Lebanon in Fall

Lebanon in fall (at an undisclosed location)

So here we are, leaderless, and none the worse for it, I might add. Let's see how long we we'll be able to keep it up. I suggest we try some time without a government as well. And a parliament. I suspect it is the politicians creating our political problems, and therefore no politicians should result in no problems. You may disagree with my prediction, but at least I predict something. Better than this guy; 'Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said Sunday that conditions in Lebanon could lead to stability or fighting.' No, really. Stability or fighting, huh?

The weather agrees with us. It was fantastic fall weather this weekend; nippy (as a British colleague of mine would describe it), brisk, sunny, blue skies, and wonderful light. The colors are beautiful at this time of year in Lebanon, definitely the best season (although spring’s pretty good too. And summer. And winter, of course)

Lebanon in fall (at an undisclosed location)

And so I went off into the mountains, but somehow ended up in a valley. You cannot buy a good road map in Lebanon, as only the main roads feature on most, and most of those maps are outdated anyway. But who wants main roads? It’s the back roads and alley ways that are interesting in this place. There’s a new site that apparently helps you organize your road trip through Lebanon, but I was not impressed by it, as it didn’t help me much.

I basically need military maps, but I have the feeling that this request would not go down very well at the Ministry of Tourism, or Information. In France you can buy those so-called ‘blue’ maps that show every little trail, some only as wide as one person and you can really get off the beaten track with those (ask my brother, even the GPS loses him).

Lebanon in fall (at an undisclosed location)

But in Lebanon there are no military maps available to civilians, and so we just follow little trails until they narrow down and than narrow down some more until in the end you can no longer turn around and get stuck at an obscure little shack – smoke coming out of a chimney pipe and mud up to your elbows - where the kids don’t speak Lebanese (or heavily accented), the men wear their woolen sweaters tucked into their pants, the women invite you for coffee and the goats nibble at you sweater.

Lebanon in fall (at an undisclosed location)

And all this less than 35 kilometers from Beirut. To all of you guys living in Beirut and surroundings; you should go out and explore this country. I will not divulge you the location of this place is, as I intend to explore it further on my own and do not desire to see the plastic plates piling up in the bushes.