{"id":635,"date":"2009-08-02T13:22:03","date_gmt":"2009-08-02T18:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/?p=635"},"modified":"2009-08-02T13:22:03","modified_gmt":"2009-08-02T18:22:03","slug":"local-flavor-in-damascus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/2009\/08\/02\/local-flavor-in-damascus","title":{"rendered":"Local Flavor in Damascus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spent our days in Damascus shopping during the day and drinking at night. We’re constantly in a state of mild dehydration, so two beers is usually enough. Not ten minutes after Ruth complained that we weren’t meeting enough locals on our trip, a Syrian\/French couple invited us over to their table. They had seen us earlier in the day at the spice shop, recognized us in a bar, and proceded to buy us drinks and shisha for the rest of the evening. At first I suspected international espionage, but they were really just a sweet couple wanting to practice english. We discussed the state of the fashion industry, married life, and even some politics, while serenaded by an oud\/tambourine duo. It’s a shame that this country has such a bad international reputation, as the people are incredibly friendly.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\n
\"Struck<\/a><\/p>\n

Struck down in my prime<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Spent the next day in bed with the itis, which made me glad I sprang for the ensuite room with air conditioning. No Aleppo for us, just a logey day in Damascus. Ruth went out shopping, and brought me back some orange juice, which I dutifully drank and then promptly expelled. She was a good sport about it, though. Felt good enough by dinner time for a little walk around town, but it was soon time to retire. Back on my feet in the morning, so at least it was short lived.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

\n
\"Ruth<\/a><\/p>\n

Ruth and Charlie<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Leaving Damascus, we met a man who called himself “one legged Charlie.” He was a guide for the US troops in Lebanon before their pullout in 1983, and spoke english with a rat-pack Chicago accent. Now he translates between tourists and cabbies at the bus station, bringing a smile to both sides and swearing like a sailor. If you’re ever in Damascus, look him up, and he’ll show you around town. No bullshit, daddy-o.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spent our days in Damascus shopping during the day and drinking at night. We’re constantly in a state of mild dehydration, so two beers is usually enough. Not ten minutes after Ruth complained that we weren’t meeting enough locals on our trip, a Syrian\/French couple invited us over to their table. They had seen us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel","tag-syria"],"geo":{"latitude":33.5192986,"longitude":36.3134499,"description":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.levinger.net\/josh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}