The Monastery and local scenes.

On the second day in Lalibela, we took a tour of a monastery about 7.5 Km from town. Parked and walked about a half mile into it. It was located down under a bluff like the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde in Colorado.
Celia and Sallie with some of the kids outside the monastery.
Celia walking over the hill with a bunch of kids hanging on. They all asked us for pens, which are apparently a common gift from tourists, or Ferenge, as we are known.

Ceremonial drums used for chanting. A couple of pilgrims checking them out. Ferguson is pontificating.
Inside the monastery. Ferguson is telling us what is represented in the murals. This room contained several basins into which water was collected as it dripped form the overhanging rock clift.
A holy bible hand written on velum.
Inside the monastery. That's Ferguson with Tesfaye and Celia. Doesn't she look cute in her scarf?
A carved saint in one of the churches.
A local two story house. Made of local stone and mud with thatch roof.
More folks in the street.

Our motel room at the Lal hotel. Notice the escarpment behind it. We were about 7,500 feet up here.
We had the girl at the Lal hotel to conduct a coffee ceremony for us. Coffee (Kaffe) comes from Ethiopia and they make a big deal out of it. We paid her $3.60 for this and she went and put on the costume, brought in the cookers, the coffee and everything. Supposed to drink three small cups each. I only drank 2, since I wanted to sleep. That's frankenscents you see coming from the charcoal cooker.
Another view of the ceremony. She is grinding the fresh roasted beans with a mortar and pestle.
Some pilgrims in the road. Notice the short robe and the bare feet.
Typical houses in the area of Lalibela. Nice, huh?

The plane we came in on. It's a German Fokker 50 and a very nice little plane. The airport there doesn't have a terminal, but one is underway.

A veiw from the Ethiopian Airlines office out over the village of Lalibela. Sits on a ridge with a market place. We got there on market day.

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