Graffiti brought me

This past Friday I headed out to Beirut, Lebanon with my roommate Becca, Jasmine and Ben. The weather this whole weekend was in the high 70s with lots of clear skies. After arrival and checkin we walked around the city to find a map and a guide book. On the way we saw Place des Martyrs and a beautiful mosque. Before entering the girls and I had to put on an all black robe and scarf. The mosque was breath taking. Inside were huge crystal chandelliers and beautiful stain glass windows. The cool part about Beirut is the religious tolerance. Christian churhes, synogoges and mosques can all be found in the same area.

We continued on our exploration through out Beirut and found lots of Christmas trees and war torn buildings next to high rise condos. Eventually we found an exchange office were we turned in $100 for 150,000 LBP. One cool thing about the currency is that $1 equals 1500LBP. But you can pay for pretty much anything in either LBP or Dollars. Side not a bottle of water will be cheap as 500LBP. Eventually we reached American University of Beirut (AUB) and took great pictures of the sunset on the rocks. After that we began our journey to Hamra Street (Rue Hamra) a busy center city street. Our journey first started with us being told by hotel workers to go through a foresty walkway. From there we ascended up a nice steep hill. After complaining about my jeans being to tight from Italy, I decided to check out cupcake shop. There I had a delicious carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting! Oh, how that reminded me of home. We asked the students working for dinner recommendations and they said BarBar which is a fast food joint with good Lebanese food. We all ordered mutton (lamb) and chicken shawarma and some taboleh. On the menu was a Philadelphia sandwich that included coleslaw and Russian dressing. To bad we don’t have that as a sandwich in Philly.

After dinner we strolled Hamra in search of some nargile and night life. Along the way I found some amazing graf and we met a couple who was teaching English in Beirut. They were cool but the boyfriend seemed like he wanted space. After that we hopped in a cab to Gemmayze a bar district near our hostel. Before getting in the cab we set the price for 2000LBP. Upon arrival we paid 2000LBP and the cabby hopped out the cab and got angry with us. We were all like um we set the price. At that time a Lebanese couple came out and explained to us that taxis with red licenses plates make you pay person unless you say you want a shared ride price. After that was squared off we went to a nice nargile lounge to only be told we needed a reservation. That’s their thing in Beirut everyone needs a reservation, even if the place is empty... We finally found some good nargile at a restaurant and were able to watch the bar street below us. That night was a Halloween party so there were lots of bazzare costumes. We left in search of our hostel to only get lost down the block from it and end up taking a cab. Thank goodness for the hostel card or the lack there of. The cab driver didn’t know the name of the place and had to call the owner since there wasn’t an address listed.

On another note, Lebanese do not believe in driving normal. They always peel off, its like they want to hear the tires screech. Also there are ALOT of high cars and a mixed amount of cars from the 80s. The majority of my taxi rides were in Mercedes.

The next day we started out early to see some sights outside of Beirut. Our first stop was a cable car ride up a mountain with breath taking views of the port of Beirut. At the top we saw Our Lady of Lebanon or Harissa. After that we headed on another minibus to Byblos. There were still intact Phoenician ruins right on the water. Byblos had a little street market strip with lots of nick nacks. The interesting part of the town was the high amount of military officers and an UN Peace officer because the President was coming. The military is all throughout the city to keep things safe in case of another war breaking out. Nonetheless, I felt safe. The last stop on the list was Jeita Grotto a cavern with lots of rock formations and a river tucked with in a valley. After that we made our way back to Beirut to go to the Beirut Arts Center, a contemporary art gallery. Then we got dinner at Abdel Wahhad an expensive restaurant listed in the NY Times. The food was amazing for $35 a person but a bit too much. While trying to get a cab back to the hostel we saw the couple of teachers from the night before.

At the hostel one of the owners Wale asked me again if I was American. Then in a quizzical face he asked if blacks and whites were separate on buses. For him to be a man in his 50s he surely has been sheltered from world news. After that he showed the four of us how to write some words in Arabic. He also graded us on our writing. I scored 4 out of 10. I asked him to write my name in Arabic. I think the writing is beautiful and quite unique since words are written right to left.

