About once a year, Wade gets a sudden urge to find the most remote corner in Lebanon, contact some locals who run a "guesthouse", and then spend the night there.
That's what we did last Friday (we had the day off work) in Deir al Ahmar. The town is about 15 kilometers northwest of Baalbek and is situated at the base of the Mount Lebanon range, looking over the Bekaa Valley.
The view of the Bekaa Valley from above Deir al Ahmar. Just over those mountains, the Anti-Lebanon Range, is Syria.
Earlier in the week Wade contacted the Women's Association of Deir al Ahmar (WADA) about providing a guide and a place to stay. WADA is a non-profit organization established to promote and develop role of women in the local industry. Tourism, it turns out, is one of those local industries that they're trying to develop.
Perhaps because it was a women's association that we were surprised to meet our guide, Elie. We figured out that WADA chose Elie because he was one of the few people in town who spoke English. In fact, Elie was the English teacher for grades 6 through 12 at the local school. But Elie had other talents. He owns a small gift store on the main street of town, he shares a herd of sheep with his brother, he runs a butchery, he has written seven plays warning the kids in town against the dangers of drug use and "big city life", and, oh yeah, he also gives tours.
Wade with Elie, our best friend for a day.
But small town Lebanese guides are not just tour guides. They see it as their sacred duty to be hospitable to visitors and Elie was no different. So from 9 am, when he met us at the Women's Center, until 9 pm, Elie seemed less like a tour guide and more like a best friend for hire.
Elie began our day in Deir el Ahmar with a tour of the surrounding area. The town and smaller collection villages around it are all a Christian enclave in what is mostly a Shi'a area. The northern Bekaa in particular is known as a lawless area, which explains kidnappings from both past and present. Elie seemed to relish that fact a bit.
Elie took us to the Red Monastery from which the town gets its name ("ahmar" is the feminine form of red in Arabic). He drove us up to the edge of the snow covered mountains, and then showed us the spectacular views of the surrounding areas.
But perhaps most memorable of all was when we got to meet Elie's friends and family. We went to Elie's sister's house for lunch, which was more of a feast than a lunch. It was striking to see Elie's sister labor for hours with Elie and his brother-in-law lounging around to be served on. Elie joked his six sisters do all of his cooking and cleaning. He even said that he didn't know how to wash a dish. Megan didn't look amused.
Elie is at the far left with the army of women whose job it is to feed him.
By the end of the evening we were on hilltop above the town, burning a fire, and drinking beers with Elie and his buddies. In between puffs of nargileh, everybody traded stories about their disdain for the Syrians (Syrian soldiers occupied their town for fifteen years), they talked about how they aren't cut out for living in Beirut (although they enjoy going to the disco), and how it's tough to make a living in their hometown (hence, Elie's six different jobs).
The evening ended at Rima's house. Rima works for WADA full time and was nice enough to put us up for the night. It was slightly awkward because Rima doesn't speak English and we don't speak Arabic. Rima's son, a seventh grader, had pretty decent English for his age, however. He and his buddies were hanging out watching pirated copies of WWE professional wrestling. Wade did the same thing when he was in seventh grade, so there was some guy bonding time. Yet after the third fight Wade got the sense that these kids, and the father who was watching with them, didn't quite get that the wrestling was fake.
Wade didn't have the heart, or the language skills, to tell them differently.
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