God Bless Zifet

First of all, in the name of all the bloggers who attended the Hiking trip, I would like to thank Eve for this great idea. We love you, Eve....like the Syrian Mukhabarat brotherly loved Lebanon.

Second, a moment of silence for those who didn't make it up the mountain. I don't think it was fair though that those who gave up in the initial climb got rewarded with a romantic picnic on the bank of a river.

Third, I'd like to apologize to my fellow hikers for my unbearable whining, but if you saw how I had remove my socks that were stuck to the dry blood from my "Akki Dinye"-Sized busted blister you'd understand my suffering.

On to the good stuff, this blogger meeting was the least political yet. Also it was the highest IQ-ed one thanks to the presence of a bio-chemistry Harvard research doctor in the bunch.

Jabal Moussa, named for Moussa, was pictoresque before the fog settled in, but there is a reason its historic village and monastery were abandoned. It's damn painful to walk on rocks. However, the hike gave us a new understaing of the life of Moussa. We learned that Moussa carried a stick to ease the weight off of rolled ankles. I personally put that to the test and found it very useful. We also learned that fruits are necessary for hydration when there are no rivers around. We didn't learn though why Moussa asked his followers to chip the tip of their little boys' penises.

All in all, it was a fun trip. Just a final piece of advice: if you decide to take one of Esprit Nomade's trips keep in mind that if they tell you it's a medium level hike, it really means you need spiderman-like climbing skills to complete it.

Also, there is no ice cream stop.