That night we decided to go to B 018 a club that was once a bomb shelter and now has coffins as tables and chairs. Another guy from the hostel decided to tag along with us. He was a pretty interesting guy. From Amsterdam, on the 18th he will turn 34 and still be on his journey to country hop by riding his bike. That’s right the guy started riding his bike in Amsterdam in August and will continue seeing countries by bike until March where he will end in Addis Abba, Ethiopia. I asked him how many countries have you seen and he replied 40 or so. The club was dead so we decided to head downtown to Brut an R&B club. We were originally turned down because we didn’t have reservations but a few minutes later we got in when a guy said we had to come in with him. He brought us all a round from the bar and danced his butt off with us. The club closed at 2 and we were in search of a cab back to B 018 because we originally paid $20 to get in. Two nice college guys decided to offers us a ride since they were heading in that direction, while waiting for them to leave a thirteen year old boy walked up to me selling roses. I declined but Mr. Amsterdam purchased me a rose. The little boy was very fascinated with me and shook my hand and kissed my cheek after the purchase. One of the guys got in the back of the truck and played the Oud. This time the B 018 was exciting, especially since the roofs had been lifted back.

Sunday we called a cab to take us to the Hippodrome. Unfortunately it took
us to the sports complex which was over taken by the military. Normally one would be nervous when they are faced by many soldiers with big guns. The soldiers were very nice and accommodating since they all spoke English and French and we only spoke English. At one point a solider that spoke English did come around he helped us out and asked for a kiss on my cheek. I allowed this. Boy did he get cheers from his fellows. After that we went to the Hippodrome in a cab. Before going inside we ate bread purse filled with cheese and spices. Then we went inside and walked across the track to get to the stands. Horse racing is definitely a man bonding thing because there were only a handful of women there. At the Hippodrome people bet on races, while eating doner and smoking nargile. Around the corner was the National Museum of Beirut which was pretty cool. Again we hopped in a cab to take us to another part of town. The cab driver was confused and took us to the Hippodrome and said okay. We finally had him figure out that we wanted to go downtown. Note: Cab drivers don’t have a good sense of direction in Beirut.

In Downtown we were in search of a hot air balloon around Beirut. Unfortunately it no longer existed so we settled for seeing the shopping mall. Afterwards we walked to dinner at an Armenian restaurant. Yummy, I loved the lentil kebbe and cherry kofte. We decided to go out for one last time. So we hit Gemmayze in search of a chill bar. We ended up at Porto where we saw some five guys from Spain that we met the night before and met two Lebanese women who shared lots of laughs with us. I taught the bartender how to make Tokyo Tea and Hurricanes. We shared funny stories with the bartendar. He shared the time his bose said look at this Chinese
F*ck in Arabic to the man setting at the bar. Shortly after the guy said in Arabic I have lived here for 10 years. This Chinese bleep would like the cheek. The bartender said his manager turned pale. Boy did we laugh hard at that.

The two women, Maia and Tania showed us Oriental dances and Dou Dou shots (Dollar Dollar). The story goes that a Lebanese man used to come into the bar and order two shots of vodka, lemon juice, one olive and a splash of Tabasco sauce and would pay $100 for this. Yikes he was truly generous. Any ways I had one and felt like a dragon blowing fire! At one point Maia asked me how dance like the moves in the movie save the Last Dance. I explained the background of B-Boying and that it’s not really a club move here. I did show her how to two step and wine. Lol After the bar Tania and Maia gave us a ride to a café where we had some amazing nargile. There a women with three teeth in her mouth selling roses offered them to me and said in English that she loved me. When we left a little boy tried to sell me roses as well but belched as soon as he got up to talk to me. I replied cute, in a sarcastic tone. He proceeded to let out two more belches. Lol
This morning we headed out for an 8am flight. The weather was terrible but I’m sure that was Beirut’s way of saying it would miss us.



Dear Beirut,

I love you Beirut! Your people are very warm and accepting. I hope to see you again one summer.

XOXO,
Aquiera