The Crazy Adventures of Wes and Adam in the Middle East - Episode 5

Salaam Aleko or Shalom (warning: using Shalom anywhere but in Israel might get
you lynched)

O.K. I'm back for my last writing of this trip and what can I say, it's been an
amazing one, I feel like Neo when Morpheus tells him after first stepping out of
the Matrix, "welcome to the land of the real," though it is Christ speaking to
Wes, so much has been revealed to me (and Adam) spiritually and culturally it's
kind off woken me up.  2Cor 4:18 stands out to me right now, because though I've
seen enough to last a life time I'm finding the real substance is found in what
can't be seen with the eyes but only seen with the eyes of the heart.  

Anyway, Adam left off in Tel Aviv.  This city was o.k. but it was definitely my
least favorite city.  After Fahrenheit 9/11 (a rather infuriating, yet funny
film) we woke up and went to the local beach.  It looks like ours though the
sand is like baby powder it feels great.   They actually had surfers in Tel Aviv
something I never expected, only 2 to 3 footers but they were ripping up what
little they had.   We went swimming in the ocean almost running into the
hundreds of jelly fish in the water, you could avoid them but not the thousands
of unseen stingers all throughout the water. That night we saw Spiderman 2 (I
want to be Spiderman) because there was not much else to do in the city.   It
felt like we were in America again.   The next day we headed up to Haifa
(Israeli port city) the most holy worship place for the Bahaii was there, where
the leader (the Bab) was buried.  They believe just as us Christians do only
they also believe in Buddha, Mohammed, Zoaroaster, the Pope and Satan..oh and
any other false God you can think of.   They basically include all religions
into theirs and are working for world unity and peace,...R..I..G..H..T.  Sounds
like the perfect launch pad for the Antichrist.  Me and Adam had an interesting
time questioning one of the guides with all we learned apologetically.  They
fall into every logical fallacy there is in the end you walk away in shock all
you can do is let the Lord woe them in.   

Earlier that day me and Adam met a Swedish girl (yes she was blonde) named
Sophia and she ended up traveling with us for the next 3 days.   We had a chance
to share so much with her about the love of Christ and answer many of the
questions she had.   She was genuinely curious.  I felt like the message Christ
wanted me to deliver to her more than any other was from Luke 11:9-13, Keep
asking, seeking and knocking and you will find the truth.   It helped that we
could also explain away the Bahai faith. It was no coincidence that she met me
and Adam between the two of us and Elias (Thabits' dad) she received several
dimensions of Christs' love and her curiosity kept growing.   

We soon left Haifa and met Elias in Nahareya right on the Lebanon border.  We
were about 30ft from the border, we spent some time in the caves and tunnels
that were carved into the cliff right on the ocean. These tunnels were used in
many battles through history including biblical battles and most recently in
World War II. These caves looked like something out of pirates of the Caribbean. 
The hill above the caves is thought to be the hill where God showed Abraham the
promised land.  We spent some time walking on the reef down the coast a bit and
trying to stand up against the waves crashing over the reef. Some of these waves
ended up tossing us like dolls and dragging us across razor sharp rocks slicing
our fingers open.   (No adventure is complete without a little blood...just
kidding Mom & Dad)

Elias Hebron was one of the nicest men I have ever met, he was glowing with the
Holy Spirit.  He was willing to drive us wherever we wanted to go, he showed us
his shop which was in Alekko a port south of Nahareya where Napoleon and Captain
Lord Nelson battled it out.   He had a small baptist book shop that was squished
in between all these yelling merchant shops.   There was little business there
as you can imagine but Elias and his shop stand their ground like an immovable 
diamond in the rough.  This man is truly a warrior, he brought so much
encouragement to me and Adam and he fought for Sophia in prayer the entire time
we were together.   If you can think of it pray for this man his wife and
family, there is so little help available to run his shop, but he is so willing
stand for Christ.  Elias invited us to his home and served us just as Jesus did
his disciples and we all left renewed.  

Next we took a bus to Tiberias at the Sea of Galilee.  We went swimming in water
that was green and a little odorous but at least it didn't blind you and eat
your skin off like the dead sea.   An amazing thing happening there, Siegfried
walked on water and I have the picture to prove it, he may be ugly but he has
great faith and great heart.   

Me, Adam and Sophia rented bikes and rode around Galilee passing Mt. of
Beatitudes to Capernaum (the city where Jesus centered his ministry in Galilee).
The country side is beautiful there.  Rocky hills dashed with shrubs and reeds
that outline the lake.   There are olive trees planted all over the hills not
only in Galilee but all over Israel.  You can almost here the echo of Christ's
voice uttering those eternal words 2000 years ago. The bible will never be read
by me in the same light again. The sounds, smells and feel of Israel will never
be forgotten by either of us.   We took a picture with our buddy Peter and saw
his house in Capernaum which of course has been turned into a Catholic shrine.
We also saw a 2000 year old fishing boat they had found there, that was the same
style the disciples used, maybe even theirs, it has an amazing salvaging story.

