Lalibela, Ethiopia
July 25th, 2008>> Rating (5 stars is best) >>> 
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(0 Ratings) Loading ...Of the 100 or so archeological sites in the world, Lalibela ranks easily in the top 6 or 8 as most spectacular. Many of the 12th and 13th Century rock-hewn churches are monolithic, meaning that they are freed entirely out of a single surface of rock. The most impressive by far is Bete Giyorges, which was the final church to be built by King Lalibela.
The Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela:
Due to the poor transportation network in Ethiopia I was forced to fly so as to avoid the 3 day bus journey (only about 160 Km/92 Mi.). Fortunately this gave me extra time to spend in Lalibela which I ended up needing due to nearly 2 full days of constant rain. With 2 other fully days I had ample time to see all of the 11 rock-hewn churches in town, although I never made it out to the farther monasteries due to the high cost associated with private tours and not enough tourists to do them with.
[To be continued...]
St. Mary of Zion is where many believe the Ark of the Covenant currently rests but which access is prohibited by all except one lone monk and it remains perpetually un-verifiable.” border=”0″ />To save myself a stopover in some dinky town and an extra morning of travel I traveled to Aksum by private Land Rover with a group of Dutch Med Students I had met in Gonder. The trip was long, cramped, expensive ($300 total is a ton in Africa even with 10 hours of fuel) but the scenery in the 
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Of all the local food between South Africa and Ethiopia I have found 
Even though the food is good I found it hard to digest Injera more than once a day so would have the other of my 2 Ethiopian meals of the day with bread. Normally I am not a big breakfast fan but I found bread was an especially fine companion for my favorite Ethiopian breakfast (or for me often lunch) food that was sometimes called Ukilasis (sp?) and sometimes just [Scrambled] Eggs with [Beri-Beri] Sauce. I actually make eggs somewhat the same way by scrambling salsa with the raw eggs before cooking and I found this version even more tasty so I had to buy some of this delicious spice to recreate the simple but delicious dish upon my return. 
After two nights in bustling and freezing cold Addis Ababa (60 degrees was the high with lots of rain) I hopped an over-priced, 10 hour mini bus for 
After surviving the horrible Kenyan death-roads (likely the worst roads in the world) and 2 days of buses from Kigali, Rwanda through Kampala, Uganda, I ended up in shady Nairobi, Kenya (affectionately known as Nai-robbery by locals although thankfully I had no problems). After one full day and 2 nights there I hopped another long distance bus for Mombasa, on the South Coast of Kenya. The Swahili culture is one evolved over many generations of intermarrying between Arab, Indian and African traders along the coast of Africa from the South end of Somalia through Kenya, Tanzania and into Northern Mozambique and extending only about 10 miles inland along the coast and throughout the islands (Zanzibar and Lamu being the most prominent isles). Although ethnically the culture is centered along this coastal regions both Kenya and Tanzania have adopted Swahili as their official language (although with slightly different variations). 
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