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02/24/2006 Entry: "Yalla Bye!"
22:20 in Beirut, Lebanon. The sky is falling apart, one drop of rain at a time. I’m feeling melancholic. Tomorrow I’m leaving the land of Cedars and Alphabet (exported to Greece by the Phoenician, en route to found Thebes) with a heavy heart.
My mind is racing… I should have come here 7 years ago, in late 1998. I used to live in England, it would have only been a modest hop across Europe instead of a journey across half the world from Mexico. If only I had dared follow the calling of my heart! It is too late, the moment has passed, but Lebanon will remain in my soul.
30 years of war, not surprisingly masterminded by the USA and executed on the ground by Syria. At night, I’m reading the excellent book of Roger J. Azzam “Liban: l’instruction d’un crime” instead of diving into Beirut’s frenetic nightlife. Why should a country and its people suffer so much?
Today Syrian troops are gone but the long shadow of Damascus still cast fear and uncertainty across the Bekaa valley. Beirut has become a cosmopolitan city with a modern, soul-less downtown, myriads of restaurants and the best Mezzé you will taste on this planet, brand-name boutiques where tourists from the Gulf flock by the dozen. Here the Virgin Megastore is within a stone throw of the imposing Mosque built by late Rafic Hariri and you can find in it literature in English, French and Arabic – a cultural variety I haven’t witnessed anywhere else, and certainly not in self-centered Mexico.
Lebanese emigrants have a long history of seeking and achieving fortune in Mexico. Carlos Slim, head of Telmex and an empire of over 400 companies under the umbrella of Grupo Carso, is not alone. The Lebanese are born traders and entrepreneurs: commerce flows in their veins since the Bronze Age!
Where the Mexican feels content being a corporate employee or a taco-stand owner, the Lebanese will aim higher. Christian families place a heavy emphasis on education and if they can afford it, send their children to prestigious universities like the American University of Beirut, located along the aptly named Bliss Street (your palate and sight will be blissful if you go there, trust me). I could detect none of that laziness affecting the Mexican upper-class youth, happier to get blind drunk in antros (discos) than shape up their minds.
Oh, do not get me wrong, there are amusing parallels between Lebanon and Mexico: the same passionate love for appearances for example – luxury cars abound, boys and girls dress to the ultimate cutting edge fashion and go out to see and be seen in exclusive places. But beyond this frivolity there is a bedrock of culture, a good dose of modesty and justified love for a country that needs every hand to be rebuilt to its former glory. I sense that Lebanon is a land with a future, a culture capable of re-inventing itself and riding the tide of history instead of getting bogged down in modern age traps like Mexico.
If you do get a chance to visit Lebanon, which I wholeheartedly recommend, you should not miss a few highlights: the Roman ruins of Baalbek, the small forest of Cedars above Bcharré, the grotto of Jeita and the many sights of Beirut itself. Anjar is also worth a visit and so is the picturesque valley of Qadisha. I wish I had enough time to visit Byblos and the historic city of Tyr, but despite the country’s small size (220 Km by 60 Km) one week was just not sufficient.
Tomorrow I will return to the cold and grey weather of Paris and the arrogant self-sufficient attitude of the inhabitants of the French capital, carrying into my heart the wonderful hospitality of the Lebanese people. I must also pay a special tribute to the amazing kindness of my dear friend Joëlle who truly went light-years beyond the call of duty to make me feel at home in Beirut. I feel privileged to have visited Lebanon and I look forward to coming back soon. Yalla Bye!
Replies: 1 Comment
Hi Serge! Welcome back after more than 3 months! I think that pretty soon you will be writing this blog just for yourself!
Glad you enjoyed Lebanon. I've been there myself and I agree that it is a nice country, with people that have suffered greatly. I also have many Lebanese friends in Mexico and they are all great.
I can't help but be a bit surprised at your post though. You seem to be a romantic that falls in loce with a place and immediately embraces it, yet at the expense of the previous place, and then freely sprinkle your comments with absolute remarks.
This happened when you climbed the Pico de Orizaba I believe, and then when you went to Santo Domingo. Then, after months of loathing Mexico, you also started loving Mexico in one of your posts because some Mexican girl helped you rediscover it (your own words)
You have made great arguments in the past, but the correlation of the collection of posts seems to be volatile. After your romance with Lebanon ends you will see that all countries have something good and something bad, and are not absolute like youd escribe it (for instance, believe it or not, but most parisians are very nice people!)
Also, you will have time I suppose to get to know the Lebanese populatio of Mexico. Because like you stated there are in fact many wealthy lebanese (many of whom made their millios by being a "presta nombres" of Carlos Salinas) there are thousands who live paycheck-to-paycheck.
I have always been objectively critical of Mexico...thus, what I find disappointing in your posts now is the lack of objectivity
So, instead of waiting for another 3 months to read your next post (possibly about your astral voyage to the moon, and how the moo is so much better than Mexico) I will just bid you best of luck and will coclude my visits to your blog. Mucha suerte!
Posted by L'ombre d'une vague @ 03/01/2006 01:25 PM MEX
