Maalula and Mar Musa

So now that my mom has updated my blog through the rest of her trip, I can write about my travels from this past weekend.

Thursday I gave a thirty minute presentation in class on Uganda and Invisible Children. I think it went pretty well. Right after class Max, Astrid, and I headed to the bus station to take a service bus to Maalula. We actually had to take two taxis to get there, because the first taxi dropped us off at the wrong station. Our second taxi driver was really interesting. He talked to us a lot about American politics (its always about our politics, never their own), and his opinion on Iran. He had a really open mind and spoke really clearly in fusha. It was a good ride.

The service bus dropped us off in front of one convent in Maalula. After walking around the convent, visiting St. Takla's shrine and the holy church, we walked through a canyon up to another church, which had a great view of the city. Maalula is an interesting Syrian town. Nuzzled up against several mountains, most of the population is Christian (from a local's estimate, about 85% Christian). On our way between two mountains, we saw several caves carved high into the rocky mountain wall with handmade wooden ladders leading up to the entrances. Maalula is also one of the few places in the world where Aramaic is still spoken. We had a private driver drive us from Maalula to Mar Musa, and we enjoyed listening to him sing in Aramaic.

We arrived at Mar Musa around 6pm, as the sun was slowly setting behind the mountains. Thankfully we still had about an hour left of sunlight, because our driver dropped us off at the bottom of the mountain and we hiked up the narrow pathway to the monastery on the edge of the mountain. Supposedly the monastery is from the sixth century AD, and an Italian man happened upon the old building back in the 80s while he was out hiking in the desert. We were immediately welcomed into the monastery by Youssef, and Astrid and I were shown our room for the night (the girls had a big room with bunk beds while the boys slept in nearby caves). Shortly after we arrived, two bells were rung, and there was an hour of silence. We went into the church and listened as some people prayed and sang songs (not silent, but worshiping the Lord). The hour of silence was followed by a traditional Catholic church service. After the service (around 9:30pm) everyone helped in setting the tables for dinner. We met some really interesting people, who were all spending at least the night at the monastery - three Bulgarians who had driven to Syria from Bulgaria, a Brazilian filmmaker working on a documentary about his great-grandfather in Syria, a couple - Irish husband and British/Palestinian wife - who were also filmmakers working on a documentary starring one of the priests, and several other guests. We went to bed shortly after dinner (though we admired the gorgeous night sky before - so many stars shining clearly in the absence of light pollution... night in the desert is comforting in its solitude and peace).

The next morning, we woke up and went downstairs to find many tourists visiting the monastery for a couple of hours. We helped prepare tea, which we shared with the visitors. Breakfast was enjoyed on a wooden platform (the walls were blankets sewn together) covered in carpets and pillows. After breakfast, everyone helped clean dishes, and Astrid and I helped chop vegetables for a later meal. Max, Astrid and I returned to Damascus in an empty service bus with Father Peter, one of the Syrian priests at the monastery (he's lived at the monastery for the past fourteen years).

Mar Musa was really great. The atmosphere is really peaceful, and everyone had such beautiful hearts.