 That night Sophia left to journey with another friend and it was just us again. 
It's amazing how many people we have bonded with in a couple of days and who
leave to perhaps never be seen again. Another thing I have been shocked about is
the number of girls traveling by them selves through out all the Middle East. 

 The next day me and Adam spent a lovely time stranding our selves on the
opposite side of the sea of Galilee (took the wrong bus).  We were stranded
around the place where Jesus cast the demons into the pigs.   We tried
hitchhiking but we weren't girls and we didn't have one with us anymore so they
just blew right by.  If we had bikini's with us we would have dressed up like
girls, we were that desperate.  We finally caught a ride back with a tour group
after a good 6-7 hours waiting and walking and that was that day.   

The next day we went to Megiddo, Armageddon or in plain English, 'THE STAGE FOR
THE END OF THE WORLD'.  It was dramatic to finally see this place where so many
enormous battles were fought through history and where the climax of the world's
battles will be.   We were the only tourists there; where have all the Americans
gone? Next, passed through ruins at Bet Sied where Sauls' body was hung up by
the Assyrians'. Then went to the Jordan border and had a much smoother time
getting across this time.   We hooked up with a taxi that in turn hooked us up
with some guys who could take us to...Dumm...dummm...dummm ...DAMASCUS!   The
reason I'm getting dramatic is because we have had nothing but warnings not to
go to Syria until we left America.  The reason we went is because we have had
nothing but recommendations by backpackers since we have been here.   And yes,
that is where I am now and they are the sweetest (and SAFEST) people you'll ever
meet; minus the fact that they passionately hate Israeli's, but they don't have
a problem with Americans we're actually celebrity's here.  

 So we took this incredibly out of the way trip through Jordan to Damascus that
took about 7 hrs instead of the 3hrs it should have taken. We were taken by
these sketchy guys who didn't speak very much English whom we half expected to
rip off our stuff (long trip,many odd stops).   But they got us there and since
you can't get into Syria with an Israeli stamp in your passport we had to play a
crafty game with separate papers and overlapping Visas that almost didn't work,
but we made it,,Oh Yes.  

 When we got to Damascus it was around midnight and we had been traveling since
6:30 that morning through 3 countries and we were beat.   So after being
interrogated about Israel by some of our escorts' friends and after ripped off
$50 by them we just walked away with all our stuff before things got to risky. 
Now you must understand we were pretty tired at this point, we weren't sure
where we were, it being our first night in Syria and Damascus and most hotels
closed there doors about that time; so we did the most reasonable thing one
could do in that situation and slept in the first park we came across.   We
found a wonderful cozy spot between some trees, it was fully equipped with
toilets that looked like bushes, mud to use as a pillows...OH and stalkers.  The
whole night there was a man peering through the bushes at us. At one point he
came up to us and asked for a light, he already had a light so we knew he was
checking out our setup to perhaps rob us. Luckily Adam had chain protection
around our stuff to discourage him but he kept coming back, thank God we kept
waking up at the right moments.   

So, we woke up far from refreshed and journeyed on until we found a great
backpackers place right next to old town Damascus called Al Rabi. The owners
name is Ackmed which is the equivalent to Mohammed the 2 most common names in
the Middle East.  Every other guy in Egypt is Mohammed and every other guy in
Syria is Ackmed, it's hilarious.  

Syria is so cheap, I think cheaper than Egypt and in the old city there are
thousands of places to shop that most girls would have a field day in.  I even
felt like shopping and for me that's usually as fun as a head in a vise. 

We went to a Hammam that night in the Old city which is like a Roman bath. 
First you get naked and put a sheet around you then you put on these shoes that
feel like women's shoes and they give you soap and wad of what looks like hair. 
When you go in you are supposed to first sit in the dry sauna then after you
can't take it anymore you go into the even hotter steam room where you scrub
yourself with the soap and hair and dowse yourself with cold water.   Oh...and
there are plenty of large sweaty men to keep you company.  The next stage is
where a man in a towel just like yours takes you into one of the rooms takes a
metal spiked glove and proceeds to scrape off as much of your skin as possible,
everyone leaves one step away from bleeding. After he scrapes you he actually
washes your whole body, sometimes they washed us in places no man has washed us
before.   After that you go to another room where they massage you.  It's not
very long but it's affective, one of the mesuses'(massage man) methods was
border line toucher. He would dig his fingers into all your muscles and crack
every joint with a blinding jerk including your neck.   But man were we loose
after that.  The final stage is to sit in an ice cold pool to cool off.  Then a
man dresses you up in five towels and you sit in the lobby room and enjoy some
wonderful exotic tea.  The whole process is just shocking but you feel so good
afterward, we loved it so much we did it 3 days in a row. America really needs
this, it's so good for you. 

