Departures (2008–…): Season 3, Episode 8 - Ethiopia: Saints and Snakes - full transcript

(soft music)

- [Narrator] It feels great

to be heading back to Africa again

and this time to a whole new
section of the continent.

I wanna leave this country
with a different frame of mind,

a different image in my head.

I've heard people talking
about Ethiopia in the past

and everything I've heard about Ethiopia

is that it's very different
than the rest of Africa.

And I'm eager to see
for myself why that is.

Every step of this world trip



has taken us further away from home

to places we never expected to see.

Two years ago, I would
never have understood

how much this journey would change me.

This is why we travel.

This is the reason that we're out here.

(upbeat music)

We've barely arrived in Ethiopia

and we've already traveled
an hour North of the capital

Addis Ababa to the Lalibela.

We decided that we would start
in the north of the country

simply because there's kind
of this golden triangle

of its incredibly rich history.

Growing up as a little kid,
my first image of Africa



was the images of the famine

that happened here in the '80s.

There's more to this
country than just that.

The reason for coming here

is to shatter the
preconception of Ethiopia.

Embarrassingly enough

we know very little about this country.

That's the big reason to come
up here and start in the north

where all the history is
because you've gotta know

the past before you can know
the presence and the future.

Nothing of what we're
seeing is what we expected.

Obviously this and the surroundings.

I mean, there's lush
green mountainous country.

There are obviously still
a lot of problems here.

It's still a developing country

but the days of what we saw on TV

when Ethiopia was in its communist
era, those days are over.

Ethiopia is a country within
the continent of Africa that

not too many people actually go to.

A lot of its history,
almost 2000 years of history

is all up in the north, very accessible.

And the history goes well beyond even

stuff that we're seeing here in Lalibela

which is already 900 years old.

History here goes back to the dawn of man.

(melancholic music)

All of these walls you look straight up

and this whole church was carved

out of one solid piece of rock.

Did you curve this?

You worked hard at it.

(child laughing)

(melancholic music)

There's 11 of these churches in total.

This one, the church of St. George

is probably the most impressive though.

Especially because it's still left open.

The UNESCO had an effort to
kind of preserve these churches

from erosion.

Weather damage has covered
over a lot of them.

St. George got the owner of
this beautiful church because

King of Lalibela who was
creating all of these churches

at the time apparently was visited by

the patron of St. George and
he was a bit ticked off that

no church yet had been named after him.

So the 11th church was named after him.

Apparently when he arrived on his horse,

he left horse prints
somewhere in the solid rock.

So if you see four sprints,
you know where they came from.

- It's Zoro.

(laughing)

I was listening, but it could be Zoro.

(children singing in Amharic)

(speaking Amharic)

- We're trying to be not
to bring American alphabet

or these sets of this little classroom is.

(speaking Amharic)

All committed to memory.

- Now we're fluent.

Come on, challenge me.

(speaking Amharic)

I'm your teacher, Mr.Lukach,

bathroom breaks will be held once an hour.

You have two bathroom breaks per semester.

Watch.

- [Kids] Watch

- Shoe.

- [Kids] Shoe

- Jeans

- [Kids] Jeans

- Camera

- [Kids] Camera

- Andre

- [Kids] Andre

- Hand

- [Kids] Hand

- Thumb

- [Kids] Thumb

- Pinky

- [Kids] Pinky

- Scott

- Scott

- [Kids] Scott

- Justin

- [Kids] Justin

- Professor Justin

- [Kids] Professor Justin

- Teacher, what dynasty
were these churches made in?

- That was eight century.

- That feels like a mistake teacher.

- Class dismiss.

- Yeah, recess.

- I think they absorb as much of that

as we did the America alphabet.

- I tried to teach them a couple
of things outside the box.

- Try to control this class
now for the next hour,

it's gonna be a disaster because
they're just watching us.

They're not even watching the teacher.

