For our closing chapter in Ethiopia, our third and final week in this amazing country, we fly north to Lalibela, some 2,500m (8,000 ft) above sea level, home to sacred buildings, hewn of living rock.

Lalibela is in a war torn area and as luck would have it, we arrived 2 months after the end of a 3 year war. Electricity was back, which meant they could pump water up to the town from the river valley below, hotels and restaurants were opening and tourists returning.

We flew from Awassa, on this lovely little propeller plane.

And though you can see Benoit’s big red bag in the cart to be loaded onto the plane, somehow about half of the luggage didn’t land with us. Low grade pandemonium ensued, of the anxious tourist type, imaginations wild with the horrors of days on end of dirty socks and underwear… and stewards at a loss to explain how half of the luggage had been abandoned on the tarmac. “Go to your hotels,” they counseled, “we’ll call you when we find it.” We looked at each other. Benoit was sure that wasn’t the best idea.

Benoit sussed the situation, discovered that the only other plane arriving from Awassa today was arriving in 45 minutes, suggested that we wait and see what arrived with it, and hup!, sure enough, there were our bags. No explanation given, and frankly, none needed. Clean underwear happily received, thank you. And we were off to the village, a 30 minute drive up, up, up.

To the nicest hotel we stayed in in all of Ethiopia.

As you can imagine, I spent some time here reading.

The next day, we went to visit the “churches,” sacred buildings which are currently the providence of the local Christian Orthodox Church, one of the earliest sects of Christianity in existence. According to various legends the 11 edifices were built by angels or other mysterious beings in a matter of days.

Whoever built them, and however long it took, they were sculpted from the living rock. Instead of the common practice of erecting a building by piling stone from the ground up, here the ground was carved away and the stone of the building left in place, much like carving away marble to reveal the statue within. As you can see, this method means that the buildings are below ground level. Fascinating.

It was very clear to me to come here, specifically. Then that I was to sit and meditate. At first, I was drawn to the big column there on the left, and I approached it and reached out and greeted it with my hand. As I began to sit down next to it, automatically preparing to sit cross-legged, half way down I felt to kneel instead. I didn’t fall over, but the sudden awkwardness of this move made me giggle. Then I knew, ‘Nope, not here, move to the right a bit. Nope, not here, either, move forward a bit. Almost, and not quite…’ A this point, I’m giggling internally, wondering, ‘Where I’m going?! and why this is so specific?… and if I’m going to find out why? – because sometimes these things become clear and sometimes they don’t… I move in any case… and lo and behold, voila! – I land in a place carved into the rock below, hidden by the thick carpet – that is exactly the size and shape to cradle my keeling limbs – and likely the limbs of untold others who’ve kneeled here over the centuries, but that I didn’t see, and wouldn’t have know was there if I wasn’t following my inner guidance. Amazing.

That meditation was so deep, I don’t actually know what happened. It’s pretty rare for me that my conscious self goes blank, as I don’t like losing control like that. Usually, if it’s this kind of thing, I am at least aware that something is going on below the surface, which was part of this experience, and this time there were a few moments where what I was aware of was regaining consciousness. ‘Oh. I just went somewhere. Ok.’ I had no idea, for instance, Benoit came up behind me.

When we talked about it later, I didn’t have much to report except that it was very peaceful, and I had the sense of being helpful to Gaia. Otherwise, the only thing that was really clear was that I was supposed to be in that exact spot to do whatever it was. Funny. Happy to be of service.

We sat here and chatted for awhile, comparing what we’d received. Benoit had had a much more conscious experience than I. He’d understood that the site’s current guardians were unknowingly performing the useful service of dampening the energy here, helping keep it in check until Gaia was ready to unleash the full flow.

This hit me like a lighting bolt. The impact this had on me is hard to overstate. I could feel in that moment, exactly how Gaia could change everything… I understood that at any moment, Gaia could flood this site with energy, along with countless others, drastically changing the energetic constitution of the planet, and everything on it instantly.

To know the size and power of the planet intellectually was one thing; to feel it in my bones, in every cell, was quite another. I sat in elation on the rim of this beautiful building for some time. For the first time in my adult life I had hope.

There is a lightness of being that that knowing imparted, that will be with me the rest of my days. Thank you Lalibela. What a birthday present.

This charity, while doing good work, didn’t feel as nice to me as Muday. I had an uncomfortable feeling around the guide, and we decided not to donate much to them. This was a great example of how useful it is to get to know the people in the projects before committing to helping them.

The walk home, several hours down the mountain, was spectacular.

This waitress, Meron, and I had a lot of fun playing together every morning at breakfast in the hotel. She’s funny and quick and we made lots of silly jokes. I got her contact information so that I could share some songs that I knew she’d like, to help her improve her English. This ended up being fortuitous, as war broke out again a few months after we left and all the hotels shut down. She reached out and asked if we could help her move to Addis, so that she could get a job to help support her family. After talking with her about her plans and consulting with Bereket, our friend from Awasa, we gave her enough money for clothes to interview in and a flight (busses weren’t safe – women were getting pulled off them and raped by soldiers).

She made it safely to Addis, and after many months determined that it was not as easy to get a good job as she had been led to believe. The allure of the city… such a common tale.

Eventually, she decided she wanted to go to school. Another long conversation ensued. We didn’t want her to fall into the trap of paying for an education that wouldn’t actually help her in life. We’d seen that too many times, too, so we started asking questions… We would help her in any case, but do some research and find out what kind of jobs you can get with a diploma, etc.. And what do you actually want to do with your life? What are you good at? What are your passions? As I write, a year and a half after meeting, she’s starting esthetician school in Addis. We’re paying the tuition, and she’s doing her best to pay her rent and food. Fingers crossed, she can make it.

And there you have it, my 50th in Ethiopia. We’re infinitely glad we went. We were reminded how deeply connected humans can be, learned about a new culture, saw magnificent corners of the globe, and gained a lightness of being that we are ever grateful for… Thank you, Ethiopia!