The Second day there we took a bus to Maalula, the last city in the world that
speaks Aramaic, the language of Christ.  The city is nestled in the cliffs of a
hidden canyon.  In front of the church Me and Adam were hounded by about 30
Syrian students who were so excited to meet us, they took maybe fifty pictures
with us as if we were celebrities, some of the guys even kissed us.  They left
me and Adam thoroughly confused, haven't they ever seen an American before?  The
town was small so after exploring the cliffs a bit where the original Christians
used to live and hide, we headed back.  

Damascus is riddled with history and claims the title of the oldest continuously
inhabited city in the world.  We were in the area where Ananias went to Paul
after his conversion and where Paul was lowered from the basket out of the city. 
Of course there is a church for everything here as well.   The Muslim cultural
is the strongest here in Syria just like the rest of the middle east and there
is a huge mosque in the old city called the Umayyed Mosque and they claim to
have one of the many heads of John the Baptist.  

As Adam told you before we tried to infiltrate the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
and failed because for some reason they didn't believe we were Muslim.   So
after careful observation we acquired special disguises in the souq (rows of
shops) and  found a way that worked.  Before when we tried to enter the Dome of
the Rock, we had sunglasses on and our backpacks and we looked like a couple of
American yahoos.  So we bought a couple of gala-bias (the night gown looking
clothes that most of the men wear here) and bought a couple of hes. Mine is red
and white, the most common, Adams is more rare and seems to be only worn by
Yasser Arafat.   With these disguises in place we took off our shoes and this
time carried our stuff rather than wore it and we walked in without a problem. 
The guy didn't even give us a second glance...Oh yeah we're good.  Our spy names
were of course Ackmed and Mohammed, Adam is Ackmed.   Now we just want a second
chance at the Dome of the Rock.  We got to see where John the Baptist head
supposedly is, it in this giant prayer room of the mosque, its covered in weird
green glass and all you see is a giant coffin that looks like it can hold five
bodies, no head, nothing, why does anybody believe this stuff?  So with our
heads held high we left the mosque and went to the Hammam (Roman bath) again.  

Later that night we saw an Arabic story teller with a 65 year old female German
backpacker (who was traveling alone) we had met in our hostel; didn't understand
a word of what was said by the storyteller but it was fun watching his dramatic
yelling. 

The next day we did most of our shopping and some exploring in our new gala-bias
and so to celebrate our great purchases we settled down that night to a
wonderful meal of potatoes, radishes, pitas, humus, pickles, olives, sheep
testicles and sheep brains.   Yes, you read it right we had sheep eggs
(testicles) and sheep brains and they were as disgusting as they sound.  You
have to understand that this is a Syrian delicacy many people love this dish,
we're not perverted.  Now I can handle food pretty well, I'm not picky at all
but I had never been as close to throwing up as I was that night.   The sheep
brains were the worst, it was still slimy raw on the inside, and when you put it
into your mouth it turned into this veiny mush,,, so disgusting.  The sheep
testicles weren't much better they were spongy, a little more to chew but when
you opened them up they were filled with a substance I will not describe to you
because I'm feeling sick just thinking about it.  You think they would add some
spices or something but no, they were just the testicles and the brain lightly
cooked in oil.   Andy, I can't believe you liked this dish.  It would have been
a perfect meal if we could have washed it down right away with the cigarette ice
cream we had yesterday. Oh...yes they have an ice cream flavor here that tastes
just like your licking an ashtray, it's so horrible, I'm laughing now just
thinking about how unbelievable some of this food is here.   

The next day we took a bus to Palmyra, some incredible ruins in Eastern Syria. 
We went up to this giant castle on a hill to watch the sunset. This castle
overlooks a vast plain of desert and Roman city below, breathtaking.  The city
was really well preserved, lines and lines of columns still in tact.   We
explored some more the next day with an Australian girl, played around with
some local kids, and found this awesome 1 yr old camel that love gnawed on us,
camels are so cool.

This morning we were awakened by a blaring prayer call at 4 a.m., this has
happened several times.  It is so ridiculously loud I don't know whether to
laugh or cry.  Perhaps they don't need a mosque every 100 yds, but what do I
know.  Later we headed out to Crac De Cavalier, what is considered by many to be
the best castle in the world.  There were endless tunnels and caverns to
explore, I was really impressed.  While we were there we laid out on top of the
castle in our underwear to take a nap.  Some things can only be done in a place
like Syria. We are now in Aleppo and plan on moving into Turkey in the next day
or two.  Adam will write the final letter of our travels before our next journey
begins,  a new life in Germany. This will be an interesting transition, set
prices, road rules that people follow, and not every person will stare at you
like your some new experiment; I might actually start to miss getting ripped
off.

These people still remain on my heart, we continue to pass out many tracks to
these people. We are not sure what impact they will have but most of them really
desire to read them. We realize this trip is not of our making but God has a
plan in it and we thank you for all your prayers and support.  This trip
wouldn't have been the same if we didn't have you all back home as our force of
encouragement and wisdom.  We send you our love from this wild land.  Wes and
Adam out.