Ethiopia

Lalibela's churches were not built. They were descended into - cut downward from the rock, as if the builders believed the sacred lived below rather than above. Ethiopia works this way throughout: its logic is its own, its calendar runs seven years behind the world's, its coffee ceremony is a philosophy disguised as a drink. Come with patience and without assumptions. The country will do the rest.

Our guide is being written from the ground up, with the time this place deserves.

We are still gathering the notes that make a guide worth keeping: highland monasteries, injera ceremonies, ancient trade routes and coffee that redefines the word entirely.