The Unknowing Tourist

Did you ever have a day that went totally different than you expected? Today was one of those. My driver to go to Al Zentan arrive a few minutes early so I grabbed all my stuff; backpack full of safety gear )hard hat , vest, goggles, etc,), files, papers, computer, and headed downstairs. I expected the usual Toyota land rover or sedan but instead they had sent one of our Mercedes (read Chrysler) mini-vans. I thought, ok, all the others were in use, so I got in and went to the next guesthouse to pick up Juan Galvan, my San Antonio based surveyor. On the way to pick up Juan, the driver asked me if I know how to get to Al Zentan. That should have been my first clue that things were going to be a bit different.

I told the driver that if he could find the west highway and head toward the mountains, I could direct him to the meeting in Al Zentan. After picking up Juan, he headed out west along the coast, a way I had only been once. I knew that if we stayed on that road we'd never make it. We asked him to turn south, which he eventually did and we recognized the right highway. After we passed through Ber Alghnam (locally known as the goat butcher shop of Libya - that's another story), our driver asked if we wanted to go through Guerian. We told him,no, just stay on the highway until we turn up into the mountains for Al Zentan. We finally arrived at 10:20 for our 10:00 meeting. Last week, it took me a little over 2 hours, today, 2:45. "Welcome To Libya" - one of my mottos.

After our meeting, site visit and lunch with our Korean contractor and friend we headed back to Tripoli. As we neared town, the driver asked if we would like to go back through Guerian. We told him, "Maybe some other time, we need to get back to the office." He proceeded to ignore us when we told him to turn left into town and back toward the highway and proceeded straight to Guerian. Since all roads eventually lead to Tripoli, we decided he was driving and we were the passengers so we wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Along the way, he started talking about a bridge and we couldn't figure out what else. A couple of miles further along, he stopped under a highway bridge, got out, walked across the highway and came back with two ripe figs. Juan and I, being the courteous gentlemen that we are, each took one and ate it. They were quite good. Our driver explained that figs were good medicine for digestion, Arabic medicine. I don't know if he thought that we needed some medicine after watching us eat lunch with the Koreans or what. He then insisted that we cross the highway with him and examine the fruit for sale. I picked out four nice peaches and a couple of figs. The vendors were looking at me like I was crazy. Between them and the driver, I finally understood that I couldn't buy 4 peaches but had to buy the whole box of peaches (about a kilo -30 small peaches). So for 5 dinar, I brought home a bag of peaches that I need to peel, cut and freeze.

Looking at our watches, we were wondering whether we should go to the office or home. As we turned into Guerian, a place that neither Juan nor I had ever been, our driver asked if we wanted to see the town. Again we explained, "not today, maybe some other time". A couple of

minutes later, not to be swayed by a couple of good old boys from Texas, he turned off the main road, and then proceed to go down a small alley. Now this sounds ominous for some of you folks back in the states but it's not so uncommon here. You just trust your driver to know where he's going. Sure enough, he knew where he was going. We arrived at a dead end and he parked at the Troglodyte House. It's really neat; a house dug into the cliff with an open atrium and rooms off the main area. There was even a niche carved into the wall for chickens to lay heir eggs. It had been turned into a museum with exhibits for weaving from sheep's wool, baskets and other crafts. We finally convinced him to head back to Tripoli. Once we were back on the highway, he pulled over and showed us the Troglodyte House back on the top of the cliff. I'm beginning to think that he has an interest in the house or at the minimum, his family is from Guerian. I might have mentioned before that tribal interests come before anything here.

We finally returned to Tripoli by the most back road, forsaken route possible, poking along behind double tandem trucks with cars zooming around us (that's no big deal in Libya). Oh, one thing I forgot to mention, some of the people in Libya (the older ones I think) believe that air conditioning is bad for you; it makes you sick. Again, for most of our journey, we rode along with the driver's window open and no air conditioning.

So, from my air conditioned room and the creature comforts of home, I wish you a good day, or night, depending where you are.

Rick