I began my day early, at 7:30 am I walked down to Rd 9 (major shopping drag) and grabbed a cappuccino before boarding the metro to El Malik El Saleh. Today I was meeting the In Focus photography group on El Maynal, an island in the Nile that I had never been to. I got there quickly (and a bit early) and met a gal from Quatar named Jude while we waited for the other participants to arrive (including my friend Mai who had invited me along).
The destination of the tour group was Dahab Island, a little 5 kilometer long island in the Nile that is a working farm community with no motor vehicles on it. To get there we had to take a ferry boat; which the group leader graciously paid for.
Once on the island, we were almost immediately taken hostage by small children clamoring to have their photo taken. What I did not know was that this group had been to the island before and promised to bring back copies of the photos they had taken of the children. While the mothers and children excitedly looked through the photos I saw a grumpy little girl in a doorway who was just precious and snapped my favorite photo of the day.
After leaving the first little village area, we crossed a dirt path between two fields to the main village where the church and the mosque were. Here again were many children wanting their photo taken, but more interesting to me were the beautifully painted walls and shutters of the buildings. From above (there is an overpass span that bi-sects the island) the village looks like an assortment of abandoned, jumbled buildings; but at street level we wandered through colorful canyons of pink, blue, orange and green. On many walls images of airplanes and boats were painted to commemorate pilgrimages.
We emerged from the second village into another open field where we now tread an even narrower path South, through fields and past homes. To our left and right was the Nile and just beyond the far banks rose towering apartment blocks that stood in stark contrast to the verdant green fields we strode through on the island.
Throughout the morning the people we encountered were very friendly and, though they eyed me with suspicion at first (what IS this White Lady doing with all these Egyptians?) my hellos and good mornings in Arabic typically put them at ease a bit. One grandmother stopped me to take a picture of her grandson; I ended up taking a picture of them both and showed it to her. "Good, Good" she laughed (in Arabic) and we said our goodbyes.
After leaving the Island around noon, I headed back to Maadi to meet my friend for lunch. Ran into some other friends and had a quick bite and then boarded a bus to Wassi Wassef for staff choir practice.
Wassi Wassef is an art center South of Giza that has been around about 40 years. They train local people (starting at a young age) in weaving, batik, and pottery and then sell the pieces for them. The weaving was really intricate and beautiful - and unfortunately out of my price range. I did however procure a few postcards of a really fun camel tapestry, and a small ceramic vase that I hope to fill with flowers tomorrow.
Of course, we were there to SING, and, despite having a terrible sore throat for the past 3 weeks, I sang along. My voice is now gone again. But how can I care after such an amazing day of adventure?
