Thursday 7th July.
Would you like an AK47 with your cereal?!
The guy with the gun asked for a cigarrete and of course we quickly obliged by giving him a whole deck of smokes, he also scored himself some biscuits, some water and some lollies. Anything to keep the man with the big gun happy.
Naturally, I wanted a photo, but locals here don't seem too appreciative of being in happy snaps at the best of times, let alone with a big arse gun in thier hands. Alas, how could I let this minor detail get in the way of photographic genious in the making. I managed to get two sneaky photos by angling the camera lens in between two seats up in the truck, I got one of the guy with the gun and one of Jimmy and Benne holding it, which when asked it turns out he was more than happy to let them play with it. I think he has a future as an OHS specialist! By 6.45 the older of the two guys had grown bored with us and started to shoo us away. Of course, we once again quickly obliged.
There was only about 300kms to cover, but it would be done at the roaring pace of 40km per hour due to crappy condition of the road. Also, we were sitting at just over 500 meters above sea level and Lalibela, our destination, sits at 2500 meters above sea level, so there is quite a bit of climbing to do and the temperature should drop once again.
We drove over a monstrous mountain range that seemed to go on forever and it seems hard to beleive that we were all sitting there in jackets and sleeping bags and blankets when just the day before we were melting in a seemingly endless 40 degree desert. We stopped for a photo-op on the side of a mountain at 3,100 meters above sea level. Quite a view. We drove through mountain farming villages with barefoot children chasing after the truck screaming for pens and money.
As I have mentioned before, the concept of sustainable tourism hasn't made its way to Ethiopia yet, in most parts, tourism hasnt made it yet. In an ideal world I would have liked to stop the truck, sit down with the kids and tell them that if I give them a pen I expect them to draw me a picture with it, which I would then buy off them. In an ideal world...
Driving was real slow going, the road was not only in really bad condition, but was also really windy and hilly. As the sun was setting Farron pulled over on the side of the road with the rocky mountain dropping away on either side of us. He had decided that there was no use pushing it to make it to Lalibela tonight and too dangerous to continue driving on the road in the dark, so we set up camp and would drive the extra 11kms into town first thing in the morning. Alex was on cook group and I was on clean group and we were leaving at 6.30am the next morning, so rather than put up a tent for only a few hours, we decided to sleep in the truck. We put our pillows and sleeping bags along two of the rows of seats, Janet got the other one and Lars slept up the front on the floor. It was more comfy than I thought it was going to be, and it was warm too. There was also the added benefit of not having to pack anything up in the morning, we just sat up (eventually).
Friday 8th July.
Never fear... Janet is here.
The monasteries were built in the ground, either carved out of stone or out of carved into the stone wall. Picture what Petra looks like and you will be close (or better yet, look at our pictures on facebook). They were pretty amazing buildings, so much work went into them. We went up and down stone steps, in and out of giant stone monasteries. We were having so much fun, joking around, getting lost in the monasteries that it almost felt like we were on school camp. At one stage, I think it was when Mark curled up in a person size hole in the wall, that our guide asked Jerome if we had any religion or spiritualty at all! Oops.
In one of them there was a recreation/interpretation of a pathway to heaven. It was a tunnel linking one monastery to the next. It was absolute darkness inside, the walls were not flat or even, nor was the ground. We went single file and slow step by slow step. It didnt take long before we were all grabbing onto the person in front of us, just to feel a little bit of security, and so that if they whacked their head on a protruding chunck of stone, I could duck. It was meant to help you experience hell before finally reaching heaven. There was such a sense of releif when finally, you could see a small amount of light at the end of the tunnel. An even greater sense of releif when we found out we didnt have to back the same way we went in! I have no idea how long the tunnel was, or how long it took us to get through it. It felt like forever, thats all I can tell you!
Saturday 9th July.
Yummy yummy yummy I got goat in my tummy.
