Travels in the Levant

We got a late start this morning because the guys had been out late (sigh) and hadn’t packed but finally left the hotel around 11am. The manager let us leave our suitcases there so we each brought only a small duffle and backpack. We took a cab to Abdali bus station, where we were informed that the bus to Damascus had been cancelled. Maalesh, so we took a service taxi for $3 to the Syria/Jordan border near Ramtha. The trip took a little over an hour and we arrived uneventfully arrived at the Jordanian border. We got exit stamps and payed the exit tax and a guy offered to give us a lift 3km through the no man’s land that lies between the borders. We arrived at the Syrian border, and went to the non-Arab foreigners line. We surrendered our passports, which were thouroughly scoured for any signs of a trip to Israel.

I must mention here that we had come to the border several weeks ago in order to apply for Syrian visas, which are technically unavailable for Americans (unless you get one in the US for $100). We were at the time unsuccessful but they told us they would “fax Damascus” for permission and we told them we had to leave but would come back in a few weeks. So it turns out that our plan ended up working out, because a few minutes later the border official told us that we could enter Syria, paying only $16 for the visa. In theory this kind of thing doesn’t happen but we had heard rumors of people who had gotten visas like this. Had they refused to give us visas, which we thought would probably happen, we would have been unable to enter Syria or travel on to Lebanon. We had actually brought enough snacks that we probably could have spent the night at the border, because we thought it might take over 12 hours to get the visa. We were probably in and out in less than 45. Al Hamdullilah, God be praised!

We got another taxi from outside the border to Damascus for $4 each. It was an incredible shock to so easily enter this country which is so demonized in the US that the mere mention of Syira brings up ideas of evil synonymous with the Dark Side. Syria looked an awful lot like Jordan, but with huge bolders lining the sides of the road. Perhaps a little poorer, and a few more mountains. We eventually arrived in Damascus, and were dropped off next to the street here our hotel as supposed to be. We ended up walking around in circles in the 95 degree weather for several hours, and realized too late that the hotel was just down a side-street that we had missed. Maalesh, oh well.

We found out that the Ar-Rabie Hotel didn’t have any more room and so were shown to the roof, covered by a huge cloth for protection from the sun. There were about 6 foam pads on the roof, which was relatively cool because of the breeze. We ere so hot and tired at that point that we agreed to the roof for $3 each a night for a foam pad, without sheets or blankets. Maalesh. There we met Juan, an Argentinian, who had also been given a roof bed. We all took naps, exhausted from the heat, the late night last night, and our final exams which had just ended yesterday. At 6:30 Brian woke me, Tyler, Steve, and Juan up and we all eventually gathered enough energy, thanks to some cookies and chocolate wafers, to go out and found the Orient Internet Cafe a fe blocks away. We’re getting ready to go find dinner in the Old Town and explore so more, and I’m hoping for an early night.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 15th, 2005 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Syria. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.