Following a calm morning, we continued through the gorge. The river and the road gradually deviated until the former receded into an invisible abyss off the brink of the latter. Then we stopped for coffee and brunch at a lone restaurant we happened upon. It comprised a shaded concrete terrace over the cliff and an outdoor kitchen. Unlike yesterday’s one, it had set tables … [Read more...]

A large animal, likely a boar, that hung around our tent at dawn was gone by sunrise, leaving the grove in perfect stillness. In the cedars’ generous shade and at a 2,000-meter elevation, which was the highest we’d reached on this trip, the morning was cool. With a dose of reluctance, we packed and started our descent.This time we took another route back to El Arz through the … [Read more...]

The sun reached our tent early and forced us to pack and go quickly. This morning, for the first time on this trip, we saw snakes, not one, but two. The first was a water one. We disturbed its basking as we passed along the concrete rim of an artificial pond, and it spryly retreated to the invisible depths of its aquatic habitat. The second was a big, black, terrestrial one … [Read more...]

Waking in such a heavenly setting, we ought to loll for the better part of the morning. Then, a contingency during prep delayed our start even longer. While cleaning them, Sophie dropped her transparent teeth aligners in the stream. Since she feels for them particularly strongly, we made an effort to search. There was a chance, however slim, they got stuck someplace downstream. … [Read more...]

The lack of shade and water compelled us to set out very early. Natch, five minutes into our course, we met a wide stream rushing beside turfy flatland and under a dense forest canopy. The trail soon veered onto the road that entered the region’s principal town.Tannourine consisted of age-old, gracious stone houses and narrow, declivitous stair pathways winding among them. A … [Read more...]

Human chatter awoke us at dawn. I went out to inspect. Its source unseeable, it came from within the bordering orchard upslope. White spurts of pesticide jetted above the treeline. We got ready and were off before the fierce morning sunlight reached us.Now we had to climb 400 steep meters until the ridge to rejoin our trail. We started early to avoid doing this in the extreme … [Read more...]

The daybreak was approaching, warming the nightly frigid interior of the cave and encouraging me to quit the sleeping bag. I went out to witness a wonderful view of the now-visible gorge. The bats had gone to sleep, and gobs of little birds, who nested in the speckling of holes on the cave’s ceiling that was a trypophobic’s nightmare, were now fluttering all around, producing a … [Read more...]

We were up at dawn. Before the sun crested the ridge, we were packed and gone.As agreed last evening, we stopped by Emilio’s hotel to have breakfast together. The place seemed forsaken. The open door led us past a vacant reception desk and a lobby in-the-works out to a backyard. A man was there, meditating over a running hose rather than watering the flowers. After we found a … [Read more...]