Souk Walk

Tuesday is market day. Sherine is all smiles in her Tilley. I will keep working at getting an exceptional photo of her and her hat. Today I learned that everything she and her mom sell is feed for chickens. Good thing I didn't take the breadcrumbs home to coat my roast chicken!!

Take a walk with me through the souk:




Sherine took me on a bit of a walk beyond the souk to find the bread bakery. Along the way I spotted a Hajj painting with an impressive cruiser portrayed. Someday I hope to meet the "Picasso of Gurna", whose paintings I'm starting to recognize. The red text is a prayer.

A Road Less Travelled

I had been warned: don't take the side road to the Qurna souk because you'll have to dodge barking dogs (check), women throwing wash water out their front doors (check), children running alongside the bike asking for baksheesh* (check), slippery cane detritus strewn across the road (check), and donkeys and cattle leashed not quite on the side of the road (check). What I failed to steer clear of was a palm frond that got wrapped up in my rear wheel and disengaged my chain. Who would've thought?? So there I am, not quite in the middle of nowhere but feeling very isolated, trying to coax the chain back onto the gear. This was one of those times when I ask myself, "How did I get myself into this?" Thankfully, I had seen 3 hoopoes this morning so I had luck on my side.


Along the way, I was able to check out the date of a Hajj painting that I posted on February 23. In the blue text above the door it says that pilgrimages were performed in 2001, 2002 and 2004. In my second look I also spotted the artist's detail of the Egypt Air plane, with its Horus logo on the vertical stabilizer.


Along the route, shamsi (sun) bread was raising beside the canal. This delicious and hearty bread is craved by 'city folk' who are stuck with the gluey store-bought variety. The bread's flavor is enhanced not only by the sun but also by the fresh air with just a hint of straw and dirt. Women set aside one day to make enough loaves for the week. Unique are this woman's 'donuts', which I suspect were made as a special treat for her children.


Sherine is my souk friend. She helps her mother sell bread crumbs and other food coatings that I haven't yet figured out, as well as corn and other chicken feed. They sell it not by kilogram but by small basket, which is a standard measurement in the souk. Their baskets are always heaping so that customers know they are getting a good deal. From my first visit, Sherine adopted me and helps out in any way she can. In gratitude, I gave her one of my Tilley hats because she is always sitting under the hot sun. She thought it was quite beautiful.

5PM Update: Still Life with Guava

My trip to the souk resulted in A LOT of fruit, including 2kgs of guava. It's a good thing that I like guava juice, for which the fruit is whipped up in a blender and then de-seeded through a sieve. Lemon juice and a little sugar bring out the flavour and I add orange juice just to be extra healthy. ;-) I also came home with green melons. My attempt at cold melon soup spiced with cardamon and ginger rated a passing grade but some tweaking is required. What a Garden of Eden I live in!


*Baksheesh: I thought this was the quintessential Egyptian word; however, I have learned that it is actually Persian in origin. It means everything from a charitable gift to the poor, to a tip (whether or not services are rendered), to an outright bribe. It is well ingrained in Egyptian society. Children, who can barely walk (or talk for that matter), toddle over to me calling out, "Hello. Baksheesh?" Perhaps I should use a period rather than a question mark at the end of their request because it comes across more as a demand than a request. Read more on the TourEgypt website.

Through the Window

I have a delightful view from the desk. While reading email early this morning, Sinbad floated by with some 20 people on board.


Mirrored windows make for great cat dramas when a bird lands on the ledges. Cat can see the dove, but the bird can't see the cat. Obviously, Cat has fully recovered from gecko poisoning.


We biked along a side-road to the market today and I recorded two more striking Hajj paintings. The large portraits of husband and wife pilgrims are unusual.


The cloaked pilgrim protecting himself from the Arabian sun with an umbrella seems to me like it could come right out of a pharaonic tomb painting. I also love the images of the woman carrying a water urn on her head and beating a tambourine to celebrate the pilgrim's return. I really like the combination of yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and cadmium blue. To me, these are the colours of rural Egypt -- just like the combination of blue and white conjures up memories of Greek islands.

Electrical Chorus

The electric stabilizers (protecting our computers, microwave, toaster, and frig) were singing quite a chorus this morning. Lots of spikes and dips in the power supply -- more than usual.


The pole in front of the building looks 'modern' enough but I noticed red tape tying a couple of the lines together. A bit of 'maleshery' me thinks.


On route to the local chicken store, I passed the same field that I photographed yesterday. I was surprised to see it burnt. They must have set it ablaze just after I took the photo of the men and the cane. I don't know how they contained the inferno to the patch of harvested field, leaving the rest of the crop and the building untouched.


Adding to my collection of Hajj wall paintings, this one caught my eye for its juxtaposition of the Kaaba and the Sacred Mosque with the scene of palm trees and village.

In Celebration of Pilgrimages

With a slathering of Vichy 60-proof sun block and a spritz of Chanel No. 19 (must dress for an outing), I was out the door at 8:30 this morning to buy white cheese (mistakenly called "feta" here) at the government store for the workmen's lunch. I enjoy the 15-minute walk to the main road with its colourful houses.



Every Muslim aspires to fulfill their religious duty to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. In celebration of that journey, some decorate their homes with lively images on their return. These Hajj paintings are most prevalent in the villages of Upper Egypt and out in the oases in the Western Desert. The central focus of the pilgrimage and the art is the Ka'bah in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah.



In addition, the pilgrim often asks artists to document their journey, hence images of airplanes and boats.



It would seem that one pilgrim had a particularly rough ride on high seas judging by the artist's telling of the event.



And I am particularly fond of the painting of the dancing horse, which probably performed during the pre-pilgrimage send-off.



Completely unrelated to this post, but just to add some excitement, here is a Nile Monitor sunning itself on the bank of the canal this morning. Either that, or it is waiting for the fox to come out of its den. I keep a close eye out for these 'crocs' when walking. They're big (this one is about 5' long) and they're nasty. You can see that this one is looking at me with lunch on her mind.



And speaking of lunch, I should not have been surprised when the workmen didn't show up today. Bokra Insha'Allah. (An all-too-common expression meaning "Tomorrow, God willing".)