After yesterday on the bus I wasn't too sure about it today. The first bus ran like clockwork. Left about on time, I had a good seat. No real problems and arrived on time. Then I had to make a connection from Waldia to Lalibela. As usual the bus didn't stop at the bus stop but somewhere in town so I had to take a bajaj to the station.

The buses here don't leave on schedule, they go when they are full. This one took the longest, 3hr. By the time we got enough passengers THEN fuel up, THEN top up with cargo, THEN go back to the bus station for a couple of stragglers we were late leaving. The 110km to Lalibela took over 4hr, the road was that rough. I left my hotel at 5.30 this morn and got to my new hotel room just before 8 tonight. I had a shower and fell into bed.

Yesterday on the bus coming up here we stopped at a town for breakfast. When I got off the bus there was a guy standing there he said "what do u wasn't?" I said omelette. He said sit down, so I did. Then he came to take my order and said what do u want? I said omelette he said pasta no Om....lette. Pasta doesn't matter. So I got up and went next door he said what do you want I said omelette he said pasta no Om.....lette pasta doesn't matter. I tried 4 cafes and same thing. This morning I went down town to a cafe and walked in and said do you do omelette. He said no but an old bloke in the corner overheard and said something to the kid and they both said sit down. I actually got 2 fried eggs, really good fried eggs, and chai with bread roll for about 45cents.

Yesterday it was soo hot waiting at the bus station. The weather was perfect but it made for a really dusty trip up here. It rained all night and wouldn't ya know it the rain looks like it has set in for the day. Instead of walking around in a dust cloud I am slopping around in 3inches of mud and slop.

I got out for an hour this morning and a couple of hours this arvo. OMG these kids won't leave me alone. They are relentless. I look like the pied piper walking around with a dozen kids following me. This arvo Lidett wanted to hold my hand all the way and they keep saying "hello welcome to Lalibela" over and over usually followed bu "money" or "ball" or "chocolate". I ducked into the churches to get some peace and the guard wanted my ticket so I showed him and went in, next the kids are in as well. I complained he let them in without a ticket and someone chased them off. I headed back to the hotel and within 5min I had another group hanging around. Just before I got back to my hotel Lidett caught up with me again. I am now trying to teach them a new phrase "fu&$k off".

So I'm here to see the churches. They are special cos they are carved out of rock. Not carved and assembled but carved out of solid rock. They are pretty amazing to see. They are guarded and everywhere they want to see your ticket. It costs US$50, so it is a big money spinner for the town. Ethiopia is the only country I have been to where the churches are guarded by men with rifles. They dont even do that in Israel. What are they gonna do if someone tries to break in? Shoot them?

With some luck it will be fine tomorrow and I can get out to see some more and put some more pics here for you to see.

Yesterday the weather fined up in the arvo so I thought today might be a good day. It started pissing down in the middle of the night and looked like not letting up. I had breakfast with Sisco, she owns the restaurant over the road, we shared shiro and injera. It was very spicy. By then it looked like the rain was going to stop. I went out with my raincoat on and ended up carrying it all day, it turned out to be a great day.
My plan was to see as many churches as I could today and I got to all the close ones. There are churches scattered everywhere between here and Tigray, all carved out of stone. They all have UNESCO listing and they have put hideous roofs over some of them. The entry to most of then is treacherous to say the least. It looks like they spent all their time carving church and forgot about entry, or they did it for protection. One of them had a ceremony going on and th kids told me it was Timkat but it is wrong time of year so I don't know what it was. I will try to get the captions right on the photos.
Tomorrow I fly back to Addis for about 12 hr then fly to Cairo.