After gingerly descending the rocky slopes toward Wajela camp the previous afternoon, we faced the seemingly much steeper climb up. A lovely breakfast of eggs and oranges in the warm Ethiopian sunshine helped fuel the hike, but my lack of sleep hurt. I generally wasn't a coffee drinker and my system probably wasn't used to thrice-daily doses.

The spectacle of children fervently running hundreds of meters for the simple thrill of saying "hello" to a foreigner will never lose its charm for me. Mulay was less inclined, however, as he saw this daily and it was beginning to wear. He worried that tourists would get annoyed and lose interest, but I assured him that couldn't possibly be the case.

Walking along the shady road, Nina worried aloud about getting to Gondar for trekking the Simiens, as flights out of Lalibela had been sold out for weeks. While our local guide broke off to find a phone, a mixed-age group of girls peered at us through the spindly trees. Jodie noticed they held a jump-rope, and the next few minutes' entertainment was secured.

Overjoyed when Jodie and I entered the yard, the kids eagerly directed Jodie to start hopping. The youngest children merely watched, including the lone small boy. Jodie jumped herself breathless and then held the rope for others, including a couple girls who were adorable camera fiends. A sweet girl who suffered burn scars all over her face held back for a while, but with urging she happily showed off her skipping skills.

Under a large, graceful tree, we lunched on plain cake-thick bread—thankfully not injera! As yesterday, the porters caught up to us during this time and we switched to a new local guide. We munched on the dry bread and sipped sodas they'd brought us and enjoyed the rest.

We'd seen only children since morning until some women holding parasols against the hot sun and swathed in natural-colored cloths slowly approached our tree, pretending not to stare. Once we noticed them, they burst into beautiful smiles.

They had come out of a church about 600 meters away beyond the trees. "Do you want to go to the beer festival?" Mulay asked. How could we not?

It was Sunday, even better than a Saint's Day. The service had ended much earlier and the party was now in full swing. Community members lived at least an hour's walk from the church and took these opportunities to catch up with each other. While the adults drank beer, the youngsters apparently roamed free in the fields.

The beer festival appeared a bit segregated, as women hung outside the low stone wall and men luxuriated in the courtyard, although there was some mixing. A man came around with a foam-filled pitcher to top-up the patrons, while we tried our best to get out of receiving more than one cup for the group.

One particularly handsome man bashfully pulled a prized possession from his pocket: a photograph of himself taken by a tourist. Everyone encouraged photo-taking. While I couldn't give anyone instant gratification, I promised Mulay I would send him photos to distribute on his treks. I photographed groups of friends all over the yard, women protecting their babies from the sun, and the young boys who seemed to be in priests-in-training.

The committee head of the new church building had been speaking passionately to Mulugeta for some time. Unlike the churches which looked like larger tukuls with metal roofs, the new church was an impressive stone structure with arched doorways. The man's brilliant idea was that we could take photos of the building process to send to Addis as part of the fundraising efforts.

We headed to the new church, where the fairly drunk men decided to simulate construction work for their star turns. It was a shaky start—the men would pick up a tray of rocks, dump the load and then stare glassy-eyed into the camera.

Beside himself with laughter, Jochen repeatedly directed via Mulay Pretend we're not here! Act natural! Now make love to the camera! In addition to "Clearing Debris" we also documented scenes such as "Piling Up Boulders" and "Scrabbling At Gravel Mound." Cracking up, we finally took our leave with lovely memories of the day we watched the fake building of a church in North Wollo.

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