Hello!
It's my last day in Ethiopia and I'm currently in Gondar. We went to an amazing castle today, built in the 17th century by King Alem-Seghede Fasil. Stunning ruins with phallic shaped supports, a running Ethiopian theme, as Axum stelae are also based on the male genitilia as all our guides point out. We've now seen, Lalibela, Axum, Queen Sheba's pool and residence as well as the Simien Mountians. Over 3000 years of history in a matter of weeks, though you could count Lucy in Addis and go back a few million. Luckily I also gained 7 years back and am 15 again, as according to the Ethiopian calendar its January, 2003! Back to my carefree youth. The local story behind the difference between calendars is that one of the wise men was Ethiopian and after bestowing his gift to Jesus it took him 7 years to return to Ethiopia from Jerusalem.
Of everything we've seen in Ethiopia, Lalibela has been my favourite. The monolithic, semi-monolithic and cave churches were unbelievable. They are a series of large churches chiseled out of hard rock, yet they are smooth and precise. According to the locals King Lalibela must have had help from god as there is no human way it could have been done in the 23 years as claimed. We saw 11 churches, all equally beautiful, some with fresco walls and elaborate windows. St. Mary's church is the most beautiful on the inside but my favourite church is St. George, which is the last church built and drops 40 feet into the earth. You can really see the grandeur of its size and cross shape from above and when you walk down into the grounds it has the most clean cut and precise angles. The architecture and detail is amazing and when you think of how it has been excavated out of rock, it seems like an impossible feat.
Axum was a set of great stelae ranging back to 300AD that mark the reign of kings during the Aksumite kingdom. There are 3 soaring obelisks, one that has fallen down and 2 that are standing. They predate the conversion to Christianity and were used to mark tombs. They are made of solid granite and are the pinnacle of the town. It was not as physically impressive as I thought it would be but it did feel quite grounding to be surrounded by something thats tested the ages and has such far-reaching roots.
The Simien Mountains were gorgeous and Ethiopia has now replaced Rwanda for favourtie scenery and landscape. Driving through the mountains (even if for 14 hours) was breath-taking, literally at some altitudes, with lush sights, cascading waterfalls and sheer drops. We were away from the truck as Fanny can't navigate the windy roads, but even in our little mini-bus we had a grad total of 5 busted tires. I am unfortunately without an ipod at the moment and if you ever do a trip like mine then music is an ESSENTIAL!! The views are spectacular but set to epic music (thanks to Jess and Nev) it makes it almost surreal, like you're cast in a great adventure movie. The drives were also a great way to see the locals in traditional dress called 'yehager Lebese' made of natural hand-woven cotton. Here they wear big, baggy dresses, generally beige or cream coloured with woven colourful designs down the front and around the v-neckline, then belted with a colourful scarf of the same woven pattern. I tried one on in Addis and could not pull it off, but on the women here it looks amazing. Hair in Ethipoia is also stunning. It is tightly braided with an afro skirting with an additional braid (or multiple) that form a tiara around the forehead. I had the tiara braid done in Ethiopia and loved it though it wasn't the easiest to wash.
Ethiopia is a country that cannot be missed if you ever come to Africa! Tomorrow we enter into Sudan and bush camp for a day on our way to Khartoum. Then 4 or 5 bush camps in a row again through the sweltering sun before we hit another town. Back to the desert!
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