We woke in the morning to complete the tour of the monasteries. They were just as amazing as the ones from the day before, but were lacking the WOW factor. Maybe by that stage we were monatried out.
After the monastery and climbing the incredibaly steep road back to Seven Olives, Marcus, Fiona and I made our way back down the really really steep hill, to the very bottom where there was a gigantic market. I mean gigantic. At the end of the really steep hill there was a Y intersection. Continuing on to the left, the steep cobble stone road just continue, forever I presume. To the right, the cobble stone turned into a massive crack in the earth that served as a road with little market stalls set up along each side, and at the bottom there was a huge opening just covered in people and produce. It was overwhelming looking down onto that market. We put our hackeling jackets on and went in. Our biggest problem was that we had no idea what we were going to cook for dinner, and so we had absolutley no idea where to start, what to look for or what to buy.
We walked up and down the narrow 'aisles' made of people sitting on the ground in rows with all of thier produce. There were onion aisles, egg aisles, potato isles, chillie aisles. All the while trying to avoid the donkeys carrying produce that were marching down the aisles at breakneck speed. A few time we had to jump over the people on the floor and try not to step on thier tomatos, just so we could avoid being flattened by a herd of donkeys. We got some veggies, eggs and a slight headache and made our way out of there. Up the street a bit we stopped at a butcher and got 2kgs of goat meat, the skin was sitting in a lump just outside the door so we knew it was fresh.
Marcus and Fiona went to see some of the monasteries and Alex and I took the long walk back up the steep cobble stoned street back to Seven Olives. We got started on preparing the meal. And it was gooood! We stewed the goat in red wine, onion, garlic, stock and herbs and had it cooking for a few hours. Alex helped up make potato roshties to go with the stew. It was so yummy, probly my camp fire meal so far, if I do say so myself.
Sunday 10th July.
We found Utopia.
This village was started by an Ethiopian man with a vision. A vision of a world where people worked honestly for thier money, never begged, where man and women were equal, where men knew how to cook and women knew how to farm, where all profits were divided equally among people and families so no one did without. As we were driving down the road to reach this village a bunch of kids came running towards us and ran alongside the truck for the whole 2kms up the driveway. They were doing the usual scream for pens and money. One little girl, probably about 5 or 6 years old ran the whole was asking for pens, with three pens hidden in her hand behind her back. We were thinking that this mans vision was maybe not all it was cracked up to be. However, as we reached the outer limits of the village, the kids slowed down and eventually dropped away. They were obviously not allowed to beg near the gates of the village.
We drove in and instantly noticed the difference. The kids in the village just stared at us, no one was yelling or asking for anything. Farron parked the truck and spoke to one of the leaders. They told him that we were welcome to camp in the village that night if we wished. We set up our tents in the area of grass around the tents and cook group started preparing dinner. Just before dinner the man who started it all came by with an interpreter to tell us about his story and answer any questions we had. It was quite interesting, but we really didnt know enough about the place at that stage to ask any questions.
The smokers made the treck to the village limits to have a cigarette because it was a non-smoking village, and there was one communal drop toilet a short walk down the path. The toilet was in a tiny straw hut that had no door, so during daylight hours we went in pairs. That still didn't stop an ancient lady accidentally walking in on me. She just froze and stared at me for a full minute, then slowly retreated. It was very awkward, but I don't blame her, in her 300 years on earth she had probably never seen such a white ass.
Monday 11th July.
The village.
It was so lovely to finally see the kids let loose a little and not be so shy or reserved. Thier little faces lit up and they were having such a good time. Kids are requird to grow up at such a young age here, kids who should be playing dress-ups with dolls are instead carrying and careing for real babies, kids who should be doing homework are more often doing farmwork. It was by far one of the nicest interactions I have experienced because it was natural, not staged, not for money, just for fun.
We didnt end up starting the village tour until afyer 9.30am and before we waved the kids goodbye, Farron asked our community tour guide if we could leave the ball for the kids as a preseant. The guide said yes, threw the ball into the crowd of kids and told them to share. It was wonderful.
