Ethiopia is amazing

I never thought I would write that I loved Ethiopia sooooooo much that I couldn't wait to go back, but here we are. I love Ethiopia, so much so that if I were offered a job there, I would for sure consider taking it. Hard to pinpoint exactly why, the people might tip the scales. I like them far more than Kenyans, they are nice and helpful, not too pushy. The food is ok, I am not a huge fan of Ethiopian normally, obviously much better in situ, but still, the bread makes me sort of gag.

So Aine, Shannon and I did the weekend trip there, Thursday night to Monday morning. The first 2 nights we stayed at the Sheraton, which I must say was an AMAZING hotel, almost the best hotel I have ever stayed at. The grounds were very well maintained, and the rooms were really nice. And they picked us up from the airport. What more can you ask for? Addis is a decent capital city, by African standards. We spent the day on foot walking around and exploring. We did the Mercato (largest market in Africa - although very big, so if I go back, the next time I will do it with a guide). We went to St. Georges church (Ethiopian Orthodox, comes from the Coptic orthodox), which was interesting. There are Islamic and Judaic influences (women and men are on separate sides, women cannot go into certain places because they are unclean). He is also the patron saint of the country and the name of a bar in Phoenix. Very exciting. I became a fan of his beer (St. George's beer), but sadly Ethiopia has not gotten to the point where they sell beer shirts and beer glasses to tourists. We went to some cafes and had great coffee and pastries. We shopped for gold and silver jewelry. We had great food at Habesha 2000 for dinner, saw some dancing unlike anything I have ever seen before. Did I like Addis?

From there, we hopped a flight to Lalibela, which was a one up to Addis. Lalibela is the icing on the cake, the cherry on top of the sundae, the coup de gras. It is this funky town that is famous for churches built out of rock. And when I say built from rocks, they actually carved them out of the mountains. It was insane. There are 14 of them, give or take, and we saw all of them, save one we couldn't enter because we were women. Of course I couldn't stand for that, so I made our guide translate a conversation to the priest there. The guy humored me for 5 minutes, in the end the rules are the rules, and no women allowed. But I had fun trying. We saw churches all afternoon, went to the market (where I learned the price of goats - 2000 birr I think - which is like $200 - not too bad). We went to dinner in a hole in the wall local place with our guide (I was forced to dance, so thanks to the Indians for teaching me how to dance with my shoulders). We had beers and stayed up late. The next day we went to see a service as well as a wedding, which was the highlight of the trip. Singing and dancing around the church, drum banging, praying, incense, a total assault on the senses. And everyone dressed in white. Church started at 5am and went to 9am. No wonder they need sticks to keep them propped up for the service.

I always thought Ethiopia as a dry place, but I guess after the rainy season, it is super green. The drive around Lalibela is amazing. Lush green hills, trees in bloom, it was really beautiful. Then back to the airport and to Addis, where we had a drink on a hill overlooking the city, and dinner at the Indian place int eh Sheraton (everything else was closed, it was Sunday I suppose).

Great, great place. And so much more to see - Gondor (castles), Aksum (theoretically where the Ark of the Covenant is), Simeon Mountains, the list goes on. What can I say, sucker for good people, history, and culture.