Epiphany: My understanding of the word was that it meant a sudden revelation or realization. As it happens, this is definition #3 from the Oxford dictionary. The word originates with the baptism of Christ. And where better to celebrate such an occasion than in Ethiopia, a country that embraced Christianity before Europe!
The rich tapestry of the country’s history is woven with fascinating facts and legends: the oft-told story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; the voyage of the Ark of the Covenant; the growth of the former Axumite Kingdom; the birth of Christianity; the subsequent rise of Islam; the story of King Lalibela; and the castes of Gondar. Recorded history stretches back over 4,000 years and ancient contact with Greece, Persia and Egypt nurtured and strengthened the culture of northern Ethiopia creating the Axumite kingdom that dominated the vital crossroads of Africa and Asia for almost a thousand years. From the 13th to the 16th century, intellectual culture continued to flourish with the establishment of monasteries, the writing of successive royal chronicles, and the translation of texts into Ge’ez. Imperial splendor grew in tandem with these developments and eventually gravitated towards the beautiful fortress city of Gondar. At the same time, the Islamic mercantile culture of Ethiopia emerged alongside that of the Christians. The city of Harar is a good example of this alternative strand of Ethiopia’s vast and diverse heritage and occupies a privileged place along the historical route.
And these were some of the places Explore would take us on our 14-day Blue Nile and Lalibela tour. From my notes…
“It’s Africa and I’m glad to be back in this rich soil… the muezzin woke us up around 6:30 in the morning with his call to prayer… you’re not in Kansas anymore We took a taxi to take us to the Mercato, the market.Advertised as the biggest in East Africa, certainly bigger than anything I’ve seen in East Africa.We knew we’d better get a guide so our driver came along.and a guy in red came volunteered to take us in. We had to direct him a bit as we wanted to go to the food areas – spices galore and what aromas – all the ladies in this section with loads of laughter bursting out with me encouraging them to smile and not be afraid from my camera. They washed my shoes, I thought they would shine them but the guy used hand soap and a sponge. One of the things I love about Africa is expecting the unexpected. It’s a wild place and we walked about 2 hours Many interesting things for sale : baskets, sponge mattresses, shawls, metal pipes, beautifully colored bolts, material, and really more shoes than a nation needs. Ann said that there must be many places to go because there are more shoes for sale than she had seen. I loved wandering around and sharing smiles…people are so friendly and eager to say hello.
Dinner time came and we went to a very traditional restaurant. It was built like a traditional hut with a central post and struts going up from the walls towards the center.
Beautiful paintings on the panels (between the stanchions) of Ethiopians doing traditional chores. And they had some paintings on smaller pieces of that Egyptian papyrus paper to cover the lamps. The tables (large hollow woven baskets) are covered with a lid and tablecloth. They remove the cloth and leave you the drinks. Then a guy shows up with warm water, soap, and a tin bowl. You have to wash your hands! They move the drinks to a small side table when the food arrives. It was a large tin pan about 2 feet wide. They put out a piece of “injera” (their word for local bread) and then place the dishes you order on the “bread”. The food (or “wat”) was chicken (a bit spicy) and lamb (a bit spicy) and a bit of sticky greens which I liked. Then you take rolled up pieces of the “injera” and scoop up some of the fillings or “wat”, tossing them into your mouth hoping you miss your shirt on the way to your mouth. And when you get to the ends, you eat the bottom layer of injera and the food that has been soaked in it! When you’re done, they come back with the water, the soap, and the container so you can wash up again. With 2 Sprites, the cost was $7. And when we were somehow done, the taxis knew it when they showed up at the door to take us to the hotel. All the first day.
My head spins. And now, as I write this, I’m listening to the local version of Stand by Me, Green Green Grass of Home and If Loving You is Wrong from the lobby bar’s live band. Saturday night in Addis. There is nothing better than this.
In Bahir Dar we took a walk to see the Blue Nile and Tississat Falls. The falls are not what they used to be as the government built a dam about 6 years ago. The neighboring town not only lost its tourist attraction and its water supply, the town doesn’t even have electricity! Shameful. Afternoon boat ride on Lake Tana to see a 13th-century church built on one of the islands. Charming. The next town was Gondar, which doesn’t mean much to all of you, but it was the main stop for many of us, as it is where we were going to experience Timkat, the celebration of the epiphany of Christ. Each church has a replica of the Ark of the Covenant and these replicas are put together by the chief priests of each church. A parade heads to the town’s main “toilet” and the “tabots” are housed in tents; priests and large crowds spend the night nearby praying and celebrating, the next day from 4 am the bath water is consecrated and then there is a religious service and communion. The “tabots” are then paraded back through town to each church, but everyone in the pools jumps in for a swim; there is singing and dancing; Some people take home a bottle of holy water in case they get sick later in the year; this holy water will help them improve. Leftover communion bread is burned and the ashes are saved to give people a teaspoon at a time next year…very exciting to be a part of.
