Arrival in Ethiopia.          IMAGES OF ADDIS ABABA

I was met with enormous construction sites with most rickety scaffolding, rows and rows of mannikins dressed in super modern outfits all competing with one another, each little shop a colourful  artistic and unique image and the people all preparing for Saturday night partying. Glamorous outfits and HIGH HEEL shoes in a scruffy though very colourful environment.
It seemed in conversation that the greatest need in Addis Ababa was housing which was in itself very expensive to obtain eating away the meagre salaries.
Today we arrived in Lalibela and what an impressive and beautiful environment in contrast to the city life.

As we travelled from the airport, where we had been met in such an open welcoming and friendly way, we could only gasp at the beauty and natural way of life. Women, men and children adorned in exquisite colourful array as they returned home from Sunday worship. Others leading their cattle, goats and donkeys which carried the harvest as they travelled home through the villages. Their homes so beautifully crafted in natural materials and each hut/dwelling surrounded by fields of prepared earth for the cultivation of seeds to begin the growth in this rainy season for next years harvest. The beginning of shoots for barley,wheat, lentil, chickpeas etc. creating a spread of luminous green. These are farmers at heart cultivating their crops in an organic and rhythmic seasonal attitude - their food grown and harvested. These Amara with their beautiful faces and warmth of soul were a pleasure to meet. It would have taken the whole day to get to the hotel as each moment provided the perfect pic for Bernadette and we had to curb her call to STOP to allow her out to catch this image.
Bernadette wil hopefully share her adventure in the town of Lalibela during a sudden thunderstorm and pouring rain.