So I am still in Yemen for another 24 hrs, typing this up before my engs classes start up again back in NH. Bear with me for any spelling/grammar issues. And here is the promised TR, enjoy!!!



**DISCLAIMER/A REQUEST:
Please, please, please keep the comments on this TR (if you choose to leave one) respectful and AWAY from political comments about Islam, the pros/cons of anti-terror antics, and everything of this sort. I will gladly answer questions about the topics, but let's NOT make this post a forum for hatred, bigotry and one-upmanship. The Yemeni people are very, very different from the Yemeni military that is USA-supported and is definitely a bit scary. I was greeted by the Yemeni people with friendship and the utmost respect and hospitality. Please show the same in how you choose to respond to this post. **


My friend T let me play with his collection of guns. Here's an old one from the 1800s.


There was not much roped climbing on this trip. It's hard to explain to the Yemeni why the white girl isn't covered up and veiled, and trying to wear a harness with a skirt on is difficult. So I settled for lots of 4th/low 5th scrambling around.


So you may be asking where all that climbing Mike L. and others have done in Yemen. Where they climbed is primarily not in mainland Yemen. They were climbing on an isolated island called Socotra that is several hundred miles from the mainland and is unaffected by the political situation. It's more remote than Kalymnos, but if you want to go there, it's just a plane ticket and an interpreter away. You can visit here without wearing a veil or worrying about the 'Death to America' graffiti or getting kidnapped. Seriously. Go if you want. It's safe.


I decided to focus my trip on the parts of Yemen that I can't go to alone since I had a friend from college that graciously took me under his wing (I can always find time to go to Socotra by myself for a leisure vacation). So I took advantage of his knowledge as we snuck past military checkpoints around the capital city Sana'a and got up to general mischief together.



T is fluent in Arabic. So fluent that if it wasn't for his whiteness and blondeness, no-one would be able to tell he wasn't native Yemeni. When we would sneak through checkpoints together he would tie a Yemeni scarf over his blonde head and pretend to be Syrian (very effectively with his non-existent accent). I would wear a full veil niqab, and because men are not allowed to speak or stare at a women (it's haram and indecent), I just had to sit and not say a word as the military guys with AK's would search our vehicle and wave us on. We were the perfect disguise.


It is extremely against the Muslim religion to stare at women or to touch them if they don't want to be touched (such as in public), so I felt very comfortable walking around the city in my veil. More safe I would say than walking the streets of New York.






Lots of American cars that were in natural disasters (Katrina, Sandy, etc...), that can no longer be sold in the US for safety/environmental reasons, are sold to the highest bidder for sky-high prices in Yemen.



So time for a lesson on Yemen. It is NOT governed by sharia law, which means in the words of T "you could walk down that street right there in a bikini drinking alcohol and eating pig, and they would not arrest you, but you would probably feel uncomfortable. Plus you might get kidnapped."


So about this kidnapping business. Lots of T's white friends have been kidnapped, but honestly, if you are going to be kidnapped anywhere, you'd want it to happen in Yemen. You're fed well, they provide you with alcohol, entertainment, your own space. You're a guest in their house....you just can't leave their supervision. Most of the people that are kidnapped are bigshot ambassadors, embassy people, etc... so I was in no threat of being snatched. Governments pay the ransoms and NOT the families. I'm a nobody. No one wants to kidnap a young white girl with no political affiliation, so I was relatively safe-ish. Sort of. We were still on guard all the time and grew eyes in the back of our heads.



There was lots and lots of buildering that we did around the capital city. Mostly by night. I mastered climbing in an abaya (the black fully-covering dress).


The old city of Sana'a is one of if not THE oldest still lived-in city in the world. Its dated to 7000-8000 BC and is a gorgeous arrangement of gingerbread-like houses.


Antiques are prevalent in the city, especially if you know where to look. I saw Phoenician beads being sold that go for $2000-3000/each at one shop.



The capital city is up at 2,500 meters, and the mountains around are quite impressive.



You have to have a 'looser' definition of climbing when you're out here. It's not all bolts or cracks and ropes and anchors. There's a lot more 'natural' climbing up buildings, jumping on rooftops, evaluating the sketchiness of landings, making sure you don't fall through 7 stories of 5000 year old rubble. Having some climbing skills definitely came in handy.




The rock formations around here are unreal. Any geologists around here? The rock is definitely volcanic with lots of quartz veins, and has the consistency of sandstone, but that's about all I can say about it.




