Well after two days on appalling roads missing things by inches we eventually hit something by about five foot. The something was a bus coming in the opposite direction an the impact was at around 20kmh. All emerged unscathed apart from a banged up shin and a bit of whiplash on my behalf. How many people can say they have hit a bus head on at 2600m above sea level? The No.2 car (there are/were 4) which had been belching black smoke for the entire trip looked to have been put out of business for good. Piled into three cars, we headed to Lalibella where 800 years ago a crazy king thought it would be a good idea to carve a dozen churches out of rock. Like all crazy kings he had an army of servants at his disposal and the result is the most revered sites of the Ethiopian orthodox church. Day one saw us take in five. There was much talk about Jebus' suffering and men in robes pointing at crosses. After an afternoon spent in the shadow of death and resurrection, what should make and appearance on our walk back to the hotel, but Car No.2 sporting a facelift courtesy of a new bumper. But this was not a happy ending with driver and car dispatched back to Addis for breaking the mortal sin of the road. Hitting a bus head-on on a straight road. Day two in this pretty little town saw us revisit the kings penchant for hard tasks as we climbed a 3200m mountain to visit another church. It was a ridiculously spectacular and inconvenient place to put a place of worship. It was a tough three hour climb followed by a two hour hairy descent and a good pipe opener for the upcoming trek. Then it was more churches in the afternoon, but I have to admit my attention span was starting to wane. All this history plus men wandering pants-less down the main street was a bit hard to absorb. Luckily we had another 333km tour of Ethiopian roadworks to reflect on it all the next day.
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