Monday, January 31, 2011

Time Passages (Ethiopia)

We hooked up with a group of men made up of three Spaniards, one Italian and an American for the 5 hour joint loosening bus ride for two days of high altitude hiking on the escarpment of the Simien National Park, compared (by Ethiopian Tourism) to the Grand Canyon (to be fair, it is a bona fide UNESCO World Heritage Site).  After several hours of hiking, we spent New Year’s Eve shivering at the -5C temperatures at a camp site 3900 metres above sea level singing various typical festive songs.  We couldn’t wait until midnight so we picked a country with a midnight more proximate to 8 pm (Burma), made a toast and retired to our tents.   The next morning Les and I discovered that midnight at home coincided with 8 am the next day – so we had really had our New Year’s toast for breakfast.




After what seemed like an eternity of peaks and valleys along what Lance (the American in the group) appropriately called the “death march”, we reached the van for the ride back, but not before stopping roadside to interact with some 50-60 endemic Gelada Baboons.


Ethiopia is quite unique within Africa, fiercely proud of the fact that they are the one nation on the continent that has never been colonized.  They also have their own calendar, language and even clock system (they start their day at 6 am – which they treat as midnight – so everything is off by six hours).  Luckily we caught our flight as scheduled as the airlines stick with conventional time.

Lalibela offers the most insights into the devoutly religious and spiritual behaviors, especially in the week leading up to Orthodox Christmas.  Pilgrims find any way possible to reach the town in time, many villagers walking for weeks, barefoot and with only a few belongings and trading goods.  The attraction is a set of 11 remarkable “rock-hewn” churches from the twelfth century, carved both inside and out of the natural landscape.   While spectacular in and of themselves for the unique architecture, these structures are not simply vestiges from the past for posterity, but rather, living temples brimming with the religious faithful seeking and finding spiritual contentment. 


For many of the pilgrims this may also have been the first time they have encountered “Westerners” and we may have been part of their enlightenment.  Both the adults and children were innocently fascinated with modern digital photography (and not in the way experienced in some other third-world countries – knowingly demanding money for permission to photograph them).  When shown their own images on camera view screens, they reacted in genuine disbelief as if they had never seen their own likeness (did they not even ever use a mirror?).




That night we met up with some of the Simien group and said our good-byes over some Tej (honey wine) and local dancing.



From Lalibela we grabbed a quick 45 minute flight to Axum (on one of the Ethiopian airlines fleet of Bombardier Q400 no less – nice to see some Canuck inroads into Africa).  Axum is famous for the mysterious Stellae – large granite monoliths standing 20 metres high and weighing as much as 500 tons, strewn about the area.  Conjecture as to their origin includes prayer stones or tomb covers. 



Legend also has it that the original Ark of the Covenant is housed in the local Cathedral of St. Mary of Zion (conveniently located across the street from the largest Stellae field), but the proof is elusive given that access is conveniently forbidden.  The story of its arrival in Ethiopia is local lore and a bit of a seamy one.  King Solomon became smitten with the Queen of Sheba while she was on a visit to Jerusalem. They had an illicit affair producing a son named Menelik (the first of the Ethiopian royal lineage - Emperor Haile Selassie claimed to be the 225th monarch in the dynasty).  After coming of age, Menelik returned to visit his estranged father and allegedly secretly absconded with the precious cargo.

 
Our new covenant rests with some savannah safari animals waiting for us in Kenya.

For more Ethiopia photos - check out flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegoobers_pics/sets/72157625820988313/

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Country Road (Ethiopia)

Being back in Africa is both refreshing and frustrating.  We know we’ll have some difficulties with technology and banking (which is why it has taken so long for us to post the last few blogs), but things will also be more authentic, innocent and in the case of the extremely observant Orthodox Ethiopia, pious.


