The end of adventure number one!

I did try and write a post when in Lalibela but after walking what felt like a mile to an internet cafe (located in a tiny little shack with very minimal light), and spending 15 long minutes checking and replying to only 2 emails... The electricity died. So I can only apologize for my lack of blogging in the last week.
Lalibela is absolutely beautiful. You are surrounded by mountains, going as far back as the eye can see, it is so green and fresh, the houses are the cutest little huts which just complete the beauty of it all.
However, the people in Lalibela are no where near as nice as those in Addis. They're not horrible, but they don't see you as people, they see you as foreigners with money. Every single day without fail we would have at least 4 people come up to as and say the same thing.. "Hello, welcome to Lalibela... What is your name?... Where are you from?" Then all of a sudden its "MONEY? CHOCOLATE? BOOK?". It totally puts you off feeling sorry for them, and the last thing I would want to do is give them money! But saying that, there were some amazing people there whom I have great admiration for. The people of the church for example. Lalibela is dominantly Orthodox, so Christians get a lot of grief from the people there. There is one tiny church, which 40 people attend every Sunday, and a few of them sleep there as they have no where else to go. Every Sunday they have people throw stones at the church and jump on the roof trying to stop them and damage the place, yet they continue, and they're there again the next week. They are such an inspiration. We were even warned against going to the church (to paint it)- but we went anyway and the people were so blessed. Their faith is so strong its such a wonderful and refreshing thing to witness and know about.
We met a man in Lalibela who is to scared to go to church because he was previously persecuted for his faith, and had to leave everything he had for 4ish years. Its such a sad thing to hear.
What else can I say about Lalibela? We visited the Rock Hewn churches which were beautiful. I had a day of being very sick (Just when I thought I was doing so well!) We climbed a mountain... I have no idea how Maurice does it every time he goes, I was exhausted after 5 mins!! I can safely say I'm not the mountain climbing type.... But the view and sense of achievement you get at the top was worth it!
We flew back to Addis on the Sunday and just spent the day together relaxing, then on Monday we flew home! Being back now it feels like I never left! Whilst I was away it felt like it was quite a long time as we fit so much in, but now I'm back it feels like I was away 2 minutes!
First adventure done, Second adventure starts on Monday with training for a month in Birmingham to prepare for India!


Can't believe how fast times going!