Sailing With Your Lawn

Despite the fact that everyone thinks of Egypt as a barren desert (which in fairness, much of it is), anywhere you have water, almost anything grows. Still, I was surprised to see grass growing on the rudder of a felucca sailing near us on the Nile the other day. At least the captain isn't bringing a goat along to mow it.

Summer Evening

Egypt is hot but the temperatures drop quickly when the sun sets, and even more quickly if you are lucky enough to be on a felucca, one of the old wooden sailing boats, on the Nile.

Hiding Place

I was up until 2 am last night reading Twitter for the news of the protests and the late break in at the Israeli embassy. The embassy is just across the road from Orman Gardens and the Giza Zoo, so fires, bullets and tear gas are quite concerning in the area. There were only a couple of people in the embassy when the protesters broke in and they were promptly turned over to the military. Contrary to Israeli statements there were no Egyptian commandos involved...Jeez. A lot of people were injured especially by over exposure to tear gas, not the least of them were soldiers who kept getting tear gas blown back at them when the security forces fires canisters. So this morning, I'd really like to be sitting in this little boat sipping some ice tea and maybe trying to catch a few of the perch that hang out in the canal. Someplace quiet and far, far away of the confusion that is Cairo right now.

On The Phone in The Ferry

We were driving down the Mariouteya on the way to a man who sells those wonderful rag rugs. I like them for covering chairs and cushions. On our way I noticed a small iron ferry boat and made a mental note to try to get a photograph of it. On our way back I spotted it again and we stopped. Sometimes there is quite a way between bridges out here and these homemade ferry boats are important. The woman in the boat was chatting on her mobile phone.

Winter Feluccas

Although it's mid to late November, it's still warm enough to enjoy sunset on the Nile. So people rent these wooden sailing boats for an hour or two.

The Only Place To Be

The temperatures for the past two days have been ridiculous! We've been sweating through days of mid-40's C or around 110 F. Too bloody hot. On days like this the feluccas do good business, carrying dehydrated weary Cairenes out onto the water for an hour of peace. Photo by Kelly Anderson

Hiding Place

Suppose you wanted to hide a very long wooden boat on a stone plateau. Where would you hide it? If you were an ancient Egyptian, you'd dig a large hole in the rock and put it inside, naturally. The Solar Boat museum near the Great Pyramid holds a reconstructed cedar boat that was found in a pit like this on the other side of the pyramid. They were willing to work for a good hiding place.

Canal Boat

A farmer and his son attend to fishing nets in a quiet canal. There are plenty of Nile perch in the canals. I'm not sure I'd want to eat them with the levels of runoff...but I haven't seen anyone die from them.

A Row Boat

Resting in the middle of the canal, it must be moored to something but what isn't apparent, nor is it clear how the owner might get out to it. It's made of rough wood and the "paddles" are usually just two pieces of timber. It might be used for fishing, crossing the canal, or for cleaning blockages of plants from the canals.