Day 39 In the Orontes Valley

SYNOPSIS:I took a full fleet of public transportation today to visit the ancient ruins of Afamia, and Hama, a city with a history and famed for its water wheels.  I also had some encounters with local women.WATER IN THE SKY AND ANCIENT WATER WHEELSAfter I took a total of two overland buses, 6 micro buses and hitched a ride on a motor bike, I felt I was on track again.  Over are the days of hiring a taxi.  I had to hop from place to place and transfer a few times before I found myself hiking up the mountain in Suqelibiyya, the small village near the ancient ruins of Afamiya/Afamia/Apamea.I came upon two women squatting in the grass and took their picture before they spotted me.   Seeing my camera, they immediately forbade further picture taking, but waved me down to the ground with them.  They were the two wives of a single man.  Islam allows for a total of up to four wives.  As the practice today is limited, two wives still seem to be quite common, especially in rural areas or in religious towns such as Aleppo and Damascus.  Within minutes three more young women and all of their offspring gathered, inspecting that foreign specimen that had come their way.  And within a few more minutes I had an invitation for tea at their home.  We went into a room with cushions all around; the women’s quarter.  It had no decoration except the picture of an ancestor, some brightly colored fake flowers in a plastic vase, a TV, and a poster of the Ka’ba in Mecca.  None of them spoke English, but the conversation I had with them is the same I have with just about any strangers who don’t speak English.It goes like this:First, they look at me curiously; check me out top to bottom, smile and then point to me raising one finger and their eye brows.  Translation:  Are you traveling alone?!   When I nod, they shake their head in disbelief.Soon after, they point to their left hand where usually their wedding ring is displayed.  Translation:  Are you married?  When I talk to men, they seem disappointed when I hold out my fake wedding ring and say yes, but the women then smile and seem somewhat relieved.  The next questions inquire about the whereabouts of my husband and the number of my children.  The word “baby” comes in handy and seems universal.  I point to myself and say “Um Martin”.  Translation:  I am the mother of Martin.  Both men and women are happy to hear that I am the mother of a boy.  Then, they start counting with their fingers which of course means that now I have to list the total of my children.  Only one, I gesture.  Infallibly, this causes amazement among both genders.  One single child – how sad!  I am competing, of course, with a minimum of 4 children – which is considered a relatively small family.  Between 7 and 13 seems common enough and with more than one wife there is no telling.  I usually add a gesture of pointing from the bottom up to the sky.  Translation: My son is a grown man now. In case of inquisitive young men, I use that fact as a weapon of defense.  In the case of women, it just explains that I no longer have any child duties and can travel.  When it comes to my husband – pointing to my wedding ring is the key motion here – I decide what to say.  Often enough I say “Damascus - professor” – meaning he is within reach but busy working.  With the young men again, that works well as a shield.  With the women, it seems a bit less severe to be all alone if my husband is just a bus ride away.  Only rarely, do I admit that he really is far away back in Michigan and never do I reveal that I am not married at all.The final thing I can usually get across is my travel itinerary and my travel time in Syria.  I just list the places and draw a map of my route.  I can also write numbers in Arabic now.  I usually get lots of positive reinforcement for spending so much time in Syria and for showing an interest in their country.  Welcome, welcome!  This is the most common word extended to a stranger here, anywhere you go.When it comes to citizenship - and that is about t he final piece of information we are able to exchange without speaking each other’s language - I choose my answers depending on the circumstances.  Usually, my Syrian partners in the conversation start guessing and list various nationalities.  If they guess German early on, I agree and they are proud that they were right on the mark.  If they guess all over the place, I help them out by saying “American”.  Without fail, that causes amazement.  From so far!  They are used to Russians, Australians, and various Europeans.  Not many Americans have been seen lately.However, if I enter a museum, a bus, a taxi, a hotel, or hire a guide at a site, etc.  I always say that I am German.  That makes it a lot easier on them.  Often they have to note my citizenship in their guest book (at a museum, for example).  Ali, the taxi driver explained to me that if I am an American – without fail he will receive a visit from the “Geheimpolice” – that word in itself is worth an examination…  half German, half English.  He will have to explain what I did, where I went, what my conversations with him were like.  If I am German, he will be left alone.  I guess that is the heritage from the Busch era…  I hope that none of them will get into trouble because of me.   Germans are well liked in the Middle East, but not always for the right reasons.  Americans are admired, envied, loathed.  But contact with an American is feared a bit more due to the governmental inquiry that may follow.But I digress…After tea I at the women’s quarter, I continued my 2 km walk to the site of Afamia.  If there were no Palmyra in Syria, every tourist would flock to Afamia.  As it is, it is second in line and much neglected in comparison.  But it is worth a visit even though all you really see are lots and lots and lots of columns and the usual piles of rocks of an era long gone by.  The site spreads out over more than 2 km in total and one has to back track unless you come with a driver.  Drivers drop you off at one end and drive to the other to wait for you.  Counting all my walking today, I am sure I passed the 10 km mark once again.Reconstructive archaeology is the word used for what went on here:  As in so many cases in Syria, due to earth quakes and wars, ruined sites consist of hundreds of litters of broken stone.  A Belgian team at Afamia went through the trouble to reconnect and reconstruct.  It is a questionable practice, but it certainly makes for more impressive ruins to visit as is demonstrated most notoriously in Knossos (Greece).Afamia is a peaceful site high up on a mountain overlooking the country side and overgrown with grass.  The weather was shaky today.  It rained in the morning.  Again and again, ominous clouds gathered threatening to rain and then moved away quickly to give way to a bright blue sky for a short while before threatening to rain again.  This made for some fun backdrops for my photos.  I stayed dry all day.On my way back into town I was offered a ride on a motorbike with a local guy.  I was grateful to cut my walk short and zoomed down the hill with him.  My transitions between one microbus after another were never longer than 5 minutes.  I really admire this system of public transport.I made a stop in Hama on the way back.  Shame on Lonely Planet!  I followed its map and hiked for 2 km to find the most spectacular water wheels outside of town.  But what was listed as 200 meters outside of the map was over an hour away!  I lost precious day light and just made it back into town to photograph the lesser but still famous downtown water wheels.  These wheels are hundreds of years old and are a beloved local attraction.  They shovel water from the lower river levels to high up irrigation systems which carry the water into the fields.  More modern systems have replaced the wheels, but they are maintained mainly as a tourist attraction.  However, the water levels were so low, that I was not able to see one of them in motion.  Hama struck me as a quaint little town with a wonderful medieval flair in the downtown river area.But the appearance betrays the facts.  I found out that a major military conflict occurred in the 1980’s.  It led to a massacre in which the town was bombed and between 10,000 and 25,000 people were killed.  The fundamentalist Islamic brotherhood of Egypt had established a stronghold in Hama.  Syrian military struck to eliminate them.  Almost the entire old town was destroyed.  What is there today, are the few faithfully reconstructed parts.  My contemporary history is more than shaky.  But just looking at these facts, it looks like the Syrian government took anti-terrorist measures long before we in the States even talked about terrorism.  Why then, was it put on the list of the axis of evil by Bush?  I guess I have some homework to do.Good night.