Massaya trip, and local lovely things

Last Sunday friends had organized another trip to

the lovely Massaya Vineyard in the Bekaa Valley, so of course we had to go. They serve a fabulous meal, with lots of wine. Here is K with Adele, a fellow Boggle champ. And T with colleague Paul, getting ready to play poker. T won!

With a major election coming up, billboards and signs for varous blocs and candidates have sprung up. One of the more striking billboards is a beautiful woman (thankfully just the face) saying "soit belle, vote" = Be beautiful, vote". On the way back from the Bekaa we spotted it--sorry it may be too small for you to see in the photo. And then there is the same lady, in orange lipstick, saying"Je Vote Orange" (the opposition). I remember a visiting British teacher at Brumanna School telling me of her dismay last Easter when a 6 year old student refused to pick up an orange colored agg during an egg hunt, because "I don't take orange ones." Sigh.

And later in the week I had a coffee with my two good friends here, one a Kenyan American and the other Palestinian American. K is very sad that Sandra is leaving in a few weeks.

Fava beans are everywhere. 50 cents a kilo. They're huge.