Cedars, Haircut, Market

Everyone smokes. For me it's especially nauseating in the morning, but that's nothing compared to the ride we had to the Cedars yesterday. We hired a taxi with a chain-smoking driver who was constantly spitting out the window (which prompted everyone to immediately lean away from the open windows to the rear). It was a needlessly fast and bumpy ride to the base of the mountains to the east, but then it got a bit scary. The views were incredible and there were some beautiful sights as we climbed through mountain towns. Near the top, the roads are narrow and cling to the steep mountainsides with no barriers. Halfway up, Issa had to tell the driver to slow down; Katia was getting sick to her stomach and I was not enjoying the ride. We did stop at a few overlooks where we could see the Bekka valley with Baalbek to the East and the Mediterranean to the West. We also stopped once for a Lebanese army checkpoint and were inspected more closely than any time before. When we arrived in the Cedars, we hiked through a loop trail through a stand of very old trees of biblical importance, but unfortunately I can't give any more details because all the signs were in Arabic, and Issa walks too fast for me to keep up. We later walked through some pushy street vendors and got back into the taxi and headed back. The ride back over the mountains was more enjoyable, and we arrived in the afternoon to take a nap.n

Dinner for us was stuffed grape leaves served with pita and yogurt. After dinner, we went up to Aunt Zeinab and Uncle Fouez house up the street for Pepsi and fresh cucumber and pears from their garden. They love their Pepsi here. The night before, the family was poking fun at me saying that I looked like Bin Laden or should be with Hezbollah. In conversation I said that I would cut my hair while I'm here, and within minutes, Ziad (Fouez's brother) was there with all the tools and a small crowd. He did a great job on my hair and beard, but I don't think I'll ever get all this gel out.













In the evening, we walked through Baalbek with Layal, Katia's cousin Ramona and her daughter Mariam. Because of some sort of event, the ruins were heavily guarded by Lebanese Army carrying machine guns and rocket launchers. It was a bit unnerving to walk through, but many of them greeted us as we passed.

In the evening we went to Abdo's house and Skyped with Ramez, and were served another spread of olives, cheeses and hummus.