A Day In Lebanon

So after a good while of intending to go to Lebanon and meet some of Cleveland folks (in fact I have been in touch mainly with Ghunwa and once with Mikhail before he goes back), so after three weeks here I was able to arrange that. Everyone was cautioning me about that because of all the recent events, which didn't mean to me anything. I left on Thursday and came back next day.
The driver I went with said that he will meet me at 10 AM in the morning, in Safita. We left shortly after that. There were three others in the car (a private car, by the way). To give a brief background about him, he is a former (I think still is) member of the famous Syrian intelligence working at an important post at the Syrian-Lebanese borders. He is retired now, but needless to say he knows every single person who works on both sides. That made the border passing so easy, 15 minutes from one side to the other. Of note, almost no other cars were traveling. Those whom he knew he said hi to, but there was one who apparently didn't know him and asked for some kind of documentation. The poor guy he shouldn't have done it. Our driver gave him a lecture that contains subtle threatening that made me somewhat scared, and somewhat amazed (I think I am still expecting to see discipline, although it never existed). Fifty Syrian pounds would solve the biggest trouble and no one even tried to open the trunk. We could have had explosions and drugs with us and no one would have known.
After the borders we drove slowly for a while as the road was so bumpy and being fixed. But then he started driving as if someone was chasing him. Speed was 140 km/hr whether speed limit was 30 or 100. Apparently the maximum speed allowed is infinity (light speed to be scientifically correct). I, sitting in the front, was imagining all kind of accidents happening. I believe I made a dent in the chassis from too much braking on the road, I also believe there was a blood pressure problem.
He kindly dropped me at a beach in Jounieh were I was supposed to meet Ghunwa and others. The place, a very nice one I thought, belonged once to the military but now is open for public. There were plenty of people there swimming (actually swimming, not just lying on the beach) and sun-tanning. The sun was up, and almost no humidity which was nice. Later a couple of friends with family and Ghunwa's arrived and we basically spent the time between being under the sun, in the sea, eating, and chatting. Everyone was very nice and kind and I wouldn't know how to thank them enough. It has been a while since I did any kind of activity, or got "sun-exposed"; the result is that I got tired later and transformed into a red beet.
Afterwards the four of us (me, Ghunwa, and two other friends of her: Nijad and Hadi) went to Harisa via the "Telefrique". The Telefrique (I hope my spelling is right) is a cool way of going from near the sea to the highest point of the mountain in front of the sea. Four can sit in a closed oval "container" that is attached from its top to a long wire that spans the length from bottom to the top. As we arrived we looked around a bit and I lit a candle in tribute to all my grand-parents who passed over the last 9 years. The view form the top is very beautiful as a long section of the cost can be seen.
After that we headed towards Ghunwa's and from there we left to a restaurant in a village called Dhour El-Shweir. It is very elevated (1250 meters above the sea level, I was told). Few others joined us there and the evening was fun. I think I was getting exhausted already as the moment we arrived home I slept readily while others stayed up (bad, bad, bad…). The day was much fun and makes me want to come again to see more of Lebanon, which, maybe to your surprise, I don't know much of.
Nothing was planned for the next day as it was supposed to be the day to depart to Safita again. Nevertheless, I had no clue what time the driver will be there next morning, so I accompanied Ghunwa on her way to Beirut. I got to see the American University in Beirut (AUB) before it was time to leave. I met the driver at a certain place. A taxi has dropped me at the wrong place first, so I had to walk back some; he also tried to fool me I guess as I was paying him, but that got fixed.
The second driver, name is George, had an old Mercedes (by the way, Lebanon must have the highest number of Mercedes and BMW cars per capita in the world). As I rode he tells me that the A/C is not working, it was getting really hot that day. We left at around 1:30 PM. His driving was not better than the first, in fact 10 times worse. Even though he was speeding, I wished he sped more because the more the speed, the cooler the air I got from the window. Soon after taking off he started playing the cassette player. The tape had a party by Ali Dayyoub and Fariha Al-Abdallah. Both were competing in horribleness. Fariha has acclaimed the title "Al-Shahroora" on a recent flyer I saw. As she raises her singing tone, her voice resembles screeching of nails on a green board at school. The songs were those in an Ali Al-Deek style. The driver seemed to be so thrilled, the songs was being repeated on and on. I thought he either was stupid, or was testing to see if I complained or whatever (I think he also is with intelligence: "mokhabarat"). Anyway he asked me, referring to the songs, whether I liked "Tarab". I felt as if an axe hit my head. For those who don't know what tarab is, a good analogy is asking whether I like to listen to big bands music or Frank Sinatra while a Snoop Doggy Dog song is playing.
Anyway, I arrived eventually safe, the borders where not much of a problem too, 15 minutes, and no one bothered to look into my bag again.