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Nefasit

We descended through endless terraces of sisal, a crop that once provided hemp for rope but even then had been trumped by the artificial fiber nylon.

Road and railroad routes above Nefasit
(Picture taken from Debra Bizan Monastery across the valley from Nefasit)

Railroad route into Nefasit from lower down on Debra Bizan
(The letters "A" and "B" match the same letter locations on the previous picture.)

The Littorina rounded the side the mountain above Nefasit, made a U-turn, and pulled into the Nefasit station. We sat there ten minutes while the driver disappeared with his operations crank into the station. As we waited, two camels loaded with wood plodded down the adjoining road behind their driver.

Moving down the mountain again, now at a gentler decline, we actually heard the groan of the engine pulling us now and then rather than constantly breaking our descent as it had above Nefasit. Staying just above the road, the railroad followed the road down the long Nefasit valley. Several stone bridges gracefully spanned the inner end of side valleys to allow the route to turn easily.

At the end of Nefasit valley we entered the cloud bank as a bridge crossed the road and guided us into Embatcalla valley.