About an hour and a half
drive away from Lalibela

is a place called Yemrehanna Kristos.

It's a beautiful old church
but it's quite a ways out

on pretty rough roads.

Not a lot of people get to it.

(upbeat music)

Well, there's a bit of a snack here.

This area is, there's a lot
of water going through here

and we're actually in Ethiopia
during the wet season.

(upbeat music)

Ben's not too shabby.

They bring all these bands in from Japan.

- I don't know, not the best
suspension, but it still works.

It's a little rough ride.

- It's not an off-road vehicle.

- No, a lot of people
actually go to this church

and they'll come all the way from Jordan

in the hope of being healed.

And if not to die in a very holy place.

It's almost like a Pilgrimage.

(water gushing)

We knew the roads were pretty
rough and we heard this pop

and we just found out
the oil filter popped.

That's what our driver's telling us.

You still feel here?

It's not making it.

- We did make it.

We did and we didn't,

we didn't realize that
the old blue bus there

was critically wounded.

Kind of ironic it was almost
a pilgrimage for them,

the bus itself.

(melancholic music)

- [Justin] We doing a
little bit of a hike here.

It's only about 15 minutes, but at the top

is Yemrehanna Kristos church.

One of the most holy
place is Christianity.

- This is it.

This is the church.

Well beyond the wall that was
built only a few years ago

but at least this wall was
built for the right reasons

to protect the relic inside,

the actual original church.

So as soon as we go beyond this wall,

everything will be original.

We can go?

- Yeah.
- Thank you.

- Shoe, shoe shoe.

- Sorry.

- We still haven't learned.

When they say shoes off,

does that mean socks too?

I always do socks cause I'm assuming but,

I think it's just a matter of preference.

- After this kind of hiking around

and that long on the plane,

it's probably better for the Holy Spirit

to just experience our feet with socks on.

But we'll hold true to tradition.

(melancholic music)

This doesn't make any sense at all.

This looks like something
from a movie set.

The way the lights coming in
and lighting inside this cave

and just the look of it.

Like it honestly looks like something from

like an American Western film.

It's not like it had the luxury
of having a look at pictures

of this stuff before I arrived.

So this is all obviously
just a slap in the face.

A good one.

I never expected anything
like this as an architecture

I just didn't expect A, from this era

and B, be found in this
sort of region of the earth.

- What we've been seeing in small amounts

how we've been here, is
everything is made of stone

and rock.

This is actually made of wood.

(drum playing)

Scott's got the rhythm.

I'm just a guy that does this.

- Sounds like a subwoofer in this cave.

It's incredible.

- It's good for excising your words.

- It makes that drum sound 10

times more powerful.

- That's what I'm talking about.

I'm giving you a history lesson.

You're gonna learn stuff today.

(clapping)

(soft piano music)

- This is kind of a
burial ground of sorts.

They aren't buried, they're
just sort of left here.

Tons and tons of human bodies.

Most of these people would have come here

looking for a divine miracle to happen.

And that became their final resting place.

Imagine being in this holy
spot made it very comforting

in their last few days.

- So it's not an eerie place,
it's more of a peaceful place.

And it Actually a baby right here.

The closest one to me I know.

- I don't mean any
disrespect at all but...

(bat squeaking)

- You just said, I don't.

That was pretty scary.

- I don't mean any
disrespect but being here

in this ridiculously old church

and seeing all of these human bodies,

some of them almost mummified

and it feels like, mean
like a movie or something.

Back home, human remains
aren't just left out.

And this is just,

it's just something you
don't get somewhere else.

Outside, it's just a shock to see

that type of architecture,

inside to see the amount of detail

and the amount of
preservation that it's in.

I can't believe that

for a place that's
pushing 1,000 years old.

This could be 200 years old.

Seeing buildings back home
that are in worse condition

that are like 40 years old.

- Rumor has it that they've
actually brought wood

from Jerusalem to build this.

