Bye, Ethiopia!

We left the town of Gondar and its 17th century relics for Aksum, presently a small dusty town, and also home to what was once one of the most powerful kingdoms in the ancient world. The Aksumite kingdom formed around 400BC and at its peak around the first century AD. It grew in part due to its link with Ptolemic Egypt (330 – 320BC). The kingdom was originally Pagan, worshiping the crescent of Almouqah and Circle of Shams along with all of South Arabia. Aksum became a great trading place and even issued its own coins first with Pagan and later with Christian symbols.

Yes, that is correct Aksum is responsible for introducing Christianity to Ethiopia. So the story goes, two Syrian boys, Aesidius and Frumentius accidentally landed in Ethihopia and became slaves of Emperor Ella Amida. After many years the Emperor was impressed with their loyalty, devotion and trustworthiness and they climbed within the ranks of the kingdom. Soon many Christians were hired ad finally Frumentius went to Alexandria asking for a bishop for Ethiopia.

By this time Emperor Ezanas (son of Amida) was in power and he was convinced to convert from his Pagan ways, the 9 Saints from Syra converted his Kingdom. His conversion turned out to be a boom for the economy, which soon had a monoply of the Red Sea. The Aksum empire finally came to an end when they lost control of the trade routes, and by the 8th century Muslim power and influence forced the Aksumites to focus inward.

Ironically, it is said that Mohammed was nursed by an Ethiopian woman, and that some of his followers were welcomed in the Aksumite Kingdome as the fled persecution.

Little remains today of the expansive Aksumite Kingdome. There is a large stellae field on the end of "Main Street" equivalent. From a distance the stellae appear to be tall, rectangular granite stones reaching up to 30m. They are located in a small field with the surrounding village visibly encroaching. OH. Ok 1st century AD Stellae in your backyard anyone? Sticking out like a sore thumb is the "Rome Stellae" which needs an awkward support system after spending nearly 60 years in Rome before being returned to Ethiopia in 2005.

Upon closer inspection, the stellae represent skyscraper-like buildings complete with doors, different floors and windows (with panes). And, here, yet another paralell with Egypt appears. Like the pyramids, the stellae symbolize the authority and greatness of those who are buried underneath them. Every "floor" of the stellae represents a tomb found below and the window panes carved into the granite depict the layout of the tombs below. Aside from the structural decorations, the stellae have carvings representing the sun and moon gods as they were carved before the empire converted to Christianity. These stellae took quite a lot of force to create and erect, first dragging them miles from a quarry, considering the time period of the Aksumite Kingdom.

Guides at Aksume proudly declare that 98% of the site is not excavated despite rumors of solid gold statues sitting beneath the surface. We saw evidence of this as residents tried to sell us Aksumite Kingdom coins that they had found in the dirt. The pattern continued as we searched for "King Ezanas" description which is written in Sabaean, Ge'ez and Greek. It's been compared to the Rosetta Stone of Ethiopia and dates somewhere between 330 and 350AD and records King Ezana's Christian military campaigns.

So, where is such a treasure stored? In a small shack resembling an outhouse, guarded with an elderly man with a staff, meek mannerisms and matchstick legs. We almost walked right by it except the small and faded "Welcome" in red fading paint written on the aluminum door. However, we did inject some energy into the sweet old man by accidentally tipping him 104 Birr (~$9) instead of 5Birr ($0.50). Watching the man practically do jumping jacks made the blunder almost worthwhile.

Additional sites alluding to the Queen of Sheba dot Aksum's landscape. There's Queen of Sheba's bath as well as her palace that, according to archeologists, outdate her existence by at least a millenia. Queen of Sheba does hold an important place in Ethiopian history. According to the Kebra Negast, Ethiopia's National Epic, Queen of Sheba visited King of Soloman in Israel. After agreeing to tutor the young and attractive Queen and take nothing from her as long as she took nothing from him, Solomon welcomed her to his castle. After being purposefully tricked by Solomon to drink some of his water -- and break the agreement -- Queen of Sheba returned to Ethiopia carrying his child, the future King Menelik.

Upon coming of age, Menelik visited Jerusalem and was welcomed by his father and sent home with a group of advisers who refused to leave without the Ark of the Covenant. After stealing it, the Ark is said to sit in St Mary of Zion Church in Aksum and is only allowed to be seen by the Ark's keeper.. not even the patriarch of the church! Stealing a look at the Ark is said to make you go blind. This reasoning is used to justify the large number of blind people in town. (The medical side to me thinks of onchocercosis or chlamydia...). The story of the Solomic line was used by emperors to dominate and rule the people for the next 300 years only ending in 1973 when the derg, a militant communist faction, overthrew the final Emperor, Haile Salassie.

