Hell’s Valley (Wadi Jhennam), so called because from the top it looks like you can see into the bowels of the earth. It is around 200 meters (650 feet) deep and the valley walls are very steep. A river runs through it, with falls this time of year. It is some of the most beautiful scenery we’ve seen here. At left are flowering peach trees in the valley. And Tom heading down the trail.
A smiling old man (our guide says he is poor in life but rich in heart) offers the entire group tea.
The views are stunning. This is probably the most remote hike we’ve been on, and one of the longest at 13 km (8 miles). We drove along the coast north all the way past Tripoli (and Nahr el Bared Refugee Camp) before turning inland, not far from the Syrian border, and about 2 1/2 hours from Beirut (including the obligatory stop for fresh baked snacks--yum).
Drinking tea in small plastic cups at the man’s house, we hear music coming from further up the valley. It is a wedding. We walk on, toward the music, and see (and hear) the wedding party crowded on a rooftop. There is Lebanese line dancing (dabke). We pass by the bride and groom’s getaway car and I notice rice sprinkled on the seats.
The views are stunning. This is probably the most remote hike we’ve been on, and one of the longest at 13 km (8 miles). We drove along the coast north all the way past Tripoli (and Nahr el Bared Refugee Camp) before turning inland, not far from the Syrian border, and about 2 1/2 hours from Beirut (including the obligatory stop for fresh baked snacks--yum).
Drinking tea in small plastic cups at the man’s house, we hear music coming from further up the valley. It is a wedding. We walk on, toward the music, and see (and hear) the wedding party crowded on a rooftop. There is Lebanese line dancing (dabke). We pass by the bride and groom’s getaway car and I notice rice sprinkled on the seats.
Aside from the one tiny village and the wedding party, it is quiet and we see no other people. The valley walls are beautifully terraced in spots, reminding us of a human presence somewhere. Otherwise it felt unusually remote and untouched.
The day before, Tom and I volunteered at Bourj Barajneh Refugee Camp, substituting for ACS teachers who had started short-term English conversation classes there but were off on a field trip this day. Here is Tom with his class.
And this is outside the Women’s Center building where we taught.
On the way out, walking to the ACS bus (because the roads are too narrow for vehicles inside the camp) we hear drums and bagpipes--yes, bagpipes--and soon see crowds, in fact become surrounded by crowds as the head our way. It is a funeral procession. Behind the bagpipes are banners of some military group, followed by the flower- and Palestinian flag-draped casket. We feel quite awkward to be intruding, but the road is narrow and there is no place to disappear.
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Curious signage of the week:
- Top Tapis (“tapis” is French for rug)
- Wedding Planer (we see dozens of billboards with this on it)
- International Teaching High School
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