March 03, 2011 - Thursday
I woke up very early. Bok wanted us to be at the bank at 7:00 AM, before the queue of people would start forming. Actually, I didn't feel like going to the bank today (mañana habit) but Kiko insisted that we should not postpone it because everything was uncertain so while the prospect of getting our money in the bank was at hand, we might as well grab the opportunity. The bank opened at 8:30 AM, with some commotion due to the crowd of people who wanted to get hold of their money. Kiko told me that we should withdraw all our money because we could never tell what's going to happen. Unfortunately, banks had limited cash already so they restricted the maximum amount of withdrawals. For those of us who came early, the maximum withdrawal was LYD 5000 (so I was able to withdraw all my money) but Bok who had more savings than me had to queue the line again to get the balance of his money. For his second transaction, the maximum withdrawal had been reduced to LYD 1000 which left about LYD 2000 more in his bank account. He decided to stay until Saturday to get his remaining cash in the bank before going back to Zletin.
After our bank transaction, we decided to go around the city center to look for money transfer stations (Western Union or Money Gram) but they were all closed (part of the US sanction on Libya). Most of the shops in Medina were still open although the customers were not as many as before. (Medina is like Divisoria in the Philippines). At Saha Qadra, Mo'men was burned (or bombed?) and was a tangible proof of the unrest. This was a fastfood restaurant and a favorite hang-out of Pinoys in Tripoli. It's directly facing the Green Square (Saha Qadra's English name) and was singled out to be destroyed (for what reason, I really don't know.) We saw more than 20 new portalets which made me remark: " Where in the world could you find a government who would be thinking of the hygiene of the demonstrators at the height of an uprising?" "Well, that's only in Libya!" Kiko quipped.
Bok noticed people staring at us and he said that perhaps, they were wondering what these two foreigners were doing, roaming around the city as if everything was normal when majority of the foreigners had already left the country. On our way back to the flat, we saw a burned police station. I made a mental commentary that Libyans are not destructive people. Lamp posts were intact, billboards were untouched and these could have been easily destroyed by protesters.
Reflecting on our trip to the city center, I thought about the big banner hanging at the bottom of Saha Qadra's grandstand, which caught my attention. It said :"When there are problems, brothers talk about these among themselves; they do not quarrel". (A call for peace or just propaganda?)
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