The Garden of Eden

There is more 

Very few travel to Axum by road because it cannot be reached in one day.  Buses do not  ply at night and it is just right because the landscape to Axum from the Amhara region is not to be missed.

Look like the Great Pyramids

At the Woldia terminal while waiting for the bus to leave for an overnight in Makele, I called a Filipino VSO volunteer assigned in the area  to meet him for the first time.

Till the last goat is down; then bus leaves

The famous badjas; not found in Uganda

Five minutes later,  I saw a farengi alight from the badjas, and I was tempted to say, “Dr.  Livingstone, I supposed”.  It was such a pleasant albeit spontaneous and brief reunion.  

Good vibes grass.  In buses, too!

Traversing the well-maintained road to Axum was like going up to heaven. The hills gave different views as we navigate the  zigzag road.  The sight was awesome,  like seeing the pyramids in Egypt, jutting out of the desert.   It was breathtaking.

The hills take on different views

The long and winding road to heaven

If God placed the perfectly-baked man (olive-colored skin) in Ethiopia,  then He must have created this  garden that is beautiful in the rainy season. My eyes were never satisfied with seeing.

Same hills, different view

Cactus plants line the road and the cactus fruits are aplenty.  I tried eating the fruit which tastes and looks like a big red kiwi.  It was delicious and I finished a basketful during that long trip. 

Cactus plants with fruits

The edible cactus fruit 

Some parts of the Tigray region are barren and suffering from drought.  I understand that there is famine in the area.  According to the grapevine,   there is some kind of weeds that destroy vegetation and pasture land…. and these are believed to have sprouted together with the  seeds that were sown as part of some international food aid programs. 

The barren part of Tigray region

Animals show sign of starvation

On to Axum, the thriving capital of Ethiopia at the time that Jesus was preaching in Palestine. 

Wondering where to spend the night

I met Jesus Christ in Lalibela

Priests practicing their chants and dance

That’s what a Filipino co-volunteer said to me when he first arrived in Ethiopia.   It had not  occurred to me before but, I think he was right, especially after seeing the priests in Lalibela.

Scene from the School of Athens?  

Lalibela is famous for its rock-hewn churches -  11 churches mostly carved (not constructed but excavated) entirely out of a single block of granite with the roof at ground level.  

Church of  Emmanuel

These churches, some still in use today,  were allegedly built around the 11^th and 12^th century at the time of King Lalibela – the  king who abdicated his throne to become a hermit and later canonized as saint.  He wanted to build a "New Jerusalem".

Church of St. George, 40 meters below ground level

Roof (Greek cruciform) of  St. George at ground level 

Portuguese explorers "discovered" the churches in the 15th century.  It takes a brave heart to reach Lalibela by road from the nearest city but most who visited Lalibela left awestruck.

He guards the tomb of St. Lalibela

For this blog, I chose the pictures not only of the churches, but also of the laid back town of Lalibela that still seems biblical with its hilly and rocky roads (with 8,000 people, 1,000 of them priests according to my very competent and pricey guide). 

I mailed post cards from here

Coffee house

He makes  icons from cowhide.  

More pictures of Lalibela are available to the public in my Facebook (Evelyna Avila) album, Lalibela.

Praying outside the church

Praying inside the church

The churches of Lalibela reminded me of the rose-colored city of Petra, Jordan and the rock-houses in Capadoccia, Turkey - all 3 locations are UNESCO Heritage sites.

Will  future generations be looking then at our modern infrastructure today as part of antiquity?  

Centuries-old feet of pilgrims displayed inside a church.  

Believed not to have decomposed as the pilgrims were blessed by 

the waters of  the River Jordan on their way to Lalibela.

Ain't no pilgrim but this leads to one church

This post is dedicated to a Portuguese Comboni missionary priest who has spent 20 years of his young life in Uganda.  May he have the gift of good health as he continues to spread the Word.

Obrigada!