For the next week or so we will be following their “historical” route, but we first got some introductory tribal and cultural background at the Ethnological Museum in the Capital, Addis Ababa, housed in the ex-palace of Haile Selassie (now part of the University grounds).  We also visited the National Museum whose pride and joy is “Lucy” - the 2 million year-old homo-erectus anthropological link to today’s humans found in the desert of the rift valley.


Bahar Dar is our first stop, situated on the south shore of Lake Tana.  A couple of hours boat ride allows for a visit to the source of the Blue Nile as well as a series of 17th Century island monasteries.  These cloistered enclaves are plastered with homage paintings of new and old testament parables although the style looks more caricature in nature.  Despite the testaments of the devout, based on the vivid colours, these have obviously been retouched more than a few times over the centuries.

 
We decided to test the local intercity bus system and caught the 8am mini-bus for the 4 hour journey to Gondar.  If you want to get the full flavor of rural life, this is where the rubber hits the road – literally.  Villages dot the landscape adjacent to the highway, often atop steep cliffs or down precipitous valley paths.  It must be difficult to traverse since so many people just seem to be lying about perilously close to the side of the highway looking spent.  In the distance we could see herding dogs and boy shepherds shorter than their sheep.  At one point we stopped, seemingly for one of the passengers to disembark, but she simply stopped to shop for some vegetables and returned to the bus (what service)!  After a series of swerves to avoid dead animals in the roadway, we slowed for a more novel obstacle, where two men with colourful upside down umbrellas approached from both sides of the vehicle.  We were perplexed until folks on the bus slid open their windows and tossed coins into the convenient alms receptacles being collected for the construction of a new local church (who needs toll booths or Easypass?).

Gondar has been described as the Camelot of Africa (not sure by who other than Ethiopian Tourism) owing to the series of medieval castles, that would seem more at home on an English Moor. 

We travelled a few kilometers out if town to visit a Fellasha (native Black Jews) village and encountered only a few abandoned structures (synagogue, cemetery) with a caretaker selling crucifix necklaces and other Christian paraphernalia.  Perplexed, we later learned that after much domestic discrimination, almost all Ethiopian Fellashas had been given permission to immigrate to Israel over the last number of years.


Amazing what a roll of Canadian Nickels Gets you as a following

Gondar is also a convenient gateway to the Simien Mountains where we hope to go trekking for a few days.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Silent Night (Jordan)

It is Christmas Eve, in a Muslim nation, but we are staying in Madaba, a quaint suburb of Amman that is 30% Christian, so maybe there will be some festivities.  There are some street decorations, lights and even a tree in the town square.

But first, we’ll spend the day at nearby religious and secular sites.  Mount Nebo is one of the pilgrimage places we’ll see- famed as the Mountain where Moses was to view Israel, but was not allowed to proceed and is said to have perished (much dispute centres around the whereabouts of the grave/tomb).  Little did we know, when we crossed the Red Sea from mainland Egypt, climbed Mount Sinai, saw the burning bush and now Mount Nebo – that we had created our own “Moses Trail”.


The exact site of Jesus’ baptism has also been in dispute for some time, but a few years ago, Pope JP II and the heads of the various Orthodox churches officially agreed that it was at Bethany, and it is now another holy pilgrimage point.  There are various explanations offered as to fact that the exact location has no water – mostly having to do with the receding Jordan River.  One can, however, walk down a set of stairs into the current flow for your own makeshift baptism (incidentally – there is an identical site on the Israeli side and this may be the closest “unofficial” border crossing in the Middle East, but our guide suggested not making eye-contact with anybody we see on the “other” side).

Our last stop (secular) of the day was to be our second attempt at the Dead Sea (remember we were blown out on the Israeli side a few weeks earlier).  Second time is a charm – a warm sunny day at Amman beach and a floating we will go.  The Sea is the lowest point on earth, at minus 420 meters, the waters are suppose to be medicinal with recuperative powers from the minerals, salts and mud – we’ll let you know.

