Travels to Tigray

The twelve-year-old boy in charge of taking money on the mini-bus from Mekele to Wukro was very surprised when six foreigners hopped in.  He watched us carefully for a while, and eventually asked me a question in Amharic.  He curiously asked where we were going, and where we were from, and then I mentioned that we lived in Ethiopia.
“No you don’t,” he said.
“Yes we do,” I said, as I pointed at each person and said where he or she lives.
He continued to look at me with curious eyes as if he was calculating the possibility of what I had told him.  He still seemed very skeptical.
“Is it not possible?” I asked.
“It is possible,” he responded, “but it is not.”
 

That was one of my favorite conversations I encountered on my trip to visit Tigray.  I eventually convinced him that it was the truth, and then he continued to ramble on for the rest of the trip about his favorite movies. 

It is amazing how each part of the country is vastly different from the others.  I was so impressed by the number of stone buildings replacing the mud walls that I am surrounded by in Amhara.  The soil was much sandier, and coupled with the sandstone houses, and dry countryside, everything appeared beige.  Tigray is the northeastern Region in Ethiopia, bordering Eritrea.  The first language of the region is Tigrinia, making it feel like a completely different country, not knowing a single word.  Luckily, for the ease of getting around, if you started a conversation in Amharic, people would often respond accordingly.

I was able to spend two nights in Mekele, and two around Axum, visiting many historical sites in each of those cities and in-between.  The history of Ethiopia is so rich, and at each site, I kept trying to imagine what the atmosphere would have been like thousands of years ago.  Castles, churches, monoliths; each had their own ancient tales.

While my stories are abundant, only pictures can tell the bulk of what I saw.  From the camel market in Mekele, to the church chiseled out of a mountain outside Wukro, to St. Mary’s Church in Axum, where it is believed that the Ark of the Covenant is still kept.  This beautiful country continues to amaze me.