'Decontracter'

In order to ‘decontract’ from the tasks you try to accomplish during the week but at which you in general do not completely succeed due to the wheels of bureaucracy, we went for a swim in the Chouf.

It looks like something out of a tourist brochure. It could be part of a tourist brochure, if it weren’t for the fact you’ve got to go to special places (like this eco-village in the Chouf) where people do not dump their trash all over.

There were quite a few people this time; some French, some Italians, a few Americans and Canadians, some Dutch (but you encounter those just about everywhere) and of course Lebanese.

But once you get there, it’s quite beautiful. You can rent tents and cabins in the woods, it is very quiet, you can see a million stars at night (no light pollution whatsoever), they serve a decent (albeit vegetarian) meal and they don’t mind if you bring your dog along. And all this for a very decent price. Admitted, I’m plugging them a bit, and no, I have no shares in the project, but they are always so nice to us, that's why.