sabato 22 dicembre 2007

First updating from Lebanon!

Hi guys! Here I am... in Tyro, in the south of Lebanon.
We arrived this morning, after an allucinating trip from Beirut.

Well, ok, guys...just a little bit of order...
I'll try to explain you my last 2 days in a chronological order:
First of all, I started my "trip" on Thursday morning, at 6:00, getting by train from Florence to Rome in order to fly to Damascus. My flight wasn't direct to Syria, and I had to stop for 8 hours in Istanbul, in order to catch the second flight and reaching my goal! :)
I thought that 8 hours were really too long to wait inside an airport...so I decided to have a walk for the city, and I took the metro to get to the the center.
It was really dark and cold, so I couldn't walk a long, but of course I went to visit the Blue Moskee and Santa Sofia.

After a while that I was walking and planning to eat one of the wonderful and fat typical turkish pastries, I was stopped from a Turkish guy, who invited me in his souvenir shop to have an apple tea. Wow...I was so cold...it was absolutely was I needed in that moment! So nice... thank you man! He also give me a present: a small Halla's eye made by glass. He told me it will bring me good luck. :) Let's cross the fingers!!

Then, when the time to come back to the airport was getting closer and closer, I started my opposite trip. It was around 20:45 and my flight was at 23:45, and I really had no idea of what to do... I was too tired to keep on reading the book by Terzani ..and if I had listed to music I was afraid to fall asleep and miss my flight... Damn'! A nightmare!
Well...by the chance, the time passed quite fast, watching people and trying to guess the destinations of the other passengers. And...I boarded to Damascus' flight!!! Luckly I had the chance to spoke, during the flight, with a very nice woman who was working for a syrian NGO, and who was very interested in our project.

Well...I've to say that I found a lot, a lot, a lot of friendly people... I couldn't immagine such a deep hospitality. I can't count how many times I've heard the sentence: "you're welcome". Preatty amazing!

At the end, I reached Damascus, where I had to wait more than one hour to pass the passport controls, and going out.
The first thing that really surprised me was that Lebanes people smoke everywhere...but really everywhere! Also inside the airport and the offices! The paradise for the smokers!!

Well...a part from that...
When I went out I knew I had to catch a taxi and get to Bab Tuma (a dor to access the old city of Damascus)where Elisa would have been waiting for me.
I chose, of course, the most illegal taxi-driver I could find, who, at the beginning, had no idea of where the place was. The trip was short...but really exciting, considering the conditions of the street, (something unbelivable...really!)
But I was experiencing the real feeling of the trip...the very sensation of going along a straight way without anything on both the sides.
Exactly there, I met Elisa, who was waiting for me in a extremely live and noisy Damascus, where everybody was colling us by name and inviting us for a drink or to a party.

Well...for the moment I think it's enough. I'll tell you later how we met Saverio and Vito at the airport and how me reached Beirut and then Tiro.
I know, I'm a bit late in updating the news, since here in the refugee camp we have a very slow connection, and eventually the electricy stops. I'll do my best to keep you informed about this experience, don't worry! :)
I'll dowload the photos and I'll add them asap, because, believe me, here the landscapes are amazing!

Don't forget: http://campolibanosci.wordpress.com

STAY TUNED!!

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