That's just the last
thing I expected to see

on my first day in Ethiopia.

(soft music)

- Over the last three years

it's been like kind of
a personal quest for me

to figure out what I believe
and what's gonna happen to me

after I pass away.

We've gone to a lot of
temples, churches, holy places.

I'm not really too religious,
but I do find comfort

that there are places
like this in the world.

It makes it easier to
believe in something.

It doesn't matter if you believe
this or you believe that,

if you're uncertain of your
faith, just keep looking at it

I think it's out there.

(soft music)

- We're flying from Lalibela

through a small town called
Gondar on our way up to Aksum.

Ultimately in Aksum we're hoping to see

one of the most important
religious artifacts known to man.

(upbeat music)

When you roll into the city of Gondar

it's impossible to ignore
this incredible complex

that was built by the
royalty here in the 1600s.

I sure as hell didn't expect
to see something like this

in Ethiopia.

Obviously there's a lot of influence

from the Middle East here.

There's a lot of European influence

from all over different parts of Europe.

More or less this is the only country

that has never been colonized
by any other country.

And so because of that, I think
Ethiopia stays very unique

to the rest of Africa.

This is awesome though, I want one.

- This looks like it was
uprooted from the British Isles

and dropped here.

- Maybe that's what actually happened.

They actually ship it off.

Come on why not?

I've always wanted a castle.

Not that I'm being too greedy
or asking for too much,

just walking around here

you know, I'd have some crazy robe on.

You over there do something funny.

Scott, say something smart.

- [Scott] Yes sir.

- Andre film something really cool.

(upbeat music)

- Hills around here are lush and green.

These are fertile lands.

That's part of the big reason why

there was a bit of a kingdom
here in the first place.

This was crossroads of major trade routes

to the south of here,

a lot of gold deposit,
and things like that.

There was a lot of reasons for people

to be coming through this.

- And I think that I said,
Scott, say something smart

and he did it.

This would be a perfect candidate.

(indistinct chatter)

I need someone to do something stupid.

(upbeat music)

- [Scott] Good reason
why they call this place

the Camelot of Africa,

this area you can walk around

and the ruins are remarkable shape.

There's a lot of different influences

that kind of came through
Ethiopia over the years.

It kind of becomes maybe
the oldest cultural museum

if you can find in the world.

It feels like all of the
history is still here

because you don't get any of this stuff

in the rest of Africa.

(piano music)

I think this is the first thing

that kind of makes sense out here.

Being in Africa in a castle,

this where the lions would be.

- And they must've kept a number of them.

At least through there's
the list three pens.

- I'd keep lions.

I'd keep seven or eight easy crew, a pack.

- A pride.

- A pride, flock, a gaggle

- A gaggle of lions

- Well, whatever it is,

- It is a school of lion, school.

- Well, you can have a little bench,

a little water I think?

- What else could you ask for here?

And fact for me, freedom.

- True, that's thinking outside
the box or outside the cage.

How do lions live?

They kind of sit like this the whole day.

They always get their paws
kind of, looking like this.

Look how they drink.

That's how lions drink.

Right now this is all just being absorbed

and my image of Ethiopia
is gonna be exactly

the experience that we have here.

You're gonna have this idea
of what everybody has told you

it's going be like.

- If you don't go to these places,

you don't understand what it's all about.

- Forget everything
you know about Ethiopia

it's like done.

It's pretty complex at least
what we're seeing so far,

it's been influenced by a
lot... (thunder roaring)

- Of lightning here.

We have lightning and thunder here.

We thought that, I thought it was desert.

I'm surprised every moment.

(upbeat music)

- [Scott] We're leaving Gondar behind.

We're gonna head north from here

and the end goal is Aksum.

- [Justin] We got ourselves
a four wheel drive vehicle

to get through the highlands.

And right now it's
apparently the rainy season

so rain equals dirt, equals mud.

