Weekend away

Even though I only landed yesterday, I was happy to agree to a weekend away today.  It was a foursome, with Marie and I, plus another student (Jewish American studying at Harvard) and the driver Assam.

It was a leisurely departure at 0930 meeting at my regular quarter-chicken place for the 2+ hour ride through the mountainous landscape, towns and market days to reach Manakhah.

We had lunch at the same hotel as my first trip last year.  We continued the drive to Al Khutayb, the base of an Ismaili sect.  The US ambassador was there.  Their entourage was very conspicuous with bodyguards and a Yemeni truck with machine gun on the back.  The ambassador’s bodyguards took exception to seeing our American boy carrying an AK47 but the Yemeni police were pretty cool about it because it is the norm in Yemen!  Actually he kinda had a fetish with guns and dressing up in a Rambo fashion.

We hiked through the countryside until it was nearly dark.  It was quite a hike and we ascended to quite good heights before descending back down to Manakhah for dinner and our night-stop.  Over dinner, we were treated to a dance and felt obliged to buy a CD of their music.  Afterwards, we settled into our room which would have a view of Al Hajjarah for the next morning’s sunrise.