to Lebanon!

We left our London hotel early on Tuesday morning... in a lot of pain thanks to Derron and Neil (two old friends of mine who have not grown up at all), who showed us how things go at an English pub. It was a late night.

We had an hour-long bouncy stop-and-go taxi ride to Heathrow (apparently highways don't exist in London). It was rough. Our departure was delayed an hour, but I occupied my time by trying to get through security with a jar of peanut butter. It didn't go over so well, and they upgraded my security experience as a result.

Anyway, we flew into a haze of smog and sunset in Beirut and were greeted by Umu (Uncle) Abdo and Umu Mohammed. 7 passengers with luggage was a tight fit. Driving in Lebanon is interesting. Apparently there aren't many rules on the roads (or requirements for a vehicle to BE on the road). It was a bit scary to begin with, but then our driver started watching Arabic music videos on a portable DVD player too, while passing livestock trucks on a two lane road going up a mountain. After 3 Lebanese Army checkpoints, we came into Baalbek.

Needless to say, we made it here safely, and were greeted by a dozen or more relatives with a small feast of cheeses, bread, vegetables and tea. We sat around the house with the family and "talked". My Arabic still consists of about 15 words, but I'm getting by. I'm impressed by Katia's skills with the language. I never knew she had it in her!



At around midnight the power went out so we went to bed. Apparently outages happen all the time because the grid is underpowered. Many of the power plants were destroyed in 2006 and now the city relies heavily on generators.

Wednesday brought a lot of adventures that we'll post soon.