T.I.A

Two Egyptian and Sudanese visas later we (the Gummi Bears – Kaspuur & Team America) finally left Addis for the famous rock-hewn churches of Lalibella. With clear skies and rumors of tarred roads we headed out optimistically and were soon met with, you guessed it, torrential rains and dirt roads. Oh well, what’s driving in Africa without dirt roads, rocks, donkeys, camels, locals, cattle, goats, dogs, you name it to add to the challenge of getting from A to B.

Very serious driver in a very serious Ethiopian highland woolen hat, hmm sexthy>>>

A typical downpour on a typical day on typical African roads. Typical! >>>Lalibella is a two day drive from Addis. Arriving in Debre Birhan late at night after our first day of the trip north, we realized we were going to have to take what accommodation we could get. The nicest hotel was fully booked but they did have a conference centre, so in true T.I.A style we made it work.

The conference centre >>>

I had a harsh, and embarrassing, awakening at 5am when I wiped out face first down the conference centre steps – they had a see-your-own-reflection polished quality to them. If it hadn’t been so painful I would have laughed myself silly. Needless to say Campbell took the first shift of driving. 18hours and many winding mountain passes later we pulled into Lalibella – so much for our rule of never driving at night.

The next day four rested travelers set off into the meandering alleyways, tunnels and caves leading to and through the churches of Lalibella. We were greeted by priests reciting verses in Amharic from the bible in such a way as to entice their visitors into their ritual and mystical lives. Shoes had to be taken off and left at the door, hats, liquids and sunglasses had no place in the holy sanctuaries of these stunning buildings.

Lalibella rock-hewn churches >>>

The pebbled roads leading to the churches conveniently pass the town’s primary and secondary schools. If you happen to miss-time your passage you will find yourself followed by teams of school children all interested to chat. They’re excitable questions form a vital part of your experience of Lalibella and range from where you’re from and what your name is to whether you have pens, chocolate, money, books and the “top of the pops” being farangi coins to add to their collections. The kids are quirky, harmless and proud to have people interested in their heritage. The all time favorite was a little kid of 6 rocking it out with such vivacious enthusiasm and fervor that sent warm ripples of laugher right through our bellies to our snapping fingers and tapping toes.

Having had our fill of what the small town has to offer we set off, again optimistically, to Bahir Dar. We made it less than 1.5hrs down the corrugated mountain pass before bare-bummed herd boys were peering into Kaspuur’s bonnet trying to work out why fuel was not making it to the engine.

It was looking bleak. Two Americans, two South Africans, and a multitude of prying Ethiopians were stumped as to how we were going to solve this mechanical dilemma in the middle of nowhere. Two cars an hour pass down this road, if you’re lucky, and Lalibella is a town with many able mechanics but almost no spare parts.

Gummi Bears, as we have named our team, had to go T.I.A style yet again! Jill and I hitched a ride with a very obliging local (and his gorgeous puppy Jack) back to town to employ the assistance of a mechanic. 3hours and much negotiating later I was sitting on the back of the mechanic’s motorbike petrol station bound to pay for a tank of petrol so he could make it out to the boys. By this point Campbell and Danny had convinced the eager herd boys to put their cattle and goats to one side and make themselves useful as roadside assistants.

The game was on for man of the hour. Campbell was definitely in the lead as he successfully determined that the problem lay with a broken fuel pump but Danny’s abseiling skills came in a close second. Before the mechanic arrived, the theory was to turn the car around and face it downhill to get the fuel flowing through the car, but they only succeeded in blocking off the road entirely so that the next oncoming car was forced to stop and assist whether he wanted to or not. Naturally in their attempts to bounce the car into a downhill position Danny had to abseil down a cliff and off the bulbar. Wow, what farangi’s!! In the end it was a unanimous decision, the mechanic was the man of the hour when, in true T.I.A style, he took his life in his hands by sitting on the bonnet holding the jerry can and the direct fuel feed into the engine in place while Campbell and Danny sat safely in the car and drove the bumpy roads back to town (video link to follow).

Mechanics siphoning fuel from the tank to run directly into the engine >>>

Man of the hour (or should I say day) - the mechanic - sitting on the bonnet during the drive back to Lalibella >>>

One 9hour bus ride to Dese on what is so aptly named the vomit commit saw Campbell heading 9hours back to Lalibella, parts in hand, and Danny, Jill and I 9hours in the opposite direction to extend our Ethiopian visas that were about to expire. In short we were all successful in our endeavors, Kaspuur is purring sweetly once again and the Gummi Bears reunited in Bahir Dar where we had some down time at the monasteries on the peninsula. We are now in Gonder, which is also known as Ethiopia’s Camelot, touring the numerous palace ruins. Three nights of downtime here before we head to Sudan – desert here we come!!

Palaces of Gonder >>>

The Gummi Bears take over Gonder >>>