duty.  I was blessed by one.

Abeba and John standing by the Fertility Pool.  It's a pool where woman were immersed when they were unable to bear children.  Abeba says, "Today we know it is 50% woman and 50% man.  Progess."

Windows with different types of crosses.

Michelle and John at the original entrance to the churches.

The Church of St. George.  This is the best preserved and probably newest of all the churches.  They were all carved out from top to bottom.  On the floor of each church are locally made rugs, and it's kind of like a cave on the floor.  We needed to take our shoes off at the entrance to each church and we could have hired a 'shoe watcher'.  It's about 30 feet tall.  There are hills nearby which were made from the carved out rocks.

An area between two churches.  All of this open space was created by solid rocks being carved out by hand.

An alter.  Each church has a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, which is in the back room, the Holy of Holies.  Only the priests are allowed.

A place for one of the guards to sleep/rest.  

Passageways like this are everywhere.

The longest tunnel we walked through was about 90 feet long, Abeba used his phone for a light.

Most of the churches had paintings around the alter area.

This was our last church on the tour, and may be the oldest.

24 Lalibela Market and the Twins

 Market day in Lalibela was Saturday, so we we're lucky to be there.  We told Abeba, our church guide, that we had been to other African markets and so felt comfortable going alone, without him.  He asked if we had ever been to an Ethiopian market and we said no, just the Merkato in Addis.  He said it would be different and he was right!  We were happy to be a threesome.  When you hire a church guide in Lalibela, they are with you for a full two days for 500 birr, or $50.  He was very helpful in teaching us how to deal with young boys who wanted to steal from us and how to barter in Ethiopia.  The hills were full of people heading to market with all sorts of things to sell, from chickens to tej to donkeys.  There was excitement in the air!

We stopped and I bought a wool hat for Eliah from this man.  It needs serious cleaning before wearing.

There were hundreds of goats.

The first section of the market had chickens...

eggs...

donkeys...

sheep and goats...

cattle...

rope...

So cute!  We wanted to buy them both, for Adam and Ali's twins :)

The green cup on the stick indicates the homebrew is ready!

The hides...

This man walked 4 hours to go to the market, and the round container is his lunch box.  He also needed to walk 4 hours home.  After learning about the lunch boxes, we saw them everywhere.

The tej, which is a very fine grain used to make injera, a pancake like bread which is a staple of the Ethiopians.  I've tried it many times over the past six years, and really don't care for it, and I'm not a picky eater!

Maize...

Coffee pots...I bought two, one black and one brown, and hope they make it home in one piece.  

Belaynesh, Abebe's wife made injera with a variety of bean and vegetable dishes.  She is wearing the traditional clothing.

Belaynesh taught us how to make coffee the traditional way, sort of!  First you roast the beans.

If you love coffee, you know how good this smelled.

Then she ground them with a mortar and pestle.  Then, for some reason, she reached down into an electric grinder, scooped up a handful of ground coffee, and put it in the pot of water. So, I'm not really sure what that was about, but this is a picture of our nee coffee pot that came from the market.  She wanted to season it, including heating it, before we took it home.  The coffee was delicious.

These are Abebe and Belaynesh's twins, which is probably the reason we were invitied to their home in the first place.  Abebe talked about his three year old twin girls, Meklit & Merawit.  We talked about our soon to be born twin grandchildren.  In Ethiopia, twins are a blessing.  This picture was tsken just after a fight, which evidently is a common occura ce.  He said they love and hate each other, and can't be separated.  One of them just bit the other.  Abebe can't always tell them apart, and needs to look on the left leg of one of them for a big birthmark, which he showed us.  

After the picture of the girls was taken, Nolaw was jealous and went into the bedroom to build something so he could have his picture taken.  He is 8 years old and very sweet.

Such a great family and so generous to invite us into their home.  We left with our new coffee pot and they gave us a bag of Tomoca ground coffee.

On the walk home we saw kids playing foosball, pool, football and pingpong.

We wondered if we were contributing to the local economy or to child exploitation?  4 birr for a shoe cleaning, about 20 cents.