Road 9-The Diamond in the Sand

I have had a great week! On Wednesday, I met some ladies at the Costa Coffee shop for a tour of Road 9. Road 9 is one of the main shopping areas in Maadi. It  consists of several blocks of shops containing groceries, plastics, green grocers, a mashrabea furniture maker, coffee shops, bakeries, clothing, stationery, souvenirs, and pharmacies. There is a man who sells only nuts...and suprisingly they have pumpkin seeds with lots of different seasonings flavoring them. Sam has found a nut seller on the road to Salaam Base (in the desert) who sells WoNDerful chili-lemon cashews! We have several kilos of them on hand. Makes a great lunch~back to Road 9. They say you can find almost anything you want/need on Road 9. I think it must be true...I found Olfa Cutting Mats and Rotary Blades in the Stationery store! They are cheaper here than at home, and to think, I stocked up on rotary blades in our shipment!

Road 9 has a rhythym all its own. It is colorful with women in traditional dresses and scarves, the juice seller with his aluminum cask of juice strapped to his back, and the basket man on the corner- the store fronts are brightly painted (though shrouded in layers of dust), and the wares themselves are colorful. The copper shop and the silver merchant display shiny wares, the plastics store has anything you could want made of plastic-containers, hangers, kitchen gadgets, wastebaskets, you get the idea...and they come in many colors. Bright, woven cotton rugs and scarves are displayed near the shopkeepers doors. The fruit and vegetables are displayed on the sidewalk to entice you into their shop.  Imagine people and cars, weaving in and out of each other like a ribbon folk dance, with the colorful backdrop of shops.  Add the sound of horns honking and people bargaining, and the mournful, musical call to prayer. Road 9 pulsates with energy!

My new friend, Karen has lived here 24 years. She introduced me and two other ladies (Sandra from Ecuador and Nadeem, from Mexico), to some of the shopkeepers. She would tell us, "this man has good prices", "this man is very honest", "this man can make anything you like from a photo or drawing",
and she told us who to stay away from too. Valuable information!  She even showed us which shop has the pirated DVDs and CDs, and which pile of goods they are stashed under...you can get ANYTHING here if you know who to ask! ha.

Following Road 9 we come to a metro station. It is not used by expats very much and it doesn't go to touristy places. It will however, take the Cairenees to work and it will get an expat within walking or short taxi distance of to something to see.  There is a designated car for women. I would not be welcome on a men's car!  There is a tunnel under the metro to go to the other side where there are more shops and few expats...the 'real' Egypt if you will.  The tunnel is long, a little claustrophobic though three to four people can easily walk abreast through it. It is tiled and round with a flat cement floor edged with gutters to carry away ...?  As we emerge from the expat world to the Egyptian world, the scene changes some. There are still colorful people and wares and shops, but there is more!  Donkeys pull wagons of tomatoes and potatoes. Skillful displays of fruits line the streets. Women in long, dark, robes sit on the edge of the street among burlap bags and boxes of produce, selling their goods. Another donkey cart pulls a wagon full of aluminum tanks containing "buddah gas". The driver's helper periodically bangs on the tanks to let people know he is passing by. Someone hollers from an apartment window and he stops to trade a full tank for an empty one.

I want to take photos, but I am afraid...of standing out...of offending someone...of losing my camera to someone unhappy with his photo being taken. I have removed all my photos from my memory stick now so that if that should happen, I won't lose too much. I am going to fill my pockets with "baksheesh" or small change to pay people for taking their photos...soon, when I am braver...I will post photos of these wonderful things I am seeing.  What I see that is wonderful dwells in the midst of poverty, filth and un(der)employment and what seems chaotic at best sometimes.   I am choosing to looking past these things, to see the interesting, exciting, and beautiful.  So when I do get brave and you see photos of the beautiful women walking past a heap of garbage, or colorful fruit covered with flies...don't think I have lost my mind or am wearing rose colored glasses...I am just finding the diamond in the sand.