HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting to Lalibela-feeling a little dodgy
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Feeling dodgy
WORD OF THE DAY: Webber - mosquito
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 365KM
We leave Gondar today to travel to Lalibela and I am really looking forward to this place as this is where the famous cross rock church is and even when I came last year was a place that I really wanted to see not realizing it was in the north and not the south where I was travelling.
I haven’t taken any malaria tablets for the last few days as I finished the pack that I had and forgot to pack extra’s for the 4 weeks I am here, they are all sitting safely on the truck in Brazil which isn’t very handy for me here. I wasn’t too worried till last night at the Dashen beer garden when I saw a few of them flying around. I would hate after taking the damn pills for the last 7 months everyday religiously, catching Malaria here after not taking a pill for 4 weeks. So on our way out of town Z stopped at a pharmacy and got me some malaria tablets. I am going on plain faith that the tablets are what the pharmacists say, as I haven’t heard of them before and I only need to take 2 pills once a week. Z bought 10 weeks’ worth of pills for 27 cents, yes you read that right 27 CENTS. The pharmacies are for the locals, so I guess the medication can’t be too expensive otherwise people wouldn’t be able to afford it. But 27 cents for 10 weeks of malaria tablets. That is what I call insane. As with any African country I have purchased medication, it doesn’t come in a box, it is just the pills in their cases, so there were no instructions whether to take with food etc.…. But as I had just eaten breakfast I thought that would be play to take them now, so I swallowed the 2 pills and felt better that I was again going to be covered for the horrible mozzie’s.
It was a big drive day for Z. It took us 6 hours to drive 365KM. The main time consuming part of the drive, besides watching out for the people, kids and animals on the road was it was a windy day in the car. We were climbing up and down mountains all day and the last 62KM was on a dirt gravel road. This was also windy and ups and downs. I was starting to feel a little dodgy and I am not sure if it was the malaria tablets, the driving or if I was coming down with something. I have seemed to have got a bit of a cough the last few days and it seems to be getting worse than better. You wouldn’t believe I haven’t been sick for months and on the last week I get a mysterious bump on my leg, a terrible cough and now I’m feeling nauseous. I’m not a hypochondriac and I feel bad that Z might think I’m like this all the time….. He has been great and worried about my leg and now the cough, we are going to get some cough mixture when we next get the chance to try and nip that in the bud.
I bought a stuffed dog from Brazil with me. He was going to be the trip mascot for the next 3 weeks. Well we named him today and out third companion and keeper of the car is called Chappy. There’s no meaning to it, we were just throwing around names and Zeme came up with Chappy. We have talked about us getting a dog when I move back and we both like the idea, so guess what his name is going to be? It great we both like dogs and we both HATE cats!!!
We arrived into Lalibela just after 2pm and I have never been so happy to get out of the car. There were a few accommodations that Z had in mind, but after stopping at the first one I just said we’ll just take it, even though they didn’t have internet OR TV, I just wanted out. In hindsight it was great to not have both of these things for 2 nights and the view we had of the mountains and the valley was just breath taking from our floor to ceiling windows. It was a shame I was feeling like crap, I was achy all over and the cough was getting worse. After dinner Z ordered a traditional tea to help with the flu and it was honey and garlic flavor. It sounds disgusting, but it actually tasted quite nice. It came out in a small silver tea pot and after my second glass I had a look in the tea pot and there would have been over 20 cloves of garlic floating around in there. My breath is going to be rank for the next week I rekon. Sorry Z. I couldn’t finish the last of it though, it did get a little on the nose, but hopefully it will take some effect overnight.
Lalibela is a town in northern Ethiopia, known for its monolithic churches. Lalibela is one of Ethiopia's holiest cities, second only to Aksum, and is a center of pilgrimage for much of the country. Unlike Aksum, the population of Lalibela is almost completely Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. The layout and names of the major buildings in Lalibela are widely accepted, especially by the local clergy, to be a symbolic representation of Jerusalem. This has led some experts to date the current form of its famous churches to the years following the capture of Jerusalem in 1187 by the Muslim soldier Saladin.
During the reign of Saint Gebre Mesqel Lalibela (a member of the Zagwe Dynasty, who ruled Ethiopia in the late 12th century and early 13th century) the current town of Lalibela was known as Roha. The saintly king was given this name due to a swarm of bees said to have surrounded him at his birth, which his mother took as a sign of his future reign as Emperor of Ethiopia. The names of several places in the modern town and the general layout of the monolithic churches themselves are said to mimic names and patterns observed by Lalibela during the time he spent in Jerusalem and the Holy Land as a youth.
Lalibela is said to have seen Jerusalem and then attempted to build a new Jerusalem as his capital in response to the capture of old Jerusalem by Muslims in 1187. As such, many features have Biblical names - even the town's river is known as the River Jordan. It remained the capital of Ethiopia from the late 12th century and into the 13th century. The first European to see these churches was the Portuguese explorer Pêro da Covilhã (1460 – 1526). Portuguese priest Francisco Álvares (1465 - 1540), who accompanied the Portuguese Ambassador on his visit to Lebna Dengel in the 1520s.
Although Ramuso included plans of several of these churches in his 1550 printing of Álvares' book, it is not known who supplied him the drawings. The next reported European visitor to Lalibela was Miguel de Castanhoso, who served as a soldier under Christovão da Gama and left Ethiopia in 1544. After de Castanhoso, over 300 years passed until the next European, Gerhard Rohlfs, visited Lalibela at some time between 1865 and 1870
This rural town is known around the world for its churches carved from the living rock, which play an important part in the history of rock-cut architecture. Though the dating of the churches is not well established, most are thought to have been built during the reign of Lalibela, namely during the 12th and 13th centuries. There are 13 churches, assembled in four groups: The Northern Group: Bet Medhane Alem, home to the Lalibela Cross and believed to be the largest monolithic church in the world, probably a copy of St Mary of Zion in Aksum. It is linked to Bete Maryam (possibly the oldest of the churches), Bete Golgotha (known for its arts and said to contain the tomb of King Lalibela), the Selassie Chapel and the Tomb of Adam. The Western Group: Bete Giyorgis, said to be the most finely executed and best preserved church.
The Eastern Group: Bete Amanuel (possibly the former royal chapel), Bete Merkorios (which may be a former prison), Bete Abba Libanos and Bete Gabriel-Rufael (possibly a former royal palace), linked to a holy bakery.
There is some controversy as to when some of the churches were constructed. Since the time spent to carve these structures from the living rock must have taken longer than the few decades of King Lalibela's reign. Contrary to theories advocated by writers like Graham Hancock, the great rock-hewn churches of Lalibela were not built with the help of the Knights Templar; abundant evidence exists to show that they were produced solely by medieval Ethiopian civilization. The churches are also a significant engineering feat, given that they are all associated with water (which fills the wells next to many of the churches) exploiting an artesian geological system that brings the water up to the top of the mountain ridge on which the city rests.
We have booked a local guide through the hotel for tomorrow morning and no matter how I’m feeling I will be there. This is one of the super highlights of the trip to date, excluding seeing and spending time with Zeme of course. Let the garlic and honey kick in overnight!
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