Beirut Report XIa

This is going to be shorter than the original XI I wrote early this week (and the computer lost). One adventure from last weekend:

After spending Friday afternoon at the beach near Sidon, I wanted to go up to the mountains for the evening, and then return early the next morning to go on our Saturday day trip to Byblos and the phenomenal Jeita Grotto.

I got on the road Friday evening at 7:30, walked the half mile to Barbar Snack, and caught the #2 bus to Antelias. The bus was fun - at 33 cents it's the cheapest tour of Beirut you'll find. The route goes south of Downtown, on the crosstown Avenue d'Independence, and then winds through heavily Armenian suburb of Dowra and up into Antelias. There I caught a bus going up the mountain, and I when I called out "D'hour", he told me to get in. We drove up through Bekfaya, the main town of the lower mountain, but about two miles past there, the driver called me forward and told me in half-Arabic, half-English that I was supposed to have changed buses in Bekfaya, and I had to get out and go back! It was 9:00 by this time, and I knew there weren't going to be many buses going down the mountain, so I jogged down the mountain until a passing car responded to my outstretched hand (the equivalent of a thumb here) and picked me up. He took me to Bekfaya and pointed me to D'hour. Buses weren't showing themselves, so I started walking and hitchhiking. Thank God, I was picked up on the first block, and the young guy driving took me as far as Douar. From there, I started walking again, with only a directional road sign to go on. Nobody picked me up this time, and I had walked a mile when I entered the municipality limits of D'hour-alShweer and then reached an intersection with unclear signage. Fortunately I was able to flag a passing car down for directions, and I found that I was just a minute's walk from the D'hour "Saha" (town square). It's a short walk from there to my cousins', and when I rang the doorbell at 10:15 the door immediately opened, and about a dozen friends and relatives all started clapping as I walked in. They were very worried; I guess the mountain's not really safe at night, with disreputable Syrian soldiers and bandits or something. I don't know about all that, but I certainly had fun, even if it took over two and half hours to go a half-hour's drive!