Located in Sierra County near the town of La Porte (which is not a ghost town), Port Wine had its beginnings in early 1850. Stories about the naming of the town include miners finding a barrel of Port hidden in the bushes and another story tells of finding a keg of cognac. No one knows … Continue reading
Perched in the mountains above Lalibela is the small village of Ashetan. After visiting Yemrehanna Kristos, my Italian and I realized that we were quite taken with these mountain villages and opted to check this one out as well. The trail up begins right in Lalibela and it is quite a hike, especially if you … Continue reading
Despite Yemrehanna Kristos being such an extraordinary site, very few people reward themselves with a visit. And a reward it is for this location is beautiful, the priest is friendly and there are even piles of dead bodies to see. The church is about an hour and a half from Lalibela by 4WD. Yemrehanna Kristos … Continue reading
Las Geel (also known as Laas Ga’al, Laas Geel and Laas Gaal) is arguably Somaliland’s pièce de résistance. Were it not in Somalia this site would immediately be declared a World Heritage Site. Fortunately, with the ongoing conflict in Somalia, it remains a hidden gem (To get back to 2005 in the tiny guest book, … Continue reading
The self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland was formed in 1991 after the collapse of unitary Somalia. Thanks mainly to the dominance of a single clan (the Isaq), it has remained relatively peaceful and stable since 1991, despite the occasional terrorist attack. Somaliland has all the attributes of a “normal” state: a parliament, free press, a currency, … Continue reading
Lake Tana is perhaps most famous for the monasteries sprinkled across its shoreline and islands. Many monasteries date from the late 16th or early 17th century, though most were founded much earlier and likely were the site of pre-Christian shrines. One of the best examples of traditional Ethiopian monasteries, Ura Kidane Meret, sits on the … Continue reading
The mountain highlands of Ethiopia are a tough place to scratch out an existence… Extremely isolated and in a harsh, unforgiving environment, it doesn’t take much for things to go very wrong out here. And, in fact, this area was near ground zero for the infamous famines of the 1980s. However, there is an undeniable … Continue reading
The Velvet Rocket 