So this is supposed to be the truck for us

but we actually noticed the tires

there like completely bald.

Zing!

(upbeat music)

How bad are the roads we're going?

- Bad road.

- Oh, really?

- Yeah

Are these tires gonna work?

They look pretty...

- No.

- They're not gonna work?

- Yeah.

Well, there goes the paved road.

And here comes the gravel.

He can take us along,

I've made out of town.

(upbeat music)

- [Scott] Driving almost
everywhere in this country

there's a real mix of odd landscapes

and different types of people.

So many things that you see
are little hints towards

what this place may really be like

and how people really live.

- [Justin] It's kind of like
a window into the light.

(upbeat music)

It's been pretty bumpy
ride all the way up.

Hello?

Hello.

What is this part called?

Semyon?

Semein?

That's Semein?

I think it's the main park, I don't know.

We've been told four different
ways how to pronounce it.

The editors will put a little thing

and you know we have
just arrived at Simien or

Simien parks.

- [Scott] The temperature is cold

and much like the view,

much like everything else,

this is not what I expected of Africa.

And I did not pack accordingly.

(upbeat music)

(car engine roaring)

(guitar music)

This is an eco-lodge

where we're gonna be staying the night.

And hopefully they have a lot of blankets.

- Such real travelers.

- Parts of Africa can be cold.

- One for the books huh?

freezing in Africa.

(guitar music)

Every time we'd stop at a place

it looked like something
we've seen earlier in the year

or two years ago.

These places that we've
traveled to all seem to be here.

Places that look like Vietnam,

places that look like Jordan

and places that look like Inguan.

And the thing is that
not all these countries

are right beside each other at all

and scattered throughout the world.

Now you come to Ethiopia

and it seems like all these
places are on one spot.

(soft music)

We made it through the city of mountains.

We've arrived in Aksum and
even though it's not a Sunday,

given the Julian calendar

that Orthodox Christian
Ethiopians observed,

this is the 29th day of the month

even though for us it's
the fifth day of the month.

They observe 30 days
for every single month

making this the 29th day, seven years ago,

almost eight years ago for us.

A little bit confusing but for them

they know what it is is the 29th day.

That's a Holy day, it's a day of God.

- [Justin] What's your name?

- My name is Hannah

- Hannah? You speak really,
really good English.

- I know the language.

- So this is my passport.

We're not doing anything wrong are we?

- It's crazy.

The don't like US.

- They don't like US?

- Yes.

Were just sitting here talking.

- The crazy pastor who is speaking,

who is twist and can't speak English.

- So he gets upset 'cause
he can't speak and you can.

Today is a day of prayer.

- Is holiday in the church.

(speaking Amharic)

- So everybody here is
kind of dressed in white.

- Yes

- You don't have anything like that,

- I don't have.

- Who do you wanna be when you get older?

- After a nurse I want
to be a doctor for eye

because many people in
Ethiopia don't have eye

so I will treat those who don't have eyes.

You understand?

- Yeah, yeah.

A lot of people in Ethiopia
have problems with their eyes.

That stems back from
other very simple thing,

a lack of vitamin A

and that causes blindness
at a very young age.

So you'll see a lot of
people here that are blind.

It's very, very nice of you

- Arab stole much from my country.

(soft music)

Probably one of the most important things

that we're gonna see at
our time here in Aksum

is St. Mary's of Zion.

Within the compound is a chapel

which supposedly holds
the Ark of the Covenant.

It's probably one of the most famous items

of the Bible.

The Ark of the Covenant holds the tablets

in which God gave Moses.

- Anyone who doesn't believe it's here

believes that it's still lost somewhere.

People come here to pray for miracles,

to be healed from all kinds of ailments

or pain and suffering.

And apparently many people
have had miracles happen here.

So whether that's because
the Ark is in there or not,

whether it's mind over
matter, whatever it is,

there's something
special about coming here

for a lot of people.