Once again we met up with Ruth and Glenn, the British couple we keep trailing in Ethiopia. We shared laughter and "firanji" food at the one restaurant that serves it in Aksum. Ethiopian food is wonderful, although I can only handle it once every few days. This is most likely because on Day #2 in the country I overestimated the defense of my stomach and ate a nice plate of "injera" with the Rastafarian couple at a gas station. I paid the consequences for a few days (and so did Alberto), one of them being at a hotel with no functioning toilet. The second reasons is that we've found very little variety in the food because we've come during the equivalent of Lent, during which all Ethiopians fast. Fasting for them means no eating before 3pm and only non-animal products. Imagine our shame planting up the steep slopes of the Simien Mountains eating every chance we got to learn our crew was fasting!

So what happens to the carnivorous firanji? Alberto and I have been able to find mmmmaybe 1 restaurant in each town (apparently the church has a big stronghold in the rural areas regarding restaurant orders) willing to serve meat/animal products. But, I've also eaten pizza with no cheese and spaghetti for breakfast because Alberto and I went out on the town looking for "variety".

Injera, the traditional Ethiopian carbohydrate (or "Warm Flannel" as described by Glenn), is a spongy bread that generally takes up the space of a small table. Usually it's covered with meat products mixed in generous proportions of sauce. You eat with only your right hand and everyone shares the same food.

So, firanji food hungry, we left for our last town, Lalibela, which sits in the northern part of Ethiopia and is by far the most rural. This is very interesting considering that it is the country's largest tourist attraction.

I found being a tourist in Lalibela disappointing, as we had negative experiences with 2 separate hotel managers. Plus, I wasn't prepared for the huge price hikes -- what we paid $30/night in Lalibela, we would pay $9 in any other town -- without the equivalent hike in cleanliness and comfort.

Luckily, the poor tourist experience was not able to detract from the main tourist attraction, the "Rock Hewn" churches. Dubbed "The Petra of Africa" 11 churches are free standing with one of those churches having the roof remain pure mountain. Lalibela was named a World Heritage site (some of the church's importance has been marked by hideous UNESCO gas-station-like roofs) and ranks among the greatest religious historical sites in the Christian world.

While visiting the churches, you must first descend down a mountainside and after passing through a tunnel, or "doorway" you find yourself in a pit standing next to a church literally carved from rock (all one piece) towering in front of you. You cannot reach every church via direct passage, some you can only get through via tunnels or doorways made out from a mountainside. We even passed through a 25m underground tunnel to reach 1 church.

Each church holds not only 12th century artwork and golden crosses, but also lots of symbolism. The Bet Giyorgis Church, in a shape of a cross and supposedly symbolizes Noah's Ark. Each church inside holds a cross of different style and as we toured the inside of the church a church member would proudly display the cross in front of us. In fact, one of these 12th century crosses was sold to a Belgium tourist for only $25,000 a few years back. Ethiopia recovered the cross, but every since then the government has hired guards who spend day and night on the church grounds. And where do these guards sleep in the middle of a rock pit? In old church builder graves (of course!) found on the mountain's walls. They look like small caskets also carved from the wall. You can identify currently occupied vs not occupied graves by the presence of a blanket.

These magnificent churches were built by Emperor Lalibela (1185-1225). It's unsure regarding his motivation. One theory states Lalibela was in Jerusalem fleeing persecution and was impressed with the buildings, while another says that he had a heavenly vision. Some of the names in Lalibela are similar to those found in Jerusalem such as River Jordan, Calvary and the Tomb of Adam.

All 11 churches are said to have been built in a total of 23 years. Locals believe that this feat was completed with a local workforce toiling by day and cherubs working by night while scholars contend that it would have taken a workforce of 40,000 people. No matter how they were completed I highly recommend a visit to all of you.

We spent our final 2 days in Addis Ababa completing our circle around the country. Our final day coincided with Orthodox Palm Sunday (Roman Catholic Easter) and everyone on the streets was wearing palm leaves intricately woven into patterns on their heads (crowns), fingers and wrists.

From my emails, I'm sure you can all tell that I enjoyed Ethiopia. No other place has sparked my interest in history like Ethiopia -- perhaps that's because so much of their history involves legend and imagination. Additionally, Ethiopia played such an important role in early human civilization and evolution.

As I head back to Egypt, I'm also more aware that these 2 countries are more connected than I ever could have imagined -- dating back to the Land of Punt when Ethiopia was seen as providing a crucial link for the pharaohs to India and the Far East in 2920BC! [This early mixing is responsible for Arabic and Amharic being so similar]. Religiously, Mohammad's followers stayed in Ethiopia while Alexandria had important influence over Orthodox Christianity. Typing these thoughts from Alexandria, I feel the connection between the two countries even more.

However, despite all of their historical connections, I know traveling in Egypt will be very different than Ethiopia. :)