Tigermama talks

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Been Traveling

Lately we have had the opportunity to travel to some places around Lebanon that would be difficult to go to without help. We are so lucky to have met a lovely Lebanese couple who have graciously shown us some of these places. The first trip was back in December when we drove to the southern most region of Lebanon, Tyre and the Lebanon/Israel border. The drive down was almost as entertaining as the ancient ruins and historical sites that were waiting for us. On the highway...look at this taxi:


How many X's do they need?


Down south:


This is where we were heading:


And here it is, the location of Jesus's first miracle...turning the water into wine at the Wedding of Cana. All that is left are these broken jugs where the water was kept:


It is maintained that Jesus, his Mother, and his earliest disciples made the journey, along a path way lining the valley pictured below, from Nazareth to Cana of Tyre (and the famous wedding):


A series of sculptures etched into the limestone along the path leading to the grotto where Jesus and company are said to have spent the night present scenes from the life of Jesus and are quite old, suggesting that a very early community of Christians recognized this to be a sacred site:



The cave:


Next we drove to the border between Lebanon and Israel. Lots of UN tanks around:


When we got to the border, I was surprised at how close the division was...literally only metres away and you could see a couple of villages in the distance:


The way back north. Here is Mount Hermon which is the southern tip of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range which defines the border with Syria:


An overloaded truck on it's way to the border:


Stay tuned for a post about our trip to the Northern border of Lebanon and our lunch with a monk at a monestary in the only Christian village in the area.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A Formidable Opponent

He starts off strong:






Trouble:


Uh Oh:


Crap: