We arrived at the 25 km (15.5 mi) marker on the Adigrat-Adi Abun road around ten. The new road to Yeha was completely washed out. We had to take the old, low-grade, dirt road soaked by days of heavy rains. Any stone base the road had was falling apart, sinking into the mud. An abandoned VW Bug stood in the middle of a particularly extensive mud hole. We decided the road was not the best path into the village. A detour down a cow path bypassed the worst of the swampy road.
Rounding a hill, we had our first view of Yeha's 2400-year-old temple to the Moon god Alumqa on a knoll backdropped by the saw-tooth, Adowa mountains. The temple of Yeha is one of those places in the world that have been holy to man for ages. Like Stonehenge in England, its original significance is lost. But unlike Stonehenge, it kept up with the current gods, as far as we know first Alumqa and then Christ. It was so holy a place that no one has dared to destroy a pagan building that is probably built on a yet more ancient holy place....
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