The Desert Sensation

The past week was enormously crowded. I had to travel to two cities far from Tripoli and right after that, had a surprise training course to teach for which I had to study all night long to prepare for the days.

Benghazi is the second biggest city in Libya, somehow the rival for Tripoli. The two cities are right on the two corners of the coastal saddle where Libya meets the Mediterranean sea, more than a thousand Kms away from each other, almost an hour by air. Boraq air is apparently the best airline to take you there and I would say it was a convenient flight.

The trip plan was to stay one day in Benghazi and then ride to Bregha the next day. Benghazi left a better first impression on me compared to Tripoli. The structure and design of the city felt more natural and harmonized at least in the part of town that I passed through. This city is the fist stop for those tourists who want to go for the sightseeings of Libyan east end, the green mountain and the Greek ruins. I was told that the best season would be the start of spring so we will wait till then.

The next day, we departed from Benghazi very early in the morning, well before sunset. Our carrier was a mini van and we were four in it heading south to south west into the desert toward an industrial area and port camp of Bragha. It was familiar to me to ride in desert roads as I had done so many times but this time, I was there to watch a sensational down and dusk in the desert in my round trip (more below)

Heading south and on the driver side, I was looking at the shadow of the desert with trees here and there passing by my sight. I was awake anyway after the morning coffee and was helping myself with the stock pile of music on my new ipod Touch :) Expecting the down when the horizon is all in front of you without any barrier and of course when you are awake to see it is indeed joyful. I was looking at Venus high above the horizon, below it a rim of brownish blanket of light rising every second. In a few minutes, There was a shade of colors from dark blue where the Venus was to white and then brownish red and orange. It was like an army marching west invading the clear sky.

I did not have my camera as I was told not to bring it to the industrial area and the van was speeding south making the power towers and long wires on them to dance in front of my eyes with the trees and small hills in between. The light was invading fast dimming the glory of Venus. The rim of colors was widening in front of me tinning towards the north and south (that would be enough to prove the Earth is not flat:). The army had already prepared the land for the queen, it was all lit and the little bloom of the desert, the thin green blanket of vegitation on land was visible. Small pounds of water, remains of the previous rain reflecting the early daylight in their ripply windblown surface and I was awaiting the sun.

Surprisingly enough, as I set my ipod to shuffle the music randomly, it started to play the "Conquest of paradise" by Vengelis as I watched one of the most sensational sunrises. An unforgettable sense!

It was all morning now and after another two hours we reached the vicinity of the industrial area of Bregha and passed through several checkpoints where they checked our "desert pass". It is small card that acts like a permit for you to enter the oil rich sector of Libyan eastern desert. Without it, you are in trouble!

I was mistaken first about the position of Bragha as I presumed we had driven all south, on the contrary, we headed south west and now we were again by the coast. This place is hosting a whole company that produces, refines and sells oil and gas with all of the staff, families, factories, residential areas and offices in one huge piece of land. It is somehow a closed circle of life for itself. We passed through the refinery and huge surface reservoir and burning stations to meet the people we were supposed to meet. It was not the last surprise. We met Americans living and working there since 25 years ago. Since the time that ESSO-one of the seven sisters- used to work there. The last thing I expected to see indeed.

On the way back, again on the driver side, I watched the dusk like a rewinding of the scenes in the morning. The rest of the time, my ipod came to rescue and I enjoyed the movie that I transfered to it and before I realized we reached back to Benghazi, to the airport and then back home in Tripoli. It was a long day but I had to extend it to get ready for the training session next day.