- This is as far as we're allowed to go.

We're not even allowed to get even closer.

- I don't know if it's in there or not.

We're not gonna find it because
we're not allowed to look.

- It does hold a lot of power.

- I've watched for years
"The Last Archive",

I have no interest at all
in trying to look at it.

- So did those Nazis.

And Indy was like "don't look",

and he didn't and he survived.

Nazis aren't here.

- There's only one guardian
who's allowed inside

and no one else is.

We're here with one of the senior members

of the church of St. Mary of Zion.

Did you ask him how long the
Ark has been on the site?

(speaking Amharic)

- 8,150 years.

- What power does the Ark hold?

(speaking Amharic)

- When the Israel people want
to do something like a war,

they should have to go with
this Ark of the Covenant

and show this miracle.

- If we did see it, what would happen?

(speaking Amharic)

- Nobody is there to see it.

- Has he noticed any signs from God?

(speaking Amharic)

- 1948, his eyewitness.

He has seen a light that
was lightened for four hours

inside the church.

It was a light given by God.

(speaking Amharic)

Other small miracles also
that I cannot count he says.

(speaking Amharic)

If you find and if you promise,
please God do this thing

I am sure that it can happen.

- Thank you very much.

Thank you for his time.

(soft music)

The ideal behind a lot of
religions is to have faith.

And I think if you believe it's here

and if it gives you the
kind of power that you need

to better your life or to
better someone else's life,

then who is to say it's not in there.

I wish there could be more
arks in a lot more places

to do good like that.

(guitar music)

- [Justin] In the country,
in the rural area,

you really noticed that the
people are a lot better of

than I thought.

Their faith has kept them strong

despite the hardships they
have endured in the past.

Which is great to see.

(guitar music)

- [Scott] We're hiking up to
a place called Debre Damo.

It's one of the oldest
still remaining churches

in all of the country
and over 1000 years old.

It's probably one of the
last still remaining churches

that are still in use anymore
anywhere in the world.

There's over 80 monks at the
top if you can get there.

If you're a girl don't bother coming,

you gotta be a man do this

and I don't mean that
in a sexist kind of way.

Literally they do not allow
women to come to the top.

- [Justin] It's just kind of a sandstone

you kind of climb at this point.

And that's where it gets tricky.

But the challenge is once
you get through the top.

It is about 45 feet at straight up rock.

See, we're just having trouble.

The reason why no females are allowed here

because the queen at the time

was trying to destroy all the churches

so the monks fled to these mountains

where they'd be left alone.

(speaking Amharic)

The kids make it look
easy though, look at that.

- [Scott] What do you think.

- Looking up it doesn't
look that bad, right?

Looking down, it's always
look a little bit scarier.

- You'd see now why it
stood the test of time.

It's as the only way to
actually see this church.

- Well, who's gonna go first?

Play rock, paper scissors to go first?

- What, do you wanna go first
or do you wanna or do you...

- I don't know, let the fate decide.

One, two, three, shoot.
- You got it.

- [Andre] I'll go first.

- You can't just go first.

But who's going to first
between me and you.

One, two, three, shoot.
- One, two, three, shoot

So you get to choose.

- No.

I guess I'll try first.

I'll go second, you go third.

- Just give me a second guys.

- Who's gonna catch me if I fall?

How is it?

- It's tougher than you think.

Oh, man!

I need to take a little
break right where you are.

Let's go to the hard part.

Out of nervousness more
than I think anything else.

There's no safety net.

This is just the way it always was.

And the struggle that you have to take

to get to such a holy place.

- How is it?

- That's one of the scariest things

I've done in a long time.

I know it's not worth an encouragement

but in words of honesty.

- [Justin] I was pretty scared
for the whole time doing it

because I'd fall, I'm
gonna land on my head

or get badly hurt and there's
no hospital anywhere in site.

I didn't actually know
it'd be a bit scary.

