Beirut, part two

We caught a minibus from the airport bridge in Beirut to Baalbek. The bus was packed for the first part of the trip and altogether the drive took about two and a half hours. After only ten minutes in the bus, still in Beirut, we came to our first checkpoint. Passports were checked and we were waved along. This is about the time we saw an increase in the amount of pro-Assad posters, all saying things like "We are with you always" accompanied by the most flattering pictures of Assad they could find. The same area was strewn with the Amal Movement's flags and beyond that were some banners for the Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon. We were traveling east into the mountains but everywhere along our route was populated, either by small towns or a series of shops--everything from paintball ranges and german shepherd training centers to Starbucks and gun stores. 

Altogether we crossed about five checkpoints before reaching Baalbek. The last third of our trip was in Hezbollah territory and the checkpoints appeared increasingly makeshift. By the time we passed through the last one, there were only two other passengers on the bus. One a professorial man of about sixty sitting directly behind me and a slightly younger man at the back of the bus, wearing a beanie and baggy clothes, looking a little haggard. At our final checkpoint we were stopped by four men. The only indication that they were official was a black 'national security' vest and the AK-47s and MP5s that they nonchalantly waved around with their fingers on the trigger, reminiscent of young IDF soldiers. Other than that, they wore sneakers and jeans and short sleeves. We slid the van door open and they asked for our passports. Upon confirming that we were Americans, we got a warm welcome and they moved on to the other two passengers who faced a more thorough interrogation. The worst of it fell on the down-and-out man in the beanie. Standing at the door of the van, the guards were asking him for his ID and to explain the reason for travel. A relative of his was sick and he was going to help care for him. They weren't satisfied with his answer and took him farther from the van for a pat down and more questioning. It was too far for me to hear, and I was desperate to know what it was about him that made them so suspicious. Clearly, it was something specific about his appearance that I could never detect. We all waited in the van, the driver being surprisingly patient. The guards took off the man's shoes and emptied his pockets. They then told the driver to go. He was hesitant. They told him again and he said the man hadn't paid his fare. The newly-detained man walked calmly over to the van and gave the driver all the money he seemed to have on him, just short of the fare. We left without him and he returned to the interrogation. I turned to the passenger behind me and asked why they chose him for inspection. "I don't know." Yeah, right. 

These guards have good reason to be vigilant. About a week before we arrived, a suicide bomber killed one and injured 32 at one of the checkpoints on this route. 

As soon as we left the checkpoint our surroundings were dominated by Hezbollah imagery-- flags, banners, pictures. Along the median were massive cardboard celebrity cutouts of the Ayatollah and Nasrallah's picture plastered everywhere. Posted on every telephone pole was one of the 99 different names for God--The Forgiving…The Seer of All…The Expediter…The Delayer. The Shi'a mosques, especially the Khawla Mosque next to the Baalbek ruins, were striking. More flashy than the Sunni mosques I am used to, they are strewn with small, colorful flags and have pictures of various religious figures.

Finally, here are the ruins themselves:

This area was settled about 9,000 years ago, but the Roman ruins that we see today are mostly from 150 A.D.

This is the Temple of Bacchus. Once a Roman temple, and one of the largest remaining in the world, it was later converted into a church, then a mosque, and is now used for concerts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxru3jNV63s

Here is a sculpture of Cleopatra and the deadly snake on her chest, and next to her is the less well-preserved Mark Antony. Both of their sculptures fell from the temple in 1759 after a devastating earthquake. 

Here is the underside of the arch leading into the Temple of Bacchus, with engravings of the god and his beloved grapes:

We were lucky to run into a guide while wandering around the temple since he pointed out a lot of details that we never would have noticed. The engravings on the outer walls of the temple are full of symbolic imagery, both for good years (fruits, dancing women, symbols of friendship) and bad years (locusts eating the crops and birds drinking all the water that is left after a drought). The underside of these pillars has faces carved into them. The guide said that all of these faces were the images of wealthy locals who donated money to build and restore the temple.

Back in Beirut for our last day we wandered around the Corniche more and the intense heat and humidity made us jealous of the guys who were snorkeling and setting up fishing nets. Unfortunately, a lot the the areas around the Corniche are not conducive to swimming, especially not for women.

And finally, here is another piece that I came across by Yazan, defaced by religious fanatics who do not believe that humans should be depicted. It was a portrait of Mahmoud Darwish.