Tonic panic, and spotted on the Corniche

Horrors! It seems there is a tonic water shortage in Beirut. Those many expats whose evenings are incomplete without a G&T have hit hard times indeed. Underconver intelligence text messages report which small shop may have a few dusty cans on a forgotten shelf...
...

Seen on the Corniche: young lady wearing stiletto-heeled boots sporting multiple non-working buckles, wide-striped red and black tights, plaid miniskirt with black lacy slip showing 2” below, tight red sweater, false eyelashes, and a black headscarf covering hair and neck. One idea of Moslem modesty.

....
As we sit in a restaurant on the Corniche (um, the Corniche is the walkway and roadway along the Mediterranean) on Saturday night, we watch pass a long convoy of white UN vehicles. Military vehicles. UN military vehicles—almost makes me gasp, seems such an oxymoron to my idealist, former staff member heart. A long convoy, apparently having rolled straight off a ship in the nearby port. Armored baby tanks, assorted trucks, huge electrical apparatuses (generators? command centers?), and 2 enormous guns mounted on massive truck bases—anti-aircraft guns??? The UN! And why down the Corniche for all to see this Saturday evening, instead of the highway leading to the south? Because people are happy to see them, feel reassured (I guess) to see them, as well they might, I suppose, given the constant taunting, threatening by the neighbors to the south, near daily overflights of their jets, in violation of a number of UN resolutions. I am just so sad to see that this is what my UN, the one and only UN has [had to] become. I really am disturbed by this.


p.s. this is not a new presence in the south, merely added reinforcements. UNIFIL has just celebrated (?) its 32 years of peacekeeping

On Beirut--for Kristina and Becca

Favorite sign of the week:

Pizza On Fire Wood

(no doubt a literal translation of wood-fired pizza)

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I like the daily adventure of life in Beirut, most days, despise it others. What piece of technology may fail today, what confusing multi-phone call administrative snafu may arise, what stranger will show some touching kindness, what new obstacle in the street must I be aware of lest I trip or impale myself, what political drama may unfold? But, in Tacoma, who may be shot?

Living here has renewed my world citizenship, which is very important to me, has sheltered me from a constant barrage of annoying advertising, box stores, the election campaigns last year, and the incomprehensible spin of conservatives entrenched in a fear-driven narrow-minded and selfish mindset. It has made me more aware of how various segments of the world live—migrant workers, Palestinians refugees for 60 years, rich Gulf people (many of whom come here to party), itinerant expatriate teachers...

Winter hikes

We hiked from the town of Afqa and its amazing waterfall that shoots straight out of the mountain side. Here it is up close, with our great guide Chamoun, and the hiking group.

And from afar, along the trail

T and I have been waiting 2 years to see this! It is a rock carved during Roman Emporer Hadrian's day, saying what species of trees to avoid cutting (juniper was one). Ancient ecology! There are a number of these around the country, but most are remote and hard to get to. One we have passed near before was inaccessible due to bee hives right in front...

Huffed and puffed my way up to this spot, with some help from T.

A little hazy, or we could have seen the Mediterranean beyond the far ridge.

Two weeks before the above hike we went snowshoeing. Below, Tom and Cam having a brief rest.

Old and new memorials

Tuesday was the anniversary of the death of St. Maroun, after whom the Maronite church, the largest Christian sect in Lebanon, was founded. This was no ordinary anniversary however (at least to those of us from the New World) but the 1600th.

Schools and government offices were closed (as they had been for the 1599th), though many shops stayed open.

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On the fresh and raw loss front, 23 bodies and body parts of the 90 passengers have now been recovered from the Ethiopian Air crash off Beirut on January 25th.

The first of the two “black boxes” from the crash was finally retrieved several days ago after an intense search, not far from shore and only 45 meters (147 feet) deep, despite reports last week that the “pings” had been located miles offshore and at a depth of 1300 meters (4,265 feet--not 425 as erroneously stated in last post).

The box was flown to France (in the Prime Minister’s private jet) for examination.

The “black” box turns out to be actually orange (for some reason I find this jarring, on a par with the discovery that the Sphinx has a tail--delightfully logical).

Part of the second box, the cockpit recorder, was found a day later, but missing a key piece. This only adds to the mystery, drama, circus of recovery efforts. The weather, pilot error, the Israelis and Al Qaeda have all been variously blamed. (Al Qaeda was the latest culprit, courtesy of some rabid Israeli online press).

I spoke with an Ethiopian worker here who said that their community was convinced that the plane had been bombed because a group of high ranking Hezbollah members was to have been on board, and that the truth would never come out because it would be suppressed by the government. Lebanese government? Someone’s government—does it really matter? She wept as she told me of a woman on board who had worked as a maid here for 11 years, and had not seen her family that whole time. Another domestic worker here had three children in Ethiopia.

Photo shows Lebanese army being briefed by the search team (with thanks to ACS teacher Sietske and her amazing blog--http://sietske-in-beiroet.blogspot.com/)

Another dimension of the recovery efforts is that the vessels equipped to dive to the deep level that seemed to be necessary belonged to private, for-profit treasure hunters (see photo), working at the expense of the Lebanese government. It was reported that they are especially eager to help, while keeping an eye out for a 1957 plane wreck in the area , which was thought to be carrying gold bullion...

Ethiopian Air crash

In the middle of the night last Monday night, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 took off from Beirut airport in a violent thunderstorm. Shortly after takeoff it burst into flames and plunged into the Mediterranean Sea, about two miles offshore. Ninety souls were on board; all perished.

It was likely the very same plane we had taken, safely, comfortably, to Addis Ababa last month; we kept picturing the flight crew's faces.

All the next day we could hear the helicopters passing over the area, looking in vain for survivors. Boats from five countries joined in the search. School was cancelled and government offices shut down in a gesture of mourning. There had been 54 Lebanese, 22 Ethiopian and a smattering of other nationalities on board, inlcuding the American-born wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon. Addis is an important transfer point for many cities in West and South Africa., and there are many Lebanese business people, mostly Shiites from south Lebanon, who work in Africa. Last month we had transferred at Addis for Johannesburg.

On Thursday the pings from the black boxes were located, six miles offshore and in a deep trench 1300 meters (425 feet) below. A submarine (Cam and I saw it today!) will photograph the wreckage, and determine whether the boxes are still inside the wreckage of the plane or are outside. If the box is outside, it will be easier to get to. Only 14 bodies have been retreived so far--perhaps most of the victims remain belted inside the remains of the plane.

Awful!

Beirut marathon and Harissa with Cam

A sunny day in December in Beirut, from our balcony


And a glimpse of Beirut Marthon runners/walkers from our side balcony. 30,000 people participated in the 5, 10 and 42 K races. Entrants from Ethiopia and Kenya have won it every year since inception, 2003.



And in January, Tom, Cam and I went up the coast about 30 minutes' drive to Jounieh, where we hopped a telepherique (cable car) up over the highway, passing inbetween a number of apartment buidings , up the mountain to Harissa.

After the cable car you board a reticulated railway for the last bit of climb.

It was a little hazy, but the view was great.



At the top is a large statue of Mary.

And a huge church.

More view

Pix from Lesotho trip

Jetting (NOT) in

Cam's rondavel

Tom and Ben enjoy coke in a bottle

King Moshoeshoe's mountain

Tom and Paseka

Ben atop King Moshoeshoe's mountain