We began the tour in the community kindergarten. Here we learnt that the leader had had these ideals and philosophies since he was a young boy. They were ideals of gender equality, income equality, and life equality. These ideals got him in trouble when he was younger, with his family trying to kill him a few times because they thought he was mentally ill, so he left home and travelled around Ethiopia. When he finally decided to return to his home area, he began carefully telling people about his ideas and philosophies again and found that something had changed. People were far more receptive to his way of thinking. In the early 1970s he started the first community with 66 members, which over a few years dwindled to only 9 members. Those 9 members are now all the founding elders of the community. The village we were in, as there are a few now, had over 400 people living in it. Income is shared amongst all community members evenly and there is a community factory where they spin cotton and make clothes and material to sell to tourists and to locals in the cities, all proceeds of which go into the community kitty. There is gender equality, where the men are required to know how to cook and sew as well as farm and butcher, and the women are required to know farming and butchery, for example, as well as cooking and caring for children. The kids in the village go to school, rather than working on the streets or in the farms. The community beleive that we are all the same- we are all human, and we should treat eachother as such. Never do to someone else what you wouldnt want done to yourself. Simple really, and very interesting seen put into practice.
By now you may have picked up the 'cult vibe' that the village had going on. It never felt oppressive or controlling though. They didnt push a single religion, but chose to beleive all the good parts of all of the religions. They were spiritual, but not tied to any one religion.
It was interesting to see also, how fully self-sustainable the village was. We saw the library, which houses book from kindergarten level right up to university level. We saw the kindergarten and the primary school, however the kids did go elswhere for highschool and university. We saw the elder's dormitory, where they house and care for the elderly members of the community who could no longer care for themselves. It was a little building with numbered cots dug into the mud wall. Very basis, but seeing them interact with the elders, they were so gentle and obviously respectful. It may have been basic, but it was a giant step up from what I have seen to date, where outside the community, elders seem to be kicked out onto the street and left to fend for themselves as soon as they are no longer useful.
We then saw the workshop where the cotton is spun, weaved, dyed and sewed into blankets, clothes and bedding. We bought a dressing gown for only 150birr (US$9). Crazy considering the amount of work that goes into each peice. We also bought a little blanket for each of the twins my sister is about to have. We were asked to sign a visitors book and then the tour was over.
It was great to learn about the philosophies behind the village and then walk through and see how it all worked. I would be very interested to see where it is at in another 10 or 20 years. The leader hopes that his way of life will spread, first around Ethiopia, then around the world. I just dont think something like that could work on a large scale basis, but at least he is doing something to try and make a difference, and to make Ethiopia a better place, not just one known for famine and beggers.
Leaving the community (without ever being handed a plastic cup full of gree cool-aide) we drove back down the 2km road to the main road, and were slammed back into reality by the hoard of young kids running at us from the fields screaming for money and pens. We drove a while down the road and reached Bahir Dar in the early afternoon. Our camp is right on the shores of Lake Tanna, and we were welcomed by a group of 30-40 men bathing in the lake.
The grassy patch on which we could erect our tents were a fair walk away from the toilet block, and was also right alongside a busy public footpath. For security and comfort we chose to upgrade, and got a huge room with an ensuite for only US$10 a night. We stayed up and had drinks until they shut the bar on us. Lucky we upgraded, because I finally caught the tummy bug that was going around and was up at 4.30am spewing. Not nice.
Tuesday 12th July.
R.I.P. fishing rod.
I was in bed all day feeling pretty rotten and watching a discovery documentary on Mount Everest.
Cook group was a wash-out because of the incredible storm, I have never before heard thunder that loud. I could actually feel the vibration in my body. Quite incredible. We ordered dinner from the bar, I had a few mouthfuls of pasta and then went back to bed.
Wednesday 13th July.
Bumming around in Bahir Dar.
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