Hays Travelogue

If this is the Pic of the Week, well, it wasn’t much of a week. This is the view from our bedroom with its nice French doors and shutters. We have a narrow balcony, too narrow to sit on, but the clotheslines are here. From this angle, the view is of the apartment building catty-corner [...]

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Mr. Abu Bakr, our guide in Siwa, is a tall man in his mid to late 40s. In addition to being a guide, he is a member of the Siwa Town Council and curator at The House of Siwa Museum. He is an avid reader and reads any books he can get. His list includes [...]

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See those rocks beneath the water? One of my favorite parts of our trip to Aswan was sailing with Captain Gelal through the Nile Cataracts. He lives in a village near Aswan and knows these waters like you know the streets in your neighborhood. He taught Mike a little bit about sailing a felucca, and [...]

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This man sells seeds, maybe small chickpeas, with a twist of lime. It’s a tasty afternoon snack. The paper cones are made of half sheets of paper that are rolled and stacked together. They don’t seem to be used for anything other than an advertisement that he is in the neighborhood. We haven’t seen him [...]

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Siwa Oasis, Egypt’s westernmost oasis, is so isolated that it retains its own language, culture, and traditions. The current town surrounds the ruins of the old fortress town of Shali. Our guide, Mr. Abu Bakr, is a member of the town council and runs the House of Siwa Museum. He taught us a [...]

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Goethe said: “I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.”
I wonder how much the morning light on these stairs helps [...]

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21 - Practice Room in Beit al Oud
Originally uploaded by tamra hays

One of the reasons we came to Cairo was because Mike wanted to study oud in an Arabic country. He first saw one of these ancient instruments about 15 years ago in John Truitt’s office at Albuquerque Academy. It was old and [...]

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Originally uploaded by tamra hays
This is the tea shop near Beit al Oud. We were at a concert given by Mike’s oud teacher.

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Fruit and vegetables are inexpensive and plentiful in Cairo. There are stands on almost every corner, and they are all as colorful as this one. There is very little crime here, and at night the stands are covered but not locked.

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