Posted June 2015 - sorry no fotos yet
23 – 24 December 2011
Fly to Axum – City of
Faith
Two nights
Another easy trip and check into the Africa Hotel. Walking
through town to check out the sights, the highlights of this town are faith
based and very historic. First up one (yes one) ticket covers all the sights in
town, and is good for the time you stay here – this must qualify as an
Ethiopian bargain!
Check out the Aksumite stelae – fields of them! They were
used as tombstones and monuments to local rulers throughout nth east Africa and
here they are in abundance – ranging in size form 1m – 33m, all sculpted from
single pieces of granite with superb detail and architectural design. This
northern field has over 120 stelae, most fallen & prone now. One, the King
Ezana’s Stele was described in 1805, by a traveller, Henry Salt and holds great
religious significance. Of course there are many more remaining unexcavated but
in the end a stele is a stele and I will admit I was a little underwhelmed by
these sights.
Now The Ark of the Covenant – this is a sight for true
believers, mainly because you will never get in to see if this biblical relic
is really there – just believe the priests and pay your entrance to the church
grounds and that is as far you can go. Just believe!
Then there are the tales Aksum was the home of the Queen of
Sheba and her Bath is still in use today for clothes washing. Of course, there are churches here – St Mary
of Zion the most famous – there are tombs, museums and plenty more stellae. The
St Mary of Zion Churches – old was great & the new is quite ugly but it did
have a great little museum attached to it. But after the highlight of
Lalibela’s rock churches, I am sated for sights & happy to move on after
visiting the archaeological museum here. Meeting Tony (UK) gives me the heads
up on a bus he has been offered tomorrow to Mekele – even though I am only
going as far as Wukro this will suit me, and the agent turns up with the owner
of the bus. We haggle a price and I am more than happy with plans to get away
easily tomorrow.
24 – 26 Dec 2011
WUKRO
Attempts to visit
rural churches
Early morning 5.30am and one minibus is nearly full – I am
last in. But what about Tony? So I demur – bad move and then spend the next
hour waiting for the next bus to fill… But I did bag the front seat and for
this trip through the mountains the road is amazing, and the views
breathtaking. Stopping in Adwa it’s an early lunch for all of us – a ‘carb’ special
of pasta, potatoes, bread, a sprinkling of vegies and plenty of berbere sauce
to liven it up – another dish that is strangely tasty. I get dropped in Wukro
and a couple of young men approach me, who speak good English “we are from
Mekele, we are researchers" but they are not helpful when I ask for
Teklimillenium Guesthouse, no they don’t know where it is. They can recommend
me a hotel but I tell them I want a guest house - $20? No, $5. They laugh and I
head off up the road to find the guesthouse a few doors up and get a room for
$2. Heading back out I meet the same guys again and ask them if they know where
I can get fasting food – they laugh again saying, this is small town, no fast
food here. With this I become exasperated – they know too little and make
assumptions. I find a place across the road with good food and I end up eating
most of my meals there for a couple for dollars each time. I find the Chirkos
church but don’t pay the entrance, preferring to sit in the courtyard watching
the devotions of locals and listening to the chanting that is communicated via
a loudspeaker. The priest here is friendly but I have heard that this isn't the
case at the majority of churches around here. I head to the southern end of
town to find the tourist office – they are helpful to the point of showing me
hand drawn map and offering me a rental minivan for 1000 birr to visit two
churches. This sounds a little steep so they advise me to try a couple of
hotels to find more farinji to share with. I ask around but end up confirming I
am the only farinji in town. Going back he agrees with me and I ask why he sent
me to the hotels if he knew this?? He laughs and instead advises me to try for
a couple for churches north of Wukro using public transport. How will I find
the church? “Take a kid for a guide” Shouldn’t the kid be in school? “Oh that
doesn’t matter”… hmmm Next morning after a little bit of argy bargy at the
guesthouse about no water again, I head out, find the right mini bus and show
the conductor the name of the church asking to be dropped at the junction.
Instead I end up getting dropped further north at the village of north, so I try
again as the junction is a good three of four kms south. Another young bloke
gets on and offers to take me to the church turn off, the minibus loads up, we
take off and then I get out with the young bloke to find I am at the Petros and
Paulos churches turn off, still four kms short of where I want to go, and I am
watching the lift I had driving away. I walk some more, get another lift from
another mini bus and look for the supposed sign. I spot one, get out and find
that it’s a US Aid sign. Walking further, kids offer to take me to the church,
five or six kms away. By now the sun is high, way too hot and I really cannot
be bothered so I find a nice heap of shaded stones and wait for a lift. I am a
source of wonder and amazement for anyone passing, especially the children who
demand a pen or money. One girl comes along and shoos a young boy who won’t
walk away and then proceeds to demand a pen for herself. She shows me the
branch of a gum tree she uses to sweep the road??? Most minibuses are full but
a 4wd pulls up for me and I get back to Wukro in time to finish my washing
using newly found water, have lunch, relax and walk around town some more. It
must be my imagination because the demands for anything seem to have eased off
– and folk are smiling. Buying bananas again I receive a gift of an orange! The
coffee shop is chatty and kind and I think I am beginning to relax a bit.
Perhaps I will stay another day or so, forget about the churches and just soak
up a bit of rural Ethiopia just for fun. Asking back at the tourist office to
tell them about my abject failure this morning I ask about visiting another
churches west of Wukro – tomorrow is market day and transport will be heading
past there? “Yes but only a 50/50 chance of getting transport back” so I weigh
it up and decide that I can do without the stress especially as this church is
reputed to be unfriendly to tourists so spend the afternoon to revisit Chirkos
church, this time paying the admission to enter and admire ancient, faded
frescoes, watch the fervent adorations of young and old as they sing, chant and
pray for hours on end. The priest is
very friendly again, feeding me something that that I give away to the begging
kids outside the church gates. Relaxing afternoon with polite children with big
wide smiles, who are excited to shake hands with me. Some school kids are a bit
silly and one boy comes up asking for pen with a pen in his hand. At least the
demands for money have stopped and I am feeling relaxed and ready for more
travel on the tourist trail again.
PS A common question
I am asked is “how is the air conditioning here in Ethiopia?” Huh? I now know
they are asking me if the weather is to my liking!
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