Heatwave disturbs Damascenes daily life taking some to Barada
Syria, Local, 8/17/1998

Temperatures had soared almost 10 degrees above normal to reach 45 degrees in most Syrian regions, but conditions started to improve late on Saturday and Sunday. A Syrian weather forecast official said on Sunday, "Things are returning to normal, and we expect a decline in temperatures in coming days."

The sudden rise in temperatures intruded on the lifestyles of the Damascenes. All available cooling or ventilation means were no longer able to reduce the unusually high temperatures. The heatwave pushed many people, most for the first time, to buy air-conditioners, despite their high prices which exceed the financial capacities even of the middle class families.

It is not unusual to see the elderly carrying bottles of cooled or iced water. The Public Gardens in Damascus are unable to accommodate all those seeking a cool breeze. During night time people usually rush to Qassyoun mountain which overlooks the ancient city and to the surrounding gardens. They have with them all possible refreshment means, with some even having a small TV sets.

The traffic jams have become less crowded in the streets of Damascus. The nights have become chances for shopping and an escape from the heat stored in the walls of modern Damascene houses. Until recently the Damascenes used to spend summers without air ventilation systems. But currently the ventilator has become a basic item in any house in the city. A ventilator is usually bought at 80,000 Syrian pounds (US $1,800).

During the two past years, a new type of ventilator has been introduced to the market, known as the "Sahara ventilator." It is based on cooling the air by water. It is much cheaper, estimated at a cost of 15,000 Syrian pounds (US $300).

Now, most of the Damascenes escaped the burning heat to the water of the River Barada.They usually spend their nights, where the road from Beirut to Damascus strays across the desertic eastern slopes of the Anti-Lebanon mountains, and the landscape is at its heart -- a wilderness of stone and shale and sun-baked earth.

A slip of water hurrying between the rocks makes its almost miraculous appearance. The road follows it and together they set off downhill. At first the water is little more than a precarious thread urging its way between arid slopes. But as it moves it grows and is fed by subterranean springs, it strengthens almost momentarily.

The fringe of green along its banks deepens, and soon the stream is mistress of a narrow gorge-like valley. But the burnt hills still overhang it; it still trespasses in the desert. It is not long, however, before brief orchards and meadows are wedged beside its banks; spare trees multiply into svaried ranks of poplar, walnut and alder; branch touching branch makes a close-packed sea of green.

Though the desert rocks still sharply define on either side the limit of its kingdom, the stream has become a small river. As the water races eastward down its twisting course, the stranger is aware of a strange sense of anticipation. The precipitate onrush, this trip of green pouring between the hills, must have some objectives; such energy must find release.

It does. With dramatic suddenness, the imprisoning desert hills are at an end; river and road cease to twist and hurry. The waters freed, flow out into the Ghouta, the Oasis of Damascus. It is near this point of release the Damascenes and their Arab and foreign guests alike spend their leisure. There stands a cafe-restaurant above the road, which might well claim to be most attractive spot in the Oasis.

The waters there, diverted from the main stream, race along on different levels, and between these waterways stretches the cafe terrace shaded with huge mulberry-trees and garlanded with vines. These wonderful cafes are the haven of the Damascenes, inviting guests to come in from this heat for a cool setting with great food and relaxing time.

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