Saving Norway From A Caterpiller

OK, I've finally found something that I don't like about Lalibela. Who was it that taught all the primary school kids to to greet me with "Hello Grandpa"?

After a wander up on the hotel rooftop to admire the surrounding view, with not a safety rail or notice in sight (how refreshing), and a spot of buffet breakfast to sustain me, it was off on a half day excursion to the rock church caves at Yemrehanna Kristos.

Although the caves were only 45 kilometres away, it took almost an hour and half to get there, thanks to the terrible dirt roads, all of the goat herds and donkey trains that we had to navigate, and one huge Caterpillar tractor that had decided to dig up our road, and lay another one, all in a day. The road crew was huge - just one young guy in a tractor. No signs, no flags, no fuss, nobody leaning on shovels. The complete opposite of Australia, where there are more signage, safety and management personnel than there are workers. Now there was no other way to get there, so we just had to sit and wait while he heaped enough dirt and stones into the ditch that he was digging, ran backwards and forwards over it a few times, and waved us through. Whilst our 4x4 mini bus got through, the standard minibus behind us had no such luck.

One of the advantages of being a tour group of one was that we had a few spare seats, so the seven of them and their baby all climbed in, and off we went. Turns out that they were an extended family group from Norway. Well actually it's a bit more complicated than that. One of the guys, who has an Ethiopian grandmother and a Japanese grandmother, was born to an Ethiopian father who had married a Norwegian while living in Norway, so he considers himself Norwegian. However, the family had moved when he was young from Norway to the Netherlands where he had grown up and married a Dutch girl. They were the ones with the child, and the little girl had quite a fair Japanese face. Now there's the real joy of multiculturalism. So there were also his parents, assorted siblings and their partners in the party. A really nice group who, whilst in the cave, had gathered around and sang one of their family hymns. I knew the tune, but not the Norwegian words of course, so I couldn't join in.

According to local tradition the church was built by King Yemrehanna Kristos between 1087 and 1127, and it was built within a cave rather than excavated. He obviously wasn't a fitness fanatic - he built his palace in the same cave all of 5 metres away, and embalmed the dead bodies at the back of the cave. This was the third capital of the much larger Ethiopia, in the period before the capital became nomadic, and finally settled in Addis Ababa. Both the church and the palace were built, not carved, out of rock and cedar trees. All of the usual crosses, carvings and paintings adorned the inside. Clearly my guide's favourite place, and he made me take pictures of this and that, then sit in the cave and contemplate it all.

Eventually it was back down the hill to the bus, and back down the bumpy roads towards the roadwork. Halfway back a group of guys waved furiously to us from the side of the road, which is a quite normal occurrence so I thought nothing of it. However, when we didn't slow down they yelled at us as we went past, and the driver came to an abrupt halt. Furious pointing took place towards the top of a mountain where a group of men were stationed, and suddenly we saw a huge boulder being rolled, and it thundered down the hill, bounced across the road in front of us, and bounded off down the gully on the other side of the road. Being in the front seat on that side, I got a bit concerned as the driver eventually decided to floor the accelerator, but nothing seemed to pursue us as we got through unscathed. The Norwegian tour guide calmly explained that it was just a road crew, and that this was the way they got their rocks delivered to work sites. Alright. So maybe I'm being a bit unreasonably harsh on road safety crews.

Delivered the Norwegian group safely across the new road back to their bus, and headed off for another hour or so to Lalibela. Was taken to very popular hotel in the middle of town for lunch. Everybody was there - the Norwegians, and the couple from Addis Ababa airport who are still waiting for their juices.

My guide informed me of the time that the taxi would pick me up for the airport tomorrow, and bade me farewell, and I walked the kilometre or so from the township back to the hotel. Another lovely few hours in the garden relaxing while the warm, gentle breeze wafted around.