Tenta, a great shopping centre
So cold! Last night we slept up high and it really was cold; the sleeping bag I didn’t need on the hot days was my salvation tonight. Inside the tent the temperature dropped to almost zero, not bad at all compared with the previous nights at 25 degrees.
Today an easy stage awaits us, 77 kilometres of descent from 3,250 metres down to 1,650 metres at our destination, where we meet the Bashilo river. This simple stage was going to reveal one of the most beautiful landscapes in Ethiopia, both for its scenery and for its people.
Shortly after setting off, another sunny day lets us see clearly, from the plateau we’re riding across at over 3,000 metres, the very bottom of the valley, less than 1,300 metres up. Once again Ethiopia treats our eyes to another magnificent gift.
The view is incredible, and once again it’s clear that the trip has been worth it. But there are still more interesting things to come.
Further on we come to the village of Tenta. I have to admit I have a soft spot for bustling villages, full of life and people, and Tenta has both. The village square greets us and our visit doesn’t cause the stir it did in earlier villages, which tells us that this crossroads gets visitors from many places. We go into the market, and what we see fascinates us. The loading and unloading area, with donkeys as the only means of transport. The sections for vegetables, salt, electronics, clothes… there’s even a mill we manage to get into, which the foreman didn’t like one bit, and he chased us out with a broom.
As we get closer to Lalibela the villages become more and more frequent. Until we reach our destination, a green spot on the bank of a river with more water than usual, which lets us have a proper swim and recover our strength for tomorrow’s stage.
