Sitting at the Al-Nawfra Coffee Shop outside the Omayyed Mosque in the old section of Damascus, the said oldest continuously occupied city in the world. A relatively comfortable spot after a busy morning... So far Damascus has been a little difficult, not a lot of tourists here (I've met one Australian in three days), and my Arabic is not that good. I guess it hasn't been too bad, I'm starting to understand the numbers, the coins provide a nice opportunity to learn the Arabic numerals.
The first thing I noticed about Syria and Damascus is the variety of costumes (for lack of a better word). As you might expect, the women are mostly covered, some in head scarves, some completely covered in black, some in blue patterned covers, etc... The most striking are the ones in pure black. Most show some of their face and cover as a man passes, some just show their eyes, and some completely cover their faces in sheer black. I imagine they can see, but it cannot be easy. That all said, many young women dress very western. It's quite a contrast to see someone completely cloaked in black next to a young woman in her best Britney Spears wear. Given the country is around 10% Christian, I'd say 1 in 4 dress "western".
The real variety comes from the men in Damascus. Differing religions, differing Islamic sects, and differing casts provide for a multitude of styles. From the long beards and turbans, to the Shiite jalabiyyehs (robes) and caps, to the traditional formal klafiyyeh and aghilen (head cloth and cord) of the Arabs. I feel like changing my clothes in an attempt t blend in. I would enjoy a day without hearing an "excuse me please" or a "may you see my shop" (or "factory" as many say here in Damascus).
The second thing I noticed was the garbage and dirt (or dust maybe). Syria like Turkey doesn't seem to care where they toss their garbage. The streets are cluttered, the road sides are awful, and the river through the city (if that's what it was) was absolutely disgusting. I've never smelled or seen anything like it. This in a desert country where one would think water would be precious. I've seen some disgusting rivers in Nepal, in Malaysia, in Thailand, but this one was the worst.
Today on the Islamic holy day when many things are closed I ventured out of town to a couple of very old Christian towns in the mountains near Lebanon. The towns of Maaloula and Seydnaya contain an old Greek Orthodox church and an ancient monastery respectively. Maaloula's church was fabulous and the strange ravine (about 8 feet wide and a 100 feet deep) was curious. Both the Maaloula church and the Seydnaya monastery contained similar chapels devoted to various icons of Christianity. The very devout and religious seem to congregate in loose but focused pilgrimages. Maaloula is most famous for being one of the last places on earth where Aramaic, the supposed language of Christ, is still spoken. I can't say for sure since my Aramaic is about as good as my Arabic.
Speaking of iconic worship. Wasn't that what we were talking about? Another thing easy to notice in Syria since it appears in almost every place of business, in every cab, and on the facade of every government building is the face of Hafe al-Assad, the former Syrian president and his son (the current president). Hafe was in power for thirty-some years and although elected five times I wouldn't expect a count was needed. Maybe the people were too worried about all the work required to take down all those pictures and remove all those profiles and busts from all the government buildings to bother electing someone else. Hmmm... Now his son is in power, same as the states.
The coffee shop is busy, most have a cup of tea and a huge water-pipe (narjileh) to smoke various tobaccos heated by red hot coals and cooled through the water reservoir at the base. Everyone smokes these things, the young, the old, males, females. even kids... I'm sure I'll have a try before leaving, but for now I'll skip it and recover from yet another cold or maybe it's dry desert induced throat cancer. Cough, cough, hack, hack...
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