One Step at a Time: A Peace Corps Story: Lalibela

Ben Abeba restaurant

After getting through all of my medical appointments with the Peace Corps doctors, another PCV and I traveled to Lalibela, located in the north in the Amhara region. Lalibela is famous for its rock-hewn churches. We had contemplated busing up to the town, but on learning that the trip took 2 days we decided to splurge a bit and fly. As residents we get local prices on Ethiopian airline flights. It's still expensive on our meager Peace Corps salaries, but it's much better than the rate foreigners get.

Lalibela is a small town nestled high in the mountains of Lasta, at an altitude of 2,630m. This was the first time I had ever been north of Addis. The scenery looked completely different than what I was used to in the south. Down here it's very green. I'm in a valley and even though I'm also surrounded by mountains, those mountains are covered with trees and nature. So when I saw the mountains of Lalibela they looked very different than what I am used to. It's so dry in the north. It was still beautiful of course, but it wasn't what I was expecting. A top tourist destination for Ethiopia, the town of Lalibela itself is surprisingly small.

Ben Abeba restaurant. It's not very clear with
all the clouds, but hopefully you get an idea
of it.

On arriving into town and checking into our hotel (located next to a brothel I might add, not an unlikely situation as PCVs who need to keep a tight budget), we headed to the tourist office to pay for our tickets to visit the churches the following day. We decided to have dinner at a highly recommended restaurant, Ben Abeba. The architecture of this restaurant was really cool. I don't quite know how to describe the building so I've added a picture. We were literally on the top of a mountain, overlooking the valley far below. It was really, really cool and we ended up going back for breakfast the next day and for dinner again. The area was just too peaceful and as PCVs, a little peace and quiet goes a long way after constantly being the center of attention. Sometimes you just want to eat a meal without everyone staring at you and talking about you.

Another view from Ben Abeba.

The view from Ben Abeba restaurant

The next day we visited the churches. I remember learning about these churches in one of my religious studies classes back at UT. The Lalibela churches are carved below ground level and are ringed by trenches and courtyards. The sides are cut into with stone graves and hermit cells and connected together in a maze of tunnels and passages. At one of the churches we were able to see inside one of these graves. Each church has its own unique shape. As they were 800 years ago, these churches continue to be an active shrine for the people of Lalibela. We saw people covered in white (in the Ethiopian Orthodox religion, men and women wrap themselves in a white cloth know as a netella, or the thicker one known as a gabi, when they go to church) going in and out of these churches. We visited many churches, but the most majestic one was Bet Giyorgis. This church is isolated while the others are clustered together in two groups. Bet Giyorgis is excavated below ground and is almost 15m deep. It's pretty incredible. This church is also carved in the shape of a symmetrical cruciform tower. All in all I'm so glad I had the opportunity to visit Lalibela. It was great getting to see another part of the country and learn more about its religious history.