Lalibela, churches built by angels.

Perched high in the mountains, isolated by hundreds of kms of rough dirt road, sits Lalibela, home to astonishing ancient churches, carved directly from giant slabs of rock. The churches date back to the right of King Lalibela in the 12^th or 13^th century. Legend states that god instructed the king to recreate the holy city of Jerusalem here. Furthermore, locals explain the rapid speed with which the churches were built, by claiming that angels took over the workforce at night. As if Lalibela isn’t impressive enough in itself, thousands of pilgrims descend on Lalibela for Fasika(Ethiopian  Easter), dressed in white robes, Ethiopians young and old, crowd into the ancient churches to pay their respects.

The peak of Fasika celebrations occurred on Saturday night, when an incredible mass of people flooded into every church to pray, sing, light candles and wait for the early morning hours to break their 55 days of fasting. We lay on our stomachs on the roof of one church, peering down below at the crowds of people, clad in white robes, waving their candles and praising their god. Children slept huddled together, whispering and giggling, excited to be part of a massive sleepover.

On the morning of the last day of fasting we had visited the Lalibela market, where thousands of people gathered to buy and sell. The main item to purchase on this day is chickens and goats, to be consumed in the feast preceding the final prayers of Fasika. We watched as bleating goats were dragged up the hills to the village, they seemed to know that their hours were numbered.

On Sunday morning, we awoke late to the sounds of animals being slaughtered for the feasts. It is impressive in Ethiopia how little goes to waste, every part of the animals is consumed, and the skin and fur turned into paintings, bags, drums and chairs. In the marketplace there is a degree of recycling to rival the markets of Melbourne, from bracelets made from beer bottle tops, to old umbrella spare parts. The only difference is that these things are sold for a couple of cents.

We left Lalibela by plane, cheating a little bit, but hey if you had spent the past few weeks, bumping over shocking mountain roads, in buses falling to bits at the seams, I’m sure you would take the 40min flight back to Addis too.