Monday March 7th
This morning the women in our group were shown how to bake the local flat bread and were encouraged to try their hand at it. Then we had another multi dish meal. (Afterwards I suggested to Bridgette that the family should make the meals buffet style in order to reduce the amount of wasted food and wash up. The big meals are for our benefit and definitely not the way they normally eat. Their meals are much simpler. She said she thought it was a good idea and she'd suggest it.)
The house is quite nice and clean and painted a pastel colour of purple. Furnishing were simple but they did have a satellite TV! The washroom was an outhouse and there is really no shower facilities. They do have a basic room where you could give yourself a bucket bath (where you just pour a it over you), but no one opted for that.
We went for a walk around the village looking at the way they live and where they grow their crops and raise their animals. It was a bitterly cold day, and the area was pretty bleak and unattractive. These people have a very simple, poor life. But the family, by letting Intrepid bring tourists into the community are trying to raise their lot and with the money they make they are hoping to send their sons to university. Both parents are illiterate but value the value of an education.
Then we boarded the bus again. We drove for a couple of hours to the Euphrates River. Here we left our van and carried our luggage onto a car ferry to cross the river. It is a very pretty site where the river passes through a canyon. On the other side of the river we boarded a new van. All of this transportation and organizational stuff is what Intrepid and GAP are good at. Their tour leaders, Jess this time, help take the chore out of traveling.
This morning the women in our group were shown how to bake the local flat bread and were encouraged to try their hand at it. Then we had another multi dish meal. (Afterwards I suggested to Bridgette that the family should make the meals buffet style in order to reduce the amount of wasted food and wash up. The big meals are for our benefit and definitely not the way they normally eat. Their meals are much simpler. She said she thought it was a good idea and she'd suggest it.)
The house is quite nice and clean and painted a pastel colour of purple. Furnishing were simple but they did have a satellite TV! The washroom was an outhouse and there is really no shower facilities. They do have a basic room where you could give yourself a bucket bath (where you just pour a it over you), but no one opted for that.
We went for a walk around the village looking at the way they live and where they grow their crops and raise their animals. It was a bitterly cold day, and the area was pretty bleak and unattractive. These people have a very simple, poor life. But the family, by letting Intrepid bring tourists into the community are trying to raise their lot and with the money they make they are hoping to send their sons to university. Both parents are illiterate but value the value of an education.
Then we boarded the bus again. We drove for a couple of hours to the Euphrates River. Here we left our van and carried our luggage onto a car ferry to cross the river. It is a very pretty site where the river passes through a canyon. On the other side of the river we boarded a new van. All of this transportation and organizational stuff is what Intrepid and GAP are good at. Their tour leaders, Jess this time, help take the chore out of traveling.
Hey Joe! That spread of food looks fantastic!!
ReplyDeleteDid you have to ask for seconds??