Life in Egypt

Stu's visit to Egypt.

04/21/02

My entire perception of Beirut, Lebanon was based on news media from the eighties. Quite frankly, I was a bit preoccupied with adolescence at the time so my perception was probably a bit skewed. I associated Beirut with terms like "war", "Middle East tensions" and "Reaganomics". I didn't give the Middle East situation (which was always described as "desperate") the attention it deserved and gave my social life (which was also described as "desperate") far more attention than it deserved.

Then, last year, I ran into my high school chemistry teacher. We were both dining at Sinbad's, a Mediterranean restaurant in New York. I was a bit surprised to learn that her husband was Lebanese and that they had visited many times. They raved about the scenery and the culture. My perception had begun to change.

This year while living and working in Cairo I have met several people who rave about Lebanon. It is a skiing Mecca for transplanted North Americans and Beirut is described as "The Paris of the Middle East." Sure, a fifteen-year civil war put a damper on tourism, but during the last five years the entire country has been rebuilt. They are enjoying the "heady optimism" of post war reconstruction, much like what the States enjoyed following our civil war. (Okay, bad example. Mistrust and poverty swept the U.S. into its worst economic disaster to-date. I think that "heady optimism" has a lot to do with "foreign aid") Shopping malls, nightclubs and gourmet restaurants were described to me in tantalizing detail. My perception continued to change.

I made plans to visit Lebanon at spring break. A colleague of mine is Lebanese and her mother is from Syria. She knows the language and has many relatives there. This made the decision even easier. She described modern Beirut and all of the western products that would be available. She described scenic coastal beaches, snow-capped mountains and the verdant Bekka Valley. She said the food would be fantastic, the wine would be fabulous and the people would be friendly. My perception was now very different. And I hadn't even been there yet.

Then I went. Now my perception is based on first hand experience instead of second hand accounts. What I had heard about Lebanon was entirely understated. As soon as I landed at the airport I realized this was a clean, efficient, and friendly place. I expected difficulty with the language because Egyptian Arabic can be quite different than other Arabic countries, but I wasn't expecting French. Everyone spoke French. I also noticed women employees showing their (gasp) hair! On the drive to the hotel I noticed churches with crosses instead of crescents. And I recognized the letters on the signs. I didn't always recognize the words, but Baiyruth and Helioport were pretty easy to figure out.

Beirut turned out to be a very hip (hep?) place! Home to about a sixty percent Christian population and a large number of twenty something x-ers who want nothing more than to enjoy life and forget about the miserable conditions in which they grew up. The nightclubs are huge, numerous and trendy. They open at midnight and close at six am. No self-respecting urbanite would dare go to dinner before ten o'clock. Except for a seventy-two hour stint in Vegas once, I can't remember a time that I was out-on-the-town for so long. Lots of Euro-style techno, but also a great Salsa dance place called the Cuban Club and an honest to goodness blues bar that had a live band playing B.B. King.

The shopping was surprisingly familiar. I held my friend's handbag while she tried on blouses, tank tops and belts. I perused the bookstore for sports magazines while she looked at shoes. I wondered if I could find a Big & Tall store while she wondered if a size four dress made her butt look big. The malls were all shiny and new and expensive. I didn't buy much, but I did find my deodorant brand and stocked up. (Deodorant isn't widely available in Cairo.) I also had my first mocha latte at a Starbucks since August. Talk about your misty eyed moments.

The scenery was indeed magnificent. There is a long stretch of Mediterranean Sea with quaint fishing towns and crusader castles. The mountains rise directly out of the water and within an hour's drive you are among peaks as high as the Rocky Mountains. Tiled roofed churches and farmhouses cling to cliff sides in clusters. Bcharre is one such village and looks like something out of "The Sound of Music". An author/painter named Gibran is buried here. He wrote "The Prophet" and there is a fabulous museum. The only remaining cedar trees from biblical times are found here and skiing resorts were in full swing in late April. In fact, the pass over the mountains here was still closed for the winter so we had to drive six hours out of our way to get to the Bekka valley on the other side.

The low clouds and rain obscured my view of the otherwise green and lush valley, but they didn't dampen my spirits. I got a great haircut by a Paris-trained barber named Joseph. I bought fresh almonds right of the tree. (Yeah, go figure, a tree. Who knew?) And I discovered the delicate combination of fig, pastry and rose petals. (I once thought you couldn't eat those. Now I KNOW you can't.)

I had a great time in Lebanon and came away with new photos, new memories and a new perspective. It makes me think of all of those places on Earth of which my perspective might be a little skewed. I wonder what Croatia is like?

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