Smiles:

• Most beautiful mountains, valleys, escarpments in the whole world! The 400km route between Lalibela and Aksum, via Abi Aday, on the highlands of Ethiopia back roads, is incomparable. The road does not permit more than 40km/h average, but the trip is immensely rewarding. On the first 250km stretch we only saw six other vehicles: 2 Hilux bakkies, a Land Cruiser, two trucks and a bus.
• Great lodgings in the parking area of the Yeha Hotel, Aksum’s finest. We have the key to an en suite room so that we can use the ablutions, three metres from where we are parked. Perfect. Plus free internet.
• An immense learning curve to explore the fascinating history of the Aksumite kingdom. One of the great civilisations in the first centuries AD, and one of the first to embrace Christianity, Aksum was an esteemed world trading power, but it never recovered from its fall in the 10^th century AD, whereafter the Lalibela kingdom became prominent.
• Drinking St George beer on the terrace of the Yeha, feeling part of the build-up to tomorrow’s New Year’s celebrations. In town sheep and goats are being sold in the streets for the festivities (R500 and R400 respectively), and camels are transporting crates of beer.
• Tigrai has more schools than elsewhere, but it is a dry province (remember the terrible 1985 famine) and USA Aid food supplies are still being distributed.

Tears:

• We lucked out on the most famous rock-hewn church in Tigrai, that of Abba Yohanni, which I was especially keen to see. The new road bypasses the signboard, which is written in Amharic anyway, and when we realised that we would have to turn back, rain was threatening to spoil the hike to the church.
• The state of neglect that pervades national treasures like Aksum’s stelae field, the Queen of Sheba’s bath, the archeological museum.
• Too many fabulous silver crosses being sold everywhere. Are they looting their cultural resources, or are they fakes?