Farah's Allocution: Baalbek, Lebanon

Dear friends,

So my forced anorexia wasn't really a joke. I have a parasite that has forced me to live on boiled potatoes and rice for the past week. For some reason every person in Lebanon thinks all stomach illness can be cured with boiled potatoes. After eight days of being eating boiled potatoes I finally begged and pleaded enough for someone to take me to a doctor. And, well what do you know, I have a parasite that can only be cured with antibiotics. Sometimes I think the whole of the Lebanese society doesn't quite grasp modern medicine. (This is sort of an exaggeration but not really).

I also had to tell the doctor who gave me medicine that I should probably have things like probiotics and fiber to help with digestion. He promptly wrote me a prescription for vitamins. I told him I could just eat cereal and yogurt and he thought I was a genius. HOLY SHIT, never get sick in a country that doesn't have the FDA or the CDC! I'm not trying to bash this country's medicine since we have six doctors in the family but seriously boiled potatoes are not a real cure. It's like giving someone with the flu chicken soup and telling them you hope they'll be okay, no antibiotics needed. Death is inevitable.

Despite the fact that I have been extremely ill with a parasite I still managed to make my way out of the house. This past Saturday afternoon we made it to Baalbeck, which is one of the most awesome places I have ever been in my life.

Baalbeck is a 9,000 year old city, first built by the Samaritans than rebuilt by Alexander the Great starting in 334 BCE. Called Heliopolis (helio meaning sun and polis meaning city), the city was built around a four temple complex meant to worship Jupiter, Bacchus, Venus and Mercury. The temple dedicated to Jupiter was the largest temples ever built during the Roman Empire and remains today as a wonder of the world.

Below you will see the remaining six pillars of the Temple of Jupiter.

These are ruins from the roof of the temple.

The walls of Baalbeck are all hand carved and the floors were ornamentally decorated in tiles.

The ceilings and archways all depict different gods and the sheer size of the structure and construction of Baalbeck have left many scientists wondering how such large stones were moved.

This is only one room in the temple.

For anyone who appreciates history Baalbeck is one of those places where you wish the walls could talk. The frame of the public bath still exists and the musuem has saved some of the original statues.