Every time I've done anything else,

I've always had harness and
the bungee jumping and all that

but this time we don't.

- [Scott] Look over your shoulder down.

- No, no looking over the shoulder.

(upbeat music)

(speaking Amharic)

- That's honestly probably
one of the scariest things

I've ever done, ever.

I don't know how it will translate.

Probably not at all.

- What got scary was that last little bit.

'Cause my arms, my forearms,
I was just throbbing

and just having a tight rope
as hard as I possibly can.

And I can feel my arms
and my hands being weaker

and weaker.
- You gotta go out and around

- And I get to do a very top zone

with the highest points we
don't wanna fall, right?

- Yeah.

I wish there was like a
water slide on the other side

to get down.

- I don't wanna think
of going down here now.

Let's go see the monks.

(upbeat music)

You get to the top and
it's not just a church,

which we thought it was.

It's a full monastery still functioning.

- It just feels very old here.

And you look at the
wood here, it's so worn.

- All the feet that have come over this

it's like this food has
just been shellacked.

It's like snakes,

- Snakes up here play a big role

in why they build this place.

The first person to actually come up here

was praying for solace and
praying for safety from God.

And the heavens opened and
presented this huge python

that he was able to rise
up the python to the top

of this little mountain.

Kind of like us.

- We should take a second
look, maybe it was a snake.

- [Scott] This is somewhere
between 1000 and 1500 years old.

And people be coming up here
for Orthodox Christianity

for the same purpose, the same religion,

which would have represented
one of the very first places

of Christian worship in the country.

We're now standing a
place where they've been

worshiping the exact same
way in the exact same place

for more than 1000 years now.

This are original paintings
from when this monastery

was built 5, 600AD.

It's not that often
that you get to witness

evidence of Christianity that old.

In here, you really get a feel for it

because it's still active.

People still come here to pray.

The history Ethiopia was
absolutely just non-existent to me

only a few days ago.

And now it's really coming to light.

You're witnessing one of
the earliest evidences

of Christianity in Ethiopia,
in fact, in all of Africa,

which makes it live very soon

after the dawn of Christianity
in the first place.

(soft music)

I had no idea it was gonna be this big.

And all the buildings look like

we've seriously been
transported back in time.

Like these are the buildings
I would expect to see

in the Bible the way the
Bible describes like a town.

The fact that it's
remained exactly the same,

the exact same reasons,
the exact same religion.

That's what makes it cool.

We were very much welcome
as long as we held true

to the same traditions.

There's no staircase to
get us up here easier.

We have to take the same
heroin path up the rope

that the monks did for
1500 years to get here.

Now, since a python
brought them to the top,

that's what really helps
connect me to this place

as opposed to some of the
other places that we've gone.

(singing in foreign language)

Never underestimate what
history can teach you

about the present and the
future and about cultures,

and people and faith.

There's a lot we can learn
about where we came from

to understand who we are
and where we're going.

(upbeat music)

We're on the south side
of the rock right now.

Well away from where the monastery is.

We're eight feet down from
the actual cliff of the rock.

From here just drops straight down.

There's a couple of caves here
that have been chiseled out

by hermits,

people who just wanted
nothing to do with society.

Obviously this has no
correlation with the monastery,

with Orthodox Christianity or
any religion for that matter.

And they would live their
entire lives in these caves.

And they would only emerge
to collect some food,

try to stay out of the
side of other humans.

And obviously they've died in there too.

But I mean, it wasn't exactly
done against their will.

It was their decision to do it.

And then we get some rain.

- I don't know all of bit nervous

about how they're making it back down now

because its raining.

It a bit slick.

- It's gonna be a bit of a challenge

maybe we can hide out
somewhere for a little bit.

Not in here.

- One of the monks have invited us over

to have a drink with him.

And good timing now that it's raining.

Thank you.

It's nice enough that we've
got a roof over our heads now.

But we're also getting
a hot drink as well,

almost like a tea.

