This will be my closing blog entry from my trip to Lalibela. I had some more photos from about town I wanted to share, but they didn't really have a central theme besides that. Despite the rainy weather, this was one of those trips where everything just seemed to go right. If you'd like to experience more of what Lalibela has to offer, I encourage you to check out my previous blogs.
1: As many countries in Africa I've been to, kids demanding to have their photo taken is a constant. The farther you get out of town, the more excited they are to see their image on a tiny LCD screen.
2: A large percentage of the kids walk around with a pledge sheet for school books. These particular kids were so friendly, I gave them a little Birr. My guide told me that sometimes it's legit, and other times the kids will just use the money to buy candy. In one particular case, a man looking to be in his mid-20s pulled out a slip of paper asking for money for school books. I asked him what grade he was in, but he didn't understand me. Needless to say, I didn't dip into my pocket for him.
3: Hoop rolling is a children's game that dates back to antiquity. In poor areas in particular, you can see the ingenuity of children to find ways to entertain themselves. I feel this is lost in western society, where it is now the norm to just hand a kid an iPad to entertain them.
4: A traditional thatch-roofed round house. This one was particularly interesting since it had two stories. The second floor is accessible by climbing a pile of rubble stacked up underneath a door.
5: From a distance, you can see the Ben Abeba restaurant perched atop one of the highest points in Lalibela.
6: A closeup of the Ben Abeba restaurant. The central canopy is shaped like a wizard's hat, and on the left, you can see a series of patios shaped like martini glasses. This structure looks very out of place in such a traditional town, and I was told it created quite the controversy when it was first built about ten years ago. The view has since softened, when it was discovered to be a great draw for tourists.
7: This is me examining the menu. Ben Abeba was the result of a partnership between a local man, and a Scottish woman. You can find Scottish-Ethiopian fusion dishes like Ethiopian shepherd's pie, Ethiopian Scotch eggs, and bubble and squeak.
8: This is the interior of the Torpedo Tej House. It's a spot where you can experience traditional dancing and music. The lighting inside was a deep red, so I decided to flip this photo to black and white. I thought these saddle chairs were interesting.
If you decide to go, audience participation is encouraged. There is a traditional form of dancing, where you move your shoulders in all kinds of crazy ways. After quaffing a couple extra-strong local drinks, I had no problem joining in.
9: Tej, the traditional honey wine of Ethiopia. It's delicious, but has a high alcohol content that will sneak up on you. You can't visit Ethiopia without at least tasting some Tej.
10: Finally, a shout-out to my guide Tadesse. Having a good guide on a short trip such as this one, made all the difference. When I say he was good, I mean it. He even invited me to his home for a meal. His sister, a local chef, cooked us some fabulous tibs. Tibs is a beef dish that is eaten by hand using a local bread called injera.
Thanks for dropping by! I hope that you enjoyed my travel photos and commentary, and will return for more travel content in the future.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://joshman.com/ten-photos-from-lalibela-town
My hooprolling skills probably don't compare to those young lads'. Been a while since I spin a hoop. Feels like forever! Maybe it was.
That wizard hat place is pretty funny there! Cool pics as usual :D
Thanks, I didn't realize you were a hooproller!
Thank you for sharing these awesome pictures. I loved everything about this post. The Tej looks delicious and is something I will definitely be trying when I am able to visit Ethiopia. Great post.
You're welcome, thanks again for dropping by!
Posted using Partiko Android
I've really enjoyed your pictures and commentary through your travels. A lot of people in the West still seem to view Africa as the hinterland without understanding the rich culture that is there; it's great to see your pictures reflect that.
I hope those kids bought some candy. :)
Thanks, I appreciate it. Ethiopian history is especially interesting because the ties to the world outside of the African continent started in Biblical times. They were separated for so long from the rest of Christianity following the emergence of Islam, much of that old world was preserved.
Hiya, @lizanomadsoul here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #620.
Your post has been manually curated by the @steemitworldmap team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider upvoting and supporting us.
Nice pictures. I have enjoyed your Ethiopia pictures.
Awesome, happy to know that!
Congratulations! Your high-quality travel content was selected by @travelfeed curator @for91days and earned you a reward, in form of an upvote and a resteem. Your work really stands out! Your article now has a chance to get featured under the appropriate daily topic on our TravelFeed blog.
Thank you for being part of the TravelFeed community!
Did you know that you get larger upvotes when posting through TravelFeed.io? That is not all, thanks to the travel writing contest by @invisusmundi you can now earn up to 100 STEEM on top of the post rewards when posting through our new platform TravelFeed.io! Read the contest announcement for more information on how to participate.
We are continuously working on improving TravelFeed, recently we introduced EasySignUp and EasyLogin, our first step to make TravelFeed ready for mass adoption.
Learn more about TravelFeed by clicking on the banner above and join our community on Discord.
100% upvoted and !trdo
Great post, thank you!
This post has been manually curated by PhotoStream: The Photography Tribe!
Much appreciated!
Congratulations @lightcaptured, you are successfuly trended the post that shared by @joshman!
@joshman got 6 TRDO & @lightcaptured got 4 TRDO!
"Call TRDO, Your Comment Worth Something!"
To view or trade TRDO go to steem-engine.com
Join TRDO Discord Channel or Join TRDO Web Site
This post has been manually curated by PhotoStream: The Photography Tribe!
Disfruto de sus fotos, respecto a los niños me hace pensar que todo lo tenemos y nos quejamos
Gracias es verdad. Viajar a países pobres te hace apreciar lo que otros dan por sentado.
The restaurant is out of the world … I love places like that!
Nice pics dude
Thanks!
Thank you joshman! You've just received an upvote of 39% by artturtle!
Learn how I will upvote each and every one of your posts
Please come visit me to see my daily report detailing my current upvote power and how much I'm currently upvoting.
Thank you joshman! You've just received an upvote of 61% by thejollyroger!
Learn how I will upvote each and every one of your posts
Please come visit me to see my daily report detailing my current upvote power and how much I'm currently upvoting.
Congratulations @joshman! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=joshman
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=tenphotosfromlalibelatown-8xk2z677y3
Want to have your post on the map too?