MOUNTAIN CLIMBING

I first was introduced to the Health Club the day after we moved up on the hill behind the university. After spending a long weekend in the girls' dorm, we began house-sitting one of the university homes above the campus since the family is on annual leave.  I was headed down the winding road towards the main campus to meet an appointment when just at the edge of the property of the house being remodeled for us, I noticed a few broken concrete steps leading down into a stand of pine.

Shortcut!  The possibility of a quicker journey and a sense of adventure gripped me and I ventured down those few steps--only to find it was just the first leg of a long, descending  staircase.  Never mind, I could trust anything that went down.  

I've learned that in Beirut there are four main directions to travel:  up, down, sea on right, sea on left. Since the university is on the top of Sabtieh (Sabbath) Hill, the first thing I'm sure of is that most of my destinations are down.  (The region's name, of course, comes from the years when the Seventh-day Adventist university was the main settlement on the hill.)  As long as a street is descending, then, I know I'm headed toward the coastline road.  At the bottom I can decide if I want the sea on my right (south) or my left (north).  Of course, up to now, I've not walked that far...

All that to explain why I didn't feel I'd be led astray to follow the steps into the pines.  I figured anything descending would drop me somewhere onto the main campus grounds.

Sure enough:  175 steps later I was only a few yards away from the remodeling that's going on that is creating the new theology department and student lounge.  Can't get more direct.  Larry's trek to his office will be almost as efficient as a gondola ride.  And effortless.  A few more minutes around the campus and past the entrance to the university is the office where I work.  An easy slide on a rainy day.

But everything that goes down must go up.  One bend at a time.  Right?

A brisk beginning

The second wind

Then at the top.  Out.  Of.  Breath.

And that's what the free, full-service Health Club provides.  Anytime I want to go home, I get to  walk back up.  

I've lost four pounds since arriving.  I still have to stop and catch my breath about three times up through the pines, but come another few weeks and I'll probably be sprinting up.  

As far as Health Club membership:   Can't own a car.  You have to live up the hill from the Khawli's grocery and the Egyptian-run produce market on the corner below it.  Hitching a ride with a friend is always a possibility, but sometimes that's after the food supply in the house has dropped below a few oranges.   (It takes a lot more calories to get out and buy the calories.)

Last night we both decided we had  compound fever, so we ventured on an hour's stroll downhill through the maze  of traffic.  (Pedestrians and cars compete for road space, though swerving is the car's job. Leaping out of the way is the pedestrians option.)   Neither of us felt like buying much at the grocery store, though, when we knew it would have to be carried back up the hill.  (Lindt's 70% dark chocolate bars are very light, though.)

But the healthy part isn't saved just for Sabtieh Hill.

Much of Beirut is built on the foothills of Mt. Lebanon.  The whole country is actually a dramatic mountain range.  And anything you do--tour downtown Beirut, visit the ruins at Baalbek, climb Mt. Hermon, walk the quaint streets of Byblos, stop by Tyre and Sidon, or visit  the cedars in the south--your journey will be up and down, down and up, up and up.  Lebanon is a Health Club.

The largest hippodrome in the world--40,000 people could watch the chariots racing on a track 12 football fields long--offers a good place to begin, with only sections of an elaborate stadium remaining.  

Heading to the top...

...to watch the races

It gave the spectators in Tyre a moderate workout compared to the exertion involved in...

Climbing to services in the brand new 
Maronite Cathedral in Maghdouche.

Visiting the President of Lebanon's 
summer home.  He's not home; it's spring.

Stepping over neighborhood residents
living in the alleys of Tyre's old town

Climbing back onto the bus, headed
for the next stop

Or returning to the campus of
MEU at the end of the day

It's all exercise.  It's a good deal of hard work.  It's what makes us stronger.  That's one benefit of climbing mountainsides and standing at the top.  We're all stronger for it.  

That's Lebanon.