A place of mystery - Aksum

I flew from Lalibella to Aksum, a 30 min flight where I could choose my own seat and the boarding pass looked like this

No worries they had a hard core metal detector, all (checked and carry-on) bags went through a scanner, and I had a serious pat down from the female security officer. 

Aksum is a town with a lot of mystery.  The Ark of the Covenant is said to be here (my guide told me God had said for it to be brought to Ethiopia because he knew that Israel would be too unsafe).  It is housed in this building

It is guarded by a monk.  The monk never leaves the building’s grounds and is the only one to see the Ark of the Covenant.  I asked what happens when he dies and I was told that when he is about to die he tells those who supply him with food etc the name and where to find the next monk to stay with the Ark.  Only he has not left the area for numerous years (the current one is 50+ years) so he does not really know any other people and hence his choice is actually from God.  The are other stories on how the guard is picked – including that all the monks sit and select one.  Regardless once selected that person is the only one to see the Ark and never leaves until he dies.  Fascinating!

There are two churches on the complex with the Ark, one is the “old church” of St. Mary of Zion women are not allowed in here “because it is a monastery.”  I asked what would happen if a woman went in and was told that it would bring very bad luck to that woman – “she might walk in and then completely lose her eyesight!” Yikes, I didn’t want to tempt it so took the picture above from over the wall (the last point where women are allowed).  The new church of St. Mary of Zion was built by Hallie Selassie in the 1960s and doesn’t exactly fit in with the surrounds…..

The town is also said to have been home to the Queen of Sheba.  This was apparently her palace....

Aksum is also known for its stelae, which are incredible.  They were apparently built as tombstones and range in size from 1 meter to 33 meter (though that one is broken on the ground) some are quite plain will others super intricate.  A true engineering feat considering that the quarry where the stone comes from is 4 km away and granite is super hard.  Each one is a single piece of granite and it remains unclear how they were transported and carved and raised hundreds of years ago. 

People are incredibly friendly here which is nice, but makes it hard to go anywhere without being asked for something: "ferenji (which means foreigner or white person) money?", "Ferenji, candy?", "ferenji, pencil?", etc, offered a guide, asked if I want my shoes cleaned, etc. 

In Lalibela a typical conversation with a school age child went like this:

Child: Hello

Me: Hi

Child: Welcome

Me: Ames a ganalu (thank you in Amharic)

Child: Where are you from?

Me: America

Child (with huge smile): OH, Obama we love him!

Me: me too

Child: You live in Washington, DC?

Me: no, New Jersey

And then they would tell me about their football team, which needed uniforms (showing me a crumpled piece of paper requesting money).  Or about how it was their sister’s birthday and could I give them a shirt to give her, etc. 

After having this conversation numerous times I decided to change it up a bit and said I was from South Africa

“Oh Pretoria?”

No, Cape Town

“Oh Mr. Mandela, great man!”

Clearly education of world capitals and famous “good” leaders is working in Ethiopia (interestingly there was no mention of Bush or Zuma…..) 

All over Ethiopia, students graduated from University yesterday.  So on Thursday and Friday they dressed in their graduation gowns and walked around the town taking pictures.  As I passed a group of them I said "congratulations."  We had a short conversation about what each of them had studied and then they requested that I take pictures with them.  I agreed, figuring it was the least I could do after spending all this time taking pictures of their town and its inhabitants.  I thought we would take one group shot but then they each wanted a private one. After they took many with their cameras, I had them take one with mine.

There are also ping pong tables and foosball tables all over town, on the side of the road.  These guys asked me to play with them as I passed by.  Unfortunately I only got a pic of them playing.

Lastly, anyone who has ever seen me eat Oreos knows that I really only like the cream filling and often only eat that part, or at least scrap the filling off and save it for last.  This monkey was a pet of the cafe in one of the local parks, I had some "biscuits" with cream filling which I had bought as a snack and my guide suggested that we give the money a few.  The monkey gladly took them and proceeded to lick the cream filling off and leave the cookie part to the side!