A fabulous drive through the Rift Valley to the next town (Debark) where we would stay for 2 nights. Good restaurant here – 2 of the best meals of the trip. The day between the 2 nights in this paradise was spent in the Simien Mountains. As we drove through the area, it looked like pictures I had seen of the Grand Canyon. Very beautiful. For the hikers there was a day of hiking and for the rest of us we had lunch in a paddock with 1 horse, 2 dozen goats and 6 small children who were greedily looking at us and trying to sell us their woolen hats. I think we had a better time reading and writing postcards. Oh yeah, we also saw a herd of about 100 baboons digging for roots.
A very long drive the next day to the city of Axum, home of the Queen of Sheba. Lots of stories about her and her romance with King Solomon and the son she had, Menelik. Did she exist? Well, theorists and archaeologists are well into her research and the feeling is that she did and her kingdom stretched from Yemen to Ethiopia and southern Egypt. Axum is considered the birthplace of Christianity and here is the Ark of the Covenant closely guarded by a hermit. Only the eyes of the highest priests have seen the royal Ark as it remains guarded, shrouded and locked in a building on the grounds of St. Mary of Zion Church.
Lalibela is next door and it was wonderful. Just to think that people carved 11 of these churches out of the stone hillside. You can spend 2-3 days wandering around the city visiting the churches… St George’s Church (which they went to on the Amazing Race for fans of reality TV shows) was amazing. The reason that particular church was built was that King Lalibela had built around 22 other churches in the area to honor all kinds of saints. Then Saint George (the patron saint of Ethiopia) came down to visit on his horse and was very sad. He asked King Lalibela why no church had been built to honor Saint George himself. The king quickly realized his mistake and had this majestic built. The Biet Giorgis church is carved in the shape of a Greek cross and is accessed through a passageway that was also carved into the rock. Another church you can visit, by mule, is the Ashatan Maryam Church, where you are rewarded with stunning views of the highlands. All sorts of fables like the one told here were told to us by our guides in each town about the paintings, etc., which are also inside the churches. Very funny.
Our last stop with Explore was Harar and it really is an “old” city. Probably one of my favorites insofar as it’s so alive. Like going back in time…before almost everything we know! We took a walking tour this morning and everything here is considered useful…everything is recycled, just one example is car tires being turned into rubber sandals. The ladies were all smiles in the market and the kids were running after us constantly calling us “ferengi” foreigners. In the markets here you can buy filigree jewelry, shawls and mats, as well as many foods such as spices and grains. This ancient walled city with 87 mosques and 300 shrines has only 5 gates and explorer Richard Burton snuck into the forbidden Muslim fortress in 1854 by dressing as an Arab merchant. It is considered by many to be the fourth holiest city in the Islamic world. Mosques fill with the whispers of prayer and the clicking of rosary beads.
The eastern part of the country is predominantly Muslim, but you know what? In Ethiopia being a Christian or a Muslim is irrelevant because people have a lot of religious tolerance and respect. Muslims, for example, do not demand to build a mosque in Axum because they understand that Axum is a holy Christian city. In fact, we saw a funeral procession of a Muslim person while we were in Axum and the cemetery was quite a distance from the city.
Omo Valley was next as we hired a driver and land cruiser to take us south. We only had a few days of a taste of some tribal villages: Dorze, Tsemay Mursi and Konso. Lonely Planet writes: “The Omo people may lack any form of advanced material culture, but they have developed art forms that allow them not only great artistic expression, but also serve important social and cosmetic purposes. The practice of painting scarification developed by the tribes is one of the most ornate and extravagant seen anywhere in the world. For most Omo tribes, scarification serves as a distinction for brave warriors; men cannot scarify themselves until have killed at least one enemy. Women, enhanced skin texture is considered highly desirable, and is said to have sensual value for men.” There is a fee to visit the villages and a fee for photos, but you won’t see traditional cultures anywhere else in the country. As Lonely Planet put it: “Some travelers may be disappointed or even shocked by the seemingly mercenary nature of the different peoples, or the seeming voyeurism of the encounter. Tourism can even help preserve the groups and their traditions by helping them financially.”
And finally, for those of you who need your coffee every day, it was first grown here in Ethiopia! They even have a special ceremony to serve it… and sometimes it even comes with popcorn.
So let’s go back to what I said at the beginning: expect the unexpected and you will love this wild place.