I saw maybe 8 other white people the entire time I was in Yemen. People are really curious, and very friendly. Let me make this really clear: the Yemeni people have NOTHING against the American people. They just don't like our government or foreign policy that flies drones around their country and kills wedding convoys. Everywhere I went I was met with greater hospitality than anyone has ever shown me in America. In Yemen, sticking together as a community and as a family unit is paramount to anything. No matter how much you screw up, your family will always help you.





We had a lot of animal encounters, because of course T has all the connections with every zoo, keeper, wild animal in town.





Below is pictured the rock crag that is about 10 min. driving outside the city. To get here we drove through some military checkpoint and then hiked through a local town, where T was stopped by an angry off-duty military guy who started yelling at us. I meekly stood to the side (as always) and said nothing.

T grew up here, so he knows everyone and has all the key people on speed dial. He called up someone high up, who then yelled at the army guy yelling at us over the phone (he turned out to be his uncle. Like I said, family connections are everything around here). The army dude left us alone with a stern warning not to set anything on fire.


There were 6 easy routes at this location that are bolted with anchors at the top.


Hiking around the mountains here you have to be very careful. There are military bases on a lot of the peaks, and snipers patrol the ridgelines for anyone that's not supposed to be there. The concept of 'hiking around' is pretty foreign to the Yemeni.



We managed to sneak out about 3 hrs out of the city to a wadi canyon full of greenery, monkeys and running water. T spotted a chameleon and after seeing my pleading puppy-dog eyes, he went to capture it for me. (Don't worry, chameleons are not endangered in Yemen, and we let it go in the end)





Yemen is a beautiful country full of bizarre flora and fauna.




Yes I found wearing the veil cumbersome, but honestly, I would rather wear it while I was there because otherwise you get stared at. No-one would arrest me, but it's a respectful thing to do and helps you blend in.





We walked to some hot springs in the mountains.




aaaannnnd back to humorous antics when T steals a birds nest from a farmer's tree and the shepherd girl yells and chases him away.



Here are some more scrambling photos from other parts of Yemen.



Overall it was an amazing, beautiful place. The people smile, live their lives, love, have arranged marriages and their life goes on. The unfortunate situation with the Yemeni military and the US terrorism antics is sad and pretty disgusting, but I came to Yemen to visit T and to see the country and not to judge.

More than for anything on this trip, I'm thankful T and I met in the states and that his family opened their doors to me for the past several weeks. I wish everyone had a friend as caring and vigilant and humble as T.


REMEMBER: please no derogatory or instigating comments. You know what is appropriate. Don't make this a forum for your grievances please. I'm too tired for that sh#t right now.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that my parents have no idea I was in Yemen (they thought I was in Italy for 4 weeks, which was true for about 4 days at the very beginning when I was in Vicenza with T, so I wasn't technically lying), so if any of my friends on Supertopo (you know who you are) runs into my parents, please don't mention this Yemen trip to them until I figure out how to break the news. Ok, thanks!

EDIT: And almost forgot all of the wonderful one-liner, politically completely incorrect quotes I heard throughout the trip. Here are a couple gems (warning: they are not for everyone. People operate here without any political corrective bullsh#t. Maybe that's why friendship/family bonds are so strong here, because people tell you how it is without sugarcoating. Anyway, if you're going to be offended, I've warned you.)

"Yo, don't point or you'll get sniped"

"They said you were beautiful, I told them you were my wife"

"...and then my crazy f*#kin' friend walks in with two grenades and yells 'if you motherf*#kers don't get out of my f*#king house right now, we're all meeting Allah."

---'If we get kidnapped in Rema, we won't make our flights'
---'no f*#king sh#t sherlock. No-one is getting kidnapped on my watch.'

"Walk faster, we're not paying for these sh#t tennis courts and the Yemeni guards are chasing us."

---'In Yemen we give kids money,'
---'no, no, no, it's usually candy'
---'ya, anyway, and they they fight. It's a Yemeni fight club.'

---'Why are we going the back way?'--me
---'because there was gunfire at the front'

---'These aren't blanks, doesn't the bullet come down?' -me
---'Yeah, hopefully we don't kill anyone on the other side of the bush'

"That was either thousands of dollars of fireworks, or a f*#k ton of people just got killed"

"It all started when the oranges fell off, and then the Somalis started fighting"

Here's another chameleon T just caught in the yard two hours ago before we get on our flights out of Sana'a: