Monday, March 26, 2012

Ethiopia 2011 - No electricty, but at least there's khat

Dear Dorothy

Friday March 18 2011
Lalibea, Ethiopia

What an expensive town and that isn't the hotel. That is the entrance
to the churches and the guide. $20 to look at rocks and $30 to be told
what kind of rocks I'm seeing. as an added bonus there is no electricity
in the town. I knew the infrastructure of Ethiopia was not
first world I didn't expect it to be whatever comes after third world.
Primitive is maybe the word.

At least the hotel takes Visa.

The churches are interesting, but difficult to photograph. They sit at
the bottom of a carved out 11 meter ditch and  there is no way to get
back far enough to get them in the shot. I've talked to myself about
getting a wide angle lens, this may be the catalist  for that purchase.

King Lalibea was one of eleven kings of the area. Four of whom were
priest kings. His granddad, his uncle, him and his cousin. Somebody had
the nerve to poison him and he went into a coma. Upon recovering from
the coma he had a vision where he went to Heaven and God told him to
get to cutting rock and build him some churches. There are five of six
churches depending if you count the one that is inside the other. One
really big 35 feet tall and about 100 long. Their Jesus mythology is
quite a bit different that the one that I know. like 120 people who
were followers, a handful of virgins, the twelve that we know and of
course the leader of the pack. So these are represented by the number
of pillars in the big church. Men's entrances and women's entrances and
one for mixed, including the priesthood. In mosques it is a sign of
respect to have your head covered, these is is opposite. My head is
about to explode from information overload. I think when I look at the
photos much of it will come back to me. This church was the second
Lalibea made.