The ride to Lalibela was a long one. It was 7 hours on dirt roads like I have never seen in the US. We probably did not average more than over 30 miles an hour. But it was good to see more of Ethiopia. As we moved north and higher in elevation the terrain became a lot like parts of California and New Mexico. Some areas reminded me of the Santa Ynez valley northeast of Santa Barbara.

On the whole drive, we never went more than a few miles without seeing people. There are continuous clusters of a few dwellings between small villages. The highest elevation we hit was a bit over 12,000 feet, and it got cold enough that you would need a jacket when walking outside.

There was not much other traffic on the road except for a few trucks and busses. Almost no other private cars like we were in. It’s good that the traffic was light because in some areas the dust from other vehicles would reduce visibility to almost zero.

About halfway through the drive, we stopped at a hotel in a small town for a soft drink and bathroom break. While there, our Hope guide Zenebe saw a man he had gone to college with some 20 years earlier. They had not seen each other since college and spent a few minutes catching up on life since they left school.

We arrived at Lalibela at about 2:30PM tired and dusty. We were hopeful that we would find better Internet access in Lalibela than we did in Dese. Zenebe went to the local Internet café while we registered in the hotel. When he returned he told us that connections to the Internet were not working there either.

After a brief lunch in the hotel restaurant we headed out to visit some of the historic churches in the area. In the 12th century King Lalibela was concerned for the hardships caused to his people traveling to Jerusalem to worship Christ. Many people died making the journey. So he commissioned the building of duplicates of the churches in Jerusalem so his people would not have to make the long and dangerous trip. He sent people to Jerusalem to study the details of the churches there so that the ones in Lalibela would be authentic. Some parts of the structures have been modified or added to over the years, but they are basically like they were when first built over 900 years ago. He included many symbolic features as well--a mini Jordan River, Golgotha, …

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the 11 churches is that each is carved from a solid piece of rock. The 40,000 workers carved the outer walls from the bedrock and then began to hew the inside of the churches—one after the other for 23 years. Over the following centuries, occupying non-Christian forces would come to destroy the Lalibela churches. As they sat below ground level, the local Christians would burry them with the dirt and stone carved out at their formation. For this reason only, they have survived until today.

Local guides are available to take you through the different churches in the area. You are required to take off your shoes when entering a church and there is a person who watches your shoes while inside. We could not go anywhere without being shown things to buy. Zenebe confirmed for me that, for many people in this area, tourism is their main source of income. But as I’ve said before, the extreme poverty for some people in Ethiopia does not seem to have broken their spirit. Everywhere you go you see examples of people smiling and laughing with one another.

After we returned from visiting the churches we rested for an hour or so before dinner. Again we ate in the hotel restaurant. A TV was on and someone turned it to CNN in English. I was surprised at how much I did not want to hear what was going on in the rest of the world. I have not at all missed going a week with no news.