ballooning and bombing

I am back in Cairo, done with my first tour, enjoying a quiet afternoon at our friends' apartment in Ma'adi. There is, of course, a lot to tell you about after almost two weeks in Egypt. The Big Event for everyone was the bombing at the Khan al Khalili last Sunday. I found out about it from one of the group's Blackberries two hours after it happened as we were cruising down the Nile, far from Cairo. There was a ripple of fear among the American travelers, but really they were more worried about what people at home would feel. My Egyptian colleagues -- Hassan, Walid, Jihan -- were depressed, sad, frustrated. They felt deeply for the young woman who was killed and they also knew it would impact their lives. Since Monday, there was noticeably more security everywhere we went. Do I feel worried? I guess not. Life goes on here without much change.



Last Sunday morning, I had my first hot air balloon ride! Four people in my group opted to get up at 5 AM and pay some extra money, so I got to go along. I had a great time. What a dramatic and wonderful earthscape to float over! We looked out over the farm fields and beyond to the ancient hills, temples and tombs of the desert, watched the sun rise over the Nile then, pushed by the winds, went the wrong way, headed east over the river into the city of Luxor, skimmed the luxury hotels and bumped down in a field of scruffy clover behind some apartment buildings. Some of the balloons weren't so lucky, landing in marshes on the West Bank. A very excited group of kids -- Youssef, Ahmed, Mohamed, Amira -- dressed up in their school clothes, ran out to greet us.

Yes, yes, it was a strange, touristy thing to do in Egypt and it made for a very long work day, but oh it was a memorable way to greet the dawn.

Love, Andy/Lev

Where is the love, y'all?

Mostly I think I am not a worrier. I happened to talk to Lev on the phone yesterday and he said there had been a bombing in Cairo earlier. He is currently on the Nile cruise part of his tour. We talked briefly about the bombing, but there were not many details available to him - he was getting his news from one of his group's blackberry, nor to me sitting on Magnolia when there was no news on the radio and no internet access. We agreed to talk again today. In other news, he said he'd gotten to take an unexpected hot air balloon ride that morning, rising up over the desert at sunrise and crossing over the Nile for a bird's eye view of the ancient pyramids. He has pictures and details that he'll post here soon. Stay tuned.

Shortly after hanging up the phone Zpora called, having seen the news of the attack. She asked if I was worried, and my immediate “no” possibly reassured her enough (I think) to let herself go to sleep. I told her to let Billy (the cat) do the worrying, and she liked the idea that he might be doing actual constructive work lying on the bed, cleaning each paw in turn.

I found myself reading my book (Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts)late into the night. I wasn't ready to sleep yet, partly because the story was so compelling, and partly because I was ...well, worrying. This morning I turned on Democracy Now and Amy reported on the bombing about 10 minutes into the news. She gave a tight little summary of the event - someone threw a grenade into a crowd at a public square near the Khan al-Khalili bazaar and the al Hussein mosque. I remember walking through that square a number of times alone, with Lev and with my friend Beth when I was there last spring. The Bazaar is a labyrinth of tiny walkways lined with shops and workshops making the things they're selling. Walking through it requires a strong constitution. Beth had a hand drawn map to her favorite places. One time I was there at sunset and the square was lined with men praying. Overflow from the mosque often extends into the square. It does seem like a place that is particularly vulnerable to attack, and maybe not a safe place to be – too chaotic, too many people… – oh wait, WHERE is a safe place to experience Egyptian life/culture – maybe from a balloon high overhead??! That is the insidious part of worrying, the part that makes me think there is a way to avoid danger in the midst of being fully alive.

The events that were unfolding in Shantaram certainly offer lots of images for Billy to worry over. For that matter, I had to switch from Amy Goodman to rappers Black Eyed Peas this morning because her stories were way too fertile worry ground, and with no heartfull rhythm and melody to keep me “gravitatin' to the love."

Where’s the love y/all?
What’s the truth y’all?
Let your soul gravitate
To the Love, y'all
Sing with me y’all,
One world, one world.
That’s all we got
One world one world…”

You can check out Black Eyed Peas here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L33qNgXy-FQ

Here is the love y'all, coming your way.
Ruby

Changes afoot

Greetings from Cairo! I am leaving today with the group to fly to Luxor and begin the now familiar pattern of touring the tombs of the Valley of the Kings then getting on a cruise boat for four nights on the Nile. Not that I am bored with it or anything though I do spend far too much time in tour buses and fancy hotels on these trips. I look forward to my time on the boat, a floating fancy hotel, for those parts of it where I just get to be on the water, out in the relatively fresh air, watching herons and farmers and fishers along the banks of the river.

Yesterday, a storm blew through Cairo, kicking up the water on the Nile into little waves and filling the air with very fine sand. It was dramatic and refreshing in a city that lives so much under the sun. The Egyptians considered it quite chilly and were walking around the streets with heavy coats all day. The sand made for some dramatic lighting effects, especially early in the morning from my 21st floor room.

It's fun to hang out with my Egyptian colleagues here who are becoming friends over the course of repeated visits. And here's something different: I have never heard the Egyptians talk so much about politics, specifically the hopes they have for the Obama administration and changes in foreign policy. We had a guest lecturer yesterday, an eminent Egyptologist, who finished his talk with a long monologue about how bad Bush was and how glad he is that he's gone. I guess the Barack phenomenon is world wide. Yesterday, the most famous Egyptian opponent to Mubarak, Ayman Nour, was suddenly released from jail. They just let him go and drove him home. Changes are afoot even in these dictatorships that seem to be our allies.

So, I'll send a report from Upper Egypt. I hope you're well and enjoying the end of winter whether you're in the cold or not so cold.

Love, Andy/Lev

Glowing mundane life

We saw a bald eagle on our way home the other day. There is something so majestic in these birds that I believe that their presence betters us somehow. Perhaps we become stronger, more beautiful, closer to our true nature because of them.

Spending two days soaking in Earth's warm waters, surrounded by the quiet expanse of the Sierra Valley was a superb way for me to enter ten days of silence. The silence around me summoned forth the silence inside and I felt graced by the [rare!] quiet calm of my mind.



Now, back to Magnolia I am happy and delighted by the simple beauty that surrounds our lives here.
We have been here long enough that the grass is growing up around Maggie's wheels. When we got ready to leave our berth last summer in Cabot, Vermont our wheels were mired in mud. Hopefully this lush grass will not hold us back!
Sunset sets the faithful sheltering walnut tree on fire.
The sun does not set like this every evening, and when it does the light glows around our humble abode.
Andy's been working on a poetry project. I think you can tell how happy it makes him in this picture.