Ni siquiera es su nombre, sino el apodo con que lo conocen sus amigos. Eyayaw tiene 17 años y hace diez que vive en Lalibela. Nació a unos 40 km., en un poblado cercano a la apartada iglesia de Yemrehanna Kristos.
Anja
Another day on the road. We leave Antsirabe to go to Ambalavao, 320km away. We're stuck for about one hour by roadwork. There's no one working and we suspect they broke for lunch but traffic is suspended until they come back... whatever. The road is good at the beginning by it starts zigzagging so much that we have no choice but to look at the road to avoid being sick; so much for using these long hours stuck in the car for reading or writing the blog... Just before reaching Fianaransoa we get to experience the worst asphalt road ever. I don't see how it could be worse. It used to be asphalt but it now is a pothole after the next.
De la abeja a la iglesia y de la miel al vino
Para según qué trayectos, es practico volar en Etiopía, sobre todo si entras en el país con la compañía nacional porque te hacen buenos descuentos en los vuelos interiores. Hacia y desde Lalibela yo diría que es, además, imprescindible por la situación de la ciudad y las condiciones de acceso.
Tsingy's and Baobabs
A shower with hot water and a bed are luxuries we don't take for granted anymore. Coming across that magic combo is such a treat after three days on the river :D We even get used to wake up at 6am these days. Today's program is Broadway in the "grand Tsingy" and the "petit Tsingy" in the late afternoon. We start the day just like we finished it yesterday, in the 4wd on a tough road. We have 20km to cover to the trail head, 1h drive ;)
De ángeles y leones
Mucho tiene Gonder de historia de castillos y caballeros y señores de la guerra, protegida entre sus montañas y orgullosa sobre su colina. Fundada en 1636 por el emperador Fasiladas ("Fasil" para los lugareños) por su situación estratégica entre tres rutas comerciales, Gonder fue, tras Lalibela, la segunda capital permanente de Abisina durante más de un siglo, a caballo entre el XVI y el XVII. Su influencia decayó con la fragmentación del poder entre los señores de la guerra, cada uno regidor de un pequeño territorio y en teoría fieles al rey que acabó siendo una mera marioneta en sus manos. El resultado fue una estado permanente de guerra civil entre reinos feudales que se saldó con la llegada al poder del emperador Tewodros a mediados del XIX, un Robin Hood etíope tan impetuoso en sus esfuerzos por la unificación y modernización del país como despiadado al aplastar cualquier oposición. Para Gonder fue "el héroe del milenio" y así lo reza la estatua que le dedican en el centro de la piazza.
Row row row your boat
Not completely recovered from yesterday, we stack up in the minibus and head to Miandrivazo. One of the thing that strikes us in comparison with Ethiopia is the elaborate irrigation system used here. Rice fields require a lot of water but it only became possible because of a common effort to develop a complex system of canals. Little by little though the culture are sparser. The lands is more and more yellow and barren. The only constant is the police controls. We hit a bit of zebu traffic at some point but it doesn't last long. The zebus are so much bigger than the Ethiopian caws by the way. We arrive at the hotel just in time to enjoy the sun setting on the river and on the rice fields.
Mad' organization
We arrive in Kenya after a short fly but with a 5h layover in front of us. The airport is without a doubt more modern than the Addis' one. It's boring to have to wait in an airport but in one of the shops we find an inflatable neck pillow for me. I don't use it in the plane but it works marvel when camping for me. Finally we board along with a class of English teenagers girls and their teacher. We end up string next to the French teacher if the group and she's happy to practice her French with us. They have been preparing this for 3 years and the two weeks camping adventure finally begins for them! Arrived at Antananarivo airport, we wish them luck for their adventure, go through custom in breeze (free 30 days visa, yeah Madagascar!) then start shopping for a local SIM card.
Harar
Tej does not make you pee but there's no escaping the hangover. We're flying again today but from Lalibela it was never an option not to fly. By bus it would take us 2 days to get to Addis and 1 additional day to arrive in Harar as opposed to a two 1 hour flight... a no-brainer. We're supposed to have a bit more than an hour between flights in Addis but when we arrive to check-in to the Harar flight, the guy jumps on us for being late! They changed the scheduled (again) and failed to verify they had connecting passengers. On the bright side, it's great to be expected, everything goes so much faster :D On arrival, we are gifted with yet another passport/visa control. It's beyond ridiculous, especially since the guy is doing mistakes all the time with names, passport number, countries, etc.. these sheets would be worthless if they really needed the information.
New Jerusalem
Back at the churches, it's now time to haggle he price with a guide. We're patient so we get a decent price. The guide's English is good on top of that so we're lucky because we talked to a few of them yesterday that had a terrible English and we could not imagine spending the whole day with someone trying to explain us things in broken English.
Mountain hopping
Day 19: We were supposed to travel by bus to Lalibela but changed our mind and booked a flight for the next day. We have no electricity for most of the day and no internet... so we rest and process the pictures of the last few days ;)
Day 20: Today, we're hoping over the mountains over to Lalibela. It's a 25min flight that would take us the whole day by road. It's graduation as we drive to the airport. They have a very Anglo-Saxon way of doing it too (with robes, etc...).