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So the last two weeks have been pretty eventful. Last weekend I went to Beirut for my birthday. It was a lot of fun I got to have TGI Fridays, go to a David Guetta concert, and of course I became a lobster at the beach. This past Thursday the 22nd. I went with my roommates to Marmusa, an old restored monastery in the mountains northwest of Damascus. We got to sleep in a cave for the night for free, in fact everything there was free food and all. We climbed around the nearby hills/mountains then headed back for meditation time/mass. The mass almost killed me as it was long boring, in Arabic, and was till 9:30 and dinner wasn't till after mass. The next day we opted out of morning mass and explored the monastery more. We came back to Damascus via a taxi drive who said he was going to sell me and the other American girl to Osama bin Laden, jokingly of course. We got to Damascus around noon on Friday I packed and got ready for my 7 hour bus ride to Deir A-Zur. I got into Deir around 9PM checked into my hotel and went out to explore and see the "famous" pedestrian suspension bridge across the Euphrates. Afterwards I had a falafel and beer and was off to bed. I got up early the next morning to go and see Mari- 5000 year old Mesopotamian ruins and Dura Europos- 2000 year old Roman/ Byzantine ruins. The usual occurred at the mini-bus station check in with the police etc. I got to Mari around 11:20 and spent an hour wondering the ruins there. Much of the ruins were not well preserved as they built with mud-bricks but the palace and some other areas had been restored. On my way back to the main rode to catch a bus to the next ruins I encounter a guy in military uniform on a motorcycle. He stops for a bit and talks to me then rode up a little bit stopped and told me he would take me to the main road, which was only 500 ft away by now. Exhausted I agreed. So as he stayed and attempted to get a mini-bus for me I realized that everyone driving by knew this guy. Eventually he decided to send me first to the nearest town, which happened to be 5 miles from the Iraqi border. I got into town and of course stuck out like a sour thumb, the guy on the bike followed me into town and got me onto a bus to the next ruins that I wanted to visit and at this time he took out his special book. In said book was all the information that I regularly give to the police whenever I travel except he had gotten it from the main office in Deir A-zur thus I discerned he was a member of the Mukhabarat aka the Syrian Secret Police. He asked me how long I planned to stay at Dura Europos and I said about an hour. So I got to the next ruins, Dura Europos, which overlooked the beautiful Euphrates Valley. I wondered around there for an hour or so and by then my water was a good 110 degrees, I was sunburnt and tired. As I left a SUV wannabe jeep pulled up beside me and low and behold Mukhabarat guy number two was there too take me to the main road, which was a good ½ walk without shade at 3 PM. Thankfully he had cold-water waiting and he got me on a mini-bus back to Deir in 10 minutes. I got on the next bus to Damascus in Deir and 6 hours later and 2 Jackie Chan Kung-Fu movies later I was back in Damascus. Thus that concludes my Euphrates adventure. Tomorrow I’m heading to the coast with my roommates then to Aleppo. Next Sunday I’m hopefully getting a flight to Egypt as Continental informed me that it was impossible to change my flight. So for now adios!