Back in Madaba the central square Christmas tree remained unlit,

there were few festivities, so we visited the St. Georges church with an ancient mosaic tile floor map of the holy lands, then opted for a quiet meal (the best of the trip so far – delicately spiced appetizer dips, mixed bean soup, chicken scaloppini and potatoes bathed in a warm hummus sauce, with puff pastry “pita-like” bread and “Arak” – a Jordanian black licorice flavoured aperitif).


En route back to the hotel there were a few cars with folks dressed as Santa ringing bells out their windows – this was as close as it was going to get.



During our short travels in Jordan, even beyond Petra and the other sites, what struck us most was the good natured, friendly people.  This was in stark contrast to the previous countries visited and the Jordanians take great pleasure in this.  From the affable barber, to the laundry guy (who insisted that we share his dinner while we waited for the clothes to be folded), to the retired aircraft engineer who gave us a lift from the highway (“no charge.  It is my duty to welcome you to Jordan with hospitality”), and these are but a few examples.  Now we are really looking forward to the Royal Jordanian leg of our flight to Ethiopia.



Additional Jordan photos on flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thegoobers_pics/sets/72157625881121992/

Magical Mystery Tour (Jordan)

While they did scan my knapsack 5 times upon entry into Israel, it was still a surprisingly low tech border crossing, and nothing compared to Jordan.  They had digital photos accompanied by electronic thumb printing – guess they are quite protective of their antiquities, and so they should be.

Jordanians ooze pride when they highlight that Petra has been voted one of the “new” Seven Wonders of the World.  We shared a cab for the 5 hour drive south of the capital Amman to Petra, through the various desert canyon lands and valleys, sprinkled with medieval forts, oases and archeological sites.


Arriving around dusk, we then learned of the recently introduced “Petra by night” available three nights a week (and tonight was one).  Beginning at 8pm a group of about 200 followed a candle lit path through the main entry 2 km long slot canyon only to emerge at the instantly recognizable “Treasury”.  The area was illuminated by flittering candles within sandbags set about the entrance.   We were provided straw mats for seating and tea for refreshment, all a prelude to a haunting musical performance on recorder and Rababa (a single stringed upright fiddle - “hillbilly-like”).  The cavernous surroundings provided spectacular acoustics adding to the spiritual ambiance.



The night affair having provided such an outstanding overture, we were ready for the main event.  Arriving at 8am (I know – another anomaly for me), we were well ahead of the tour crowds (day trips from Amman and Southern Israel) we pretty much had the run of the place.  We repeated our steps from the night before – this time marveling at the now visible contours and colours of the canyon walls, only interrupted by the odd horse-drawn carriage carrying the well-healed crowd.  This time the “Treasury” revealed its full splendor reminiscent of those ubiquitous photos from every Jordan tourism ad and, of course, featured in the third installment of the Indiana Jones movie series (The Last Crusade).  What we did not realize was how much more to the site there was beyond (helping to justify the hefty $75 entry fee).  After an exhausting one hour continuously uphill hike into a hidden side canyon, yet another unrivalled structure reveals itself.  The sheer magnitude of the five-story ”Monastery” carved into a solid rock cliff face is an engineering marvel, made all the more impressive given the obscure and hidden setting.



We were in awe and spent eight hours that day examining every Petra nook and cranny.  We didn’t want to leave but we had a date in the desert with a Bedouin! 

This time we dispensed with the camel in favour of a 4WD, and spent the day checking out the rocky cliffs, arches and desert landscapes of Wadi Rum.  Many of the areas attraction do not have Arab names, but rather are humourously named after “Lawrence of Arabia” (although fictional – there is now “lore” built up around Larry’s rock house refuge, an oasis, and well/bath).  The lack of any ambient light at night offered a view of the starry sky only experienced in a planetarium back home.  After dinner and some traditional music, we bedded down Bedouin style in our sand sheltered tents.

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