The most special travel experience we have ever had – Meeting “Labea” in Aleppo Syria.

A few times people have asked us “out of all the places you have been what is your favorite.” I think I speak for both of us when I say Aleppo, Syria. There are many things that make this city in the Middle East truly unique but for us the most impressive thing was the hospitality of the local people. While visiting Aleppo Lindsay and I had the most special travel experience we have ever had…we meet our friend “Labea.” After spending a few days in this amazing city we were getting ready to catch a very late night train to Damascus. We had lots of time to kill so we ended up wandering through the charming streets of old city Aleppo. We eventually came to a cute little square where we found a bench to kill some time. We were soon approached by curious kids and friendly locals who wanted to chat. We had learned through experience that this level of friendliness was totally normal in the middle east…their hospitality is legendary. Out of all the friendly faces we saw there was one in particular that stuck out. His name was “Labea” and he was a short and pudgy down syndrome man. He wore a flannel type shirt and some slacks that were pulled up way to high. Lindsay grew up working with special needs kids so she was immediately attracted to his sweet personality (and he of course was ENTHRALLED with Lindsay). We sat with Labea for hours just laughing and joking. There was of course a huge language barrier but we managed to make a few jokes/games with him to connect. One of those games was to say the word “Marc” really fast and to see who could say it faster. We would say “Marc”, then he would say “Marc” a little louder, etc. It seems silly but it was the only way we could really connect and we were all having a blast. Labea would also do really funny things that would just crack us up. First of all he smoked like chimney and he always flicked his cigarettes with attitude. We walked to one of the cute stores lining the streets and bought a few drinks to share and he would pop off the top to the can and just flick it on the ground. Eventually another gentleman who spoke perfect English came buy and joined the conversation. I believe he was a professor and we had a blast talking to him about politics, daily life and of course “Labea.” He informed us that Labea was very popular and loved in the neighborhood and that everybody took care of him. We must have sat with these two men for hours just passing time on that beautiful middle eastern night. The scene was perfect…here we were sitting in the middle of Aleppo Syria on a beautiful night talking with some of the sweetest and nicest people we have ever meet. There were kids in the street playing and the square was buzzing with locals talking, etc. Eventually the time for us to catch our train came and we had to leave our newly found friends. We of course never saw them again but we will never forget “Labea” and the other wonderful people we meet that beautiful night in the old city of Aleppo, Syria.