Al-Mahweet trip

This past weekend, Friday, about ten other students and I went with one of the Professors here, Abdul Kafi, to Al-Mahweet. The bus drove us two hours northwest of Sana'a through some of the most beautiful villages, mountains, and farmlands I have ever seen. We stopped a couple of times and got there about 2 hours later. We had packed food, so when the bus (van?) dropped us off we hiked for about twenty minutes before we stopped and had lunch on the edge of a mountain. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! It was so absolutely breathtaking, as was the rest of the hike.
This was our first view, and Matt enjoying it.
Here are Styn, Asil, and Abdul Kafi on the edge of the mountain, some qat chewing happening.

The entire area is extremely mountainous, and as you can see the crops (mostly qat, corn and coffee) are grown in terraces built into the side of the mountains. They are all cascading with life, and although the weather was cloudy and cool the majority of the day, it was still unbelievable. And many of the houses are in little communities on the tops of mountains, but the only water is at the bottom of the mountain. So, most of the families trek up and down the mountain together daily for water. (and I'm telling you you wouldn't want to do that 4 hour journey everyday)

These are some kids from one of the little villages we walked through whom we played soccer with for about 20 minutes.This is Maxim and I, one of my favorite Frenchmen here, taking a little istaraha.

Maxim again, but what is best about this picture is in the background where you can see "prince" Kamal looking over his "dynasty."
Tobias, also checking out the amazing view. By the end of the hike, we were all very tired and slept the majority of the ride home, although it is very tricky so sleep in one of those tiny bus/vans, (fifteen passenger vans=buses or Debabs in Yemen) especially when the landscape is something you could never get sick of looking at.

Also, we had to go through about 3 checkpoints on the way there and another 3 on the way back, which was a very strange thing for me. Ahh, back to studying. Ma' Alsalama!