- [Justin] It's almost like a
beer taste to it, doesn't it?

- It almost tastes fermented.

(speaking Amharic)

- Lots of the little bits in there.

(speaking Amharic)

- I really don't know what it's made from.

It's brown.

Brown and water.

- Maybe if you drink all that
you'll become enlightened

and you'll understand
that there's magic here.

- Do you make this drink?

You make it?

(speaking Amharic)

I think he's pretty proud of this drink

and it makes it himself.

(speaking Amharic)

The rain, it's nice to
have a roof over our head.

Thank you.

Beautiful view out here.

Very beautiful view.

Since the only thing we really know

how to properly communicate,

it's just basically
hi, so we're saying hi,

and then we said hi, as kind of thank you.

And I think he's just her laughing off

'cause he doesn't know
what to say about you us

'cause he can't say it.

(speaking Amharic)

- We gotta look up saba now.

- We keep hearing saba.

Not still quite sure what it means.

The climb here.

You must be very strong, very strong, man.

(speaking Amharic)

I don't know if we're going
to be able to get down.

No, no get down.

We'll be okay, it's okay.

(laughing)

- [Justin] You really got
to find out what he's saying

'cause he just put everybody
to stitches right now.

- We're gonna have to pray
our way into this one.

(laughing)

I'm gonna sleep here tonight.

- You're gonna move in
with him. (laughing)

(speaking Amharic)

- When I climbed I was trying to...

(laughing)

Right now it's raining
and the road is slippery.

(speaking Amharic)

I think we're being trapped here.

It's like oh the rope it's gone.

They pull the rope up at six o'clock, so.

(speaking Amharic)

(laughing)

The heart is the same
for you, for him, for me.

Same heart.

(speaking Amharic)

I'm sure we could sleep
here if we wanted to,

but we should probably be on our way,

unless we wanna be a permanent
fixture of this monastery.

(speaking Amharic)

(laughing)

(speaking Amharic)

(upbeat music)

Here we at this part.

- Now that would hurt a lot.

I'm actually thinking
about using this harness

because my boots are slippery and wet.

- Okay.

- It just looks like a piece of raw hide.

(upbeat music)

Hey, hey.

Being lost in translation

can still pick up
without being too preachy

or without stepping on anybody's toes.

I think the overall message is clear.

We're all in this together.

And I'm only as strong
as the person decide.

We all breathe the same air

and we all drink the same water.

I think that's something that
some people just don't realize

and it shouldn't be that way.

- It doesn't look any easier
the second time around.

I trust you.

Actually feel a lot better with him

on this piece of leather, go figure.

It's been a great trip and
we're only a sliver into it.

To see a place like Ethiopia

that is a peaceful mix
of all of these errors

and historical influences
and religious influences

is a real breath of fresh air.

Unfair images that we
had are now shattered

and I have a much better understanding.

It was a lot easier coming down actually.

That safety rope just
gave me the confidence

I needed to get me safety.

And I heard you calling it harness.

It's old dried weathered piece of leather,

not one piece,

but like whole bunch sewn together.

- It's like a racing harness, right?

Racing harness for horses
are made out of leather.

So technically is some sort of harness.

- And horses usually lower
themselves from cliff sides

base on this.

- That what you're saying.

Sometimes it's nice to push
a little pass that limit

and say, well you know what,

let's play in the danger
zone for a little bit.

- It's still funny that
we're talking about this

pushing past the danger
zone on like a 45 foot wall

with all the things that we've done before

but when you're trusting an
old piece of dried leather

and nothing else, it's
something different for sure.

We're heading back to the
capital of Addis Ababa

with a much better understanding of

what Ethiopia looks like
at least and the North.

We're gonna go on to a part of the country

that has greater number of Islamic faith.

So far the trip already has changed

any preconceptions that I had.

We're gonna hook up with the local

and travel south part of this country.

(upbeat music)