Random Ruin V: Al Machnaqa

A visit to the U.S. Embassy was the perfect excuse to go exploring in the Lebanese mountains. Jane still needs her passport, so we filled out the paperwork, rented a car, and drove to Embassy, just north of Beirut. By 9:15 am, Jane was "approved" for American citizenship (now we just need the physical proof).

Jane seemed excited about applying for American citizenship.

But we didn't stop at the Embassy. With a full tank of gas and the whole day ahead of us, we ended up driving the northern edge of Nahr Ibrahim (the Romans called it the Adonis River). For millennia, pagan pilgrims would travel up the river valley, beginning in Byblos, going over the mountains, ending in Baalbek, but stopping along various temples along the way.

The views are stunning. Lebanese valleys feel much more like steep gorges, with villages sprinkled along the way. The further you drive up the valley, the less developed and more remote the villages feel.

Al Machnaqa seemed like as good of a place to stop as anywhere else. The map said that there was a ruin nearby, the view was spectacular, plus Megan was officially car sick. So Wade parked the car at a crossroads, put Jane in the carrier, and left Megan in the passenger seat to sleep it off.

Walking around al Machnaqa, it's clear that there isn't much to the village. The heart of town is a T-intersection with a small grocery store. It's a Shi'a village in a predominantly Christian area. At least we assume so based on the Hezbollah flags that were everywhere.

The Resistance poster in the heart of the village (resistance to Israel, that is). The yellow flag is Hezbollah's, the black flag commemorates the upcoming Ashura holiday, the most important Shi'a event of the year.

Wade was walking around with Jane strapped on, looking for this alleged Roman temple, moseying around different fields. That's when he bumped into this guy (see below). Friendly fella' but his English was even worse than Wade's Arabic.

The field where Wade met his new best friend.

Wade's new best friend, holding Jane.

It did not take long for this gentlemen to invite Wade home to meet the whole family (do we even need to explain Lebanese hospitality anymore?).

There were six family members that Wade got to know. There was Wade's buddy. Then there was Wade's buddy's cousin, who spoke some English; he learned it while driving a truck in Dubai. There was the patriarch of the group, who kept pouring Wade tea (he had four cups) and brought out fresh fruit. Then there were two women, the grandmother and the young mother. To round out the group, the young mom was holding her giant nine month old daughter.

Everybody had a great time, although the language barrier limited the depth of conversation. Wade's friends figured out that the lady passed out in the car at the intersection is in fact the mother of the child. While sipping tea and pealing tangerines, Wade tried to piece together their family tree as best he could.

Everybody was happy to pose for pictures. The young mom, who couldn't speak any English, asked "Facebook?" which Wade found hilarious (Facebook has officially taken over the world).

The grandmother, once she grabbed hold of Jane, wasn't going to let go. She had a hard time pronouncing "Jane' so she renamed our daughter "Ju-Ju". Interestingly, when Jane became fussy, she did not resort to the typical "shh-shh" that Americans use. Instead she said "ghh-ghh", or that guttural Arabic consonant that Americans have such a hard time pronouncing. Either way, Ju-Ju looked happy and relaxed.

Eventually the patriarch whispered to Wade, "Vodka?" Wade smiled but declined. "Shway", or "little", the patriarch responded.

Luckily, Megan arose from her slumber before the tea time turned into a drunken booze fest. We've learned over the years that hardest part about socializing in Lebanon is prying yourself away from someone's hospitality. Our new friends probably expected us to stay for several hours.

After a few awkward "La shukran" ("no thanks") we eventually escaped and stumbled upon al Machnaqa's ruin. It's been restored, with modern cement mixed in with the original stone. But what a view! The perfect spot for our lunch.

Our trip to Al Machnaqa's temple demonstrates how much fun it is to find these random old rocks. It's not about the rocks at all. It's about the things that happen in the process of finding them, how random ruins take you off the beaten path and introduce you to fascinating people.