Our Palmyra

Heather and I joke that we can't just have a "normal" tourist day. We try to do the "regular" thing and something always happens. Like at Palmyra...

Palmyra: Syria's biggest tourist sight. It's a 50 hectare area that was once an impressive Roman city. It's vastness is far surpassed by the laziness of tourists who casually stroll down the center colonnade, explore the most notable temple and quickly seek refuge in their air conditioned bus or hotel room. Heather and I opted for the road less traveled and it made all the difference...

A small path diverged in the desert heading towards Roman tombs ripe for exploring. We stopped for a brief water and date break and broke from the masses...well, all 5 tourists that had made it to the end of the colonnade. One, however, had stuck with us - a young local man who had been watching us from a short distance snapping photos of us on his phone with a smarmy smile.

As we started to descent down the slight hill towards the tombs we noticed the man was following us. Having our pictures taken was nothing new, but this man was slightly off. Both of us had a bad feeling. We debated turning back. Instead we stopped to let him pass hoping he would continue on. Five feet, 10, 15, stop. He stalled looking even more suspicious (there is little to pretend to be occupied by in the open desert.) We started again. He started again.

"Yalla! Go!" we said in Arabic and gestured to him to stay away. We asked which way he was going and indicated that we would go in the opposite direction to keep our separation. He went his way, we went ours. Unfortunately "his way" changed course and brought him back to us. We stood rigidly with unfriendly faces, "Imshi! Get Away!" we demanded using a more forceful Arabic term, "Imshi!" He smirked as he continued his path towards us. Seemingly pleased with the distress he had caused, he passed. We moved in the opposite direction continuing to watch behind us. It was over.

We thought about Nicole Vienneau, the 33 year old Canadian woman who went missing in Syria last year. Even at Syria's most frequented sight and in a pair we felt alone, threatened. What had this man's intentions been? What would have happened had we not been so strong? What would have happened had "we" been only one solo traveler? We were safe but thought we should tell someone about our experience. Before leaving we returned to the ticket office where the guides were congregated around the fan. We relayed our story and provided a description of the man.

"Wait 10 minutes." We thought they were getting the police. Instead, the ticket man returned with the assailant in tow. "Is this him?"

"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, mia mia - 100%"

There were some quick and heated words exchanged and SLAP, the young man's head nearly spun around, more strong warnings and an apology followed. He was about to cry from the shame. We were about to cry from the shock.

The guides and the ticket man were quite proud of their show of strength and assured us that our stalker would not return to bother anyone. "Palmyra is safe," they repeated. "Everything okay now?"

We felt sick.