Ismaili Portraits Ismaili is the name of an Islamic sect, but I was told that was not the reason for this regions name. I find it a little hard to believe. Oddly, Harasi, the region we visited the day before, is also a cultural group with a distinct language, from Saudi Arabia. Coincidental? It makes me curious. |
Solitude Mountain solitude in Ismaili Yemen. |
Yet more pictures of ruins A closer view of the same ruined tower home, Bani Atiah, Ismaili, Yemen |
Ismaili Portraits He helped me carry my bag as we traversed across from Bani Atiah to Mayan. Mayan, Bani Ismaili, Yemen |
Ismaili Portraits Teenager with jambia, Mayan, Ismaili |
Mayan Town, Ismaili, Yemen Mayan town, Ismaili District, Yemen. No, it's no relation the Maya of the Americas. We traversed very steep terrain to get to the town, and then found it was too late to return. We slept on the floor that night. |
Above Mayan Above Mayan, more houses on the hillside |
Calf. A young calf, at Mayan town |
The town arrives Settling down for qat chewing at Mayan, Ismaili, and soon the entire village starts to arrive. How many people can this room hold - we shall find out! |
Sowaid, father and son We retreated to different room for enjoying the qat, and as it grew dark, Mohamed (always with the cigarette) and Ali Sowaid cut an interesting profile. |
Old Sana'a - jambia Van I couldn't fiure out why there were so many jambias for sale, if they weren't just for tourists. Real jambias are handed down for generations and cost upward of $2000. One sold for $100k recently. I think the ones on the street average twenty bucks. |
Old Sana'a - Making Oil In old Sana'a they use camels to mill oil (seseme oil I believe. This shop was right inside the old gate to the walled city, and at first this looked so "Disney-esque" I thought it must be something they do for tourists. But I was wrong, as the adjacent area had quaite a few of these camel-driven mills in the byways and alleys. |
Old Sana'a - Facade No 848 Who decides where windows go? The City of Sana'a Code Enforcement Unit? I don't think so. |
Old Sana'a - Wow In conclusion of my report entitled "Yemen, Magical Wonders of the Ancient Land", I have proved my thesis that Yemen is facinating to naive rubes of the West, like myself, and you don't have to leave Sana'a to be amazed by the built environs, the food, the people, the hospitality, the proliferation of the jambia trade, and such things. Be advised, beer costs $8 at the Sheraton, perhaps due to some tax paid to the local mosque for transgressions, and everyone is completely obsessed with qat, which is very mild, but makes you feel like a goat chewing on someone's hedges. Despite 30 the 30 hour travel penalty, I would return at the drop of a pin, a hat, or a hatpin. The end! |
Old Sana'a Marketplace - jambia Row That evening, we walked around the market. With sections like this, all jambia vendors, you might think it's a big tourist trap. Well, there aren't that many tourists in Yemen (definitely not many Americans - I saw none) and on this evening stroll I did not see any foreigners. |
Old Sana'a Marketplace - jambia polishing Oh, enough with the jambias already. My joke was, since they are all basically the same size, and are kinda, well, oddly placed, what if some tourist dude showed up wearing a jaqmbir that was comically huge. I think it would get a good laugh from the locals. |
Old Sana'a Marketplace - Spice Row Everything is divided into sections here, tinware, hardware, those damn jambias, textiles, and here we have spice row. The food is so amazingly spiced here, and since Yemen always played a role in the spice trade, it's no wonder they are experts at this. |
Special Man Shop I was not special enough to stop and go in, so I am not really sure what they offered. |
Sana'a Street Scene Typical all-purpose corner ship in Sana'a |
Restaurant Proprietor? At the restaurant, which have a big open cafeteria feel and serve GREAT food, an image in the wall caught my attention. Local celebrity, or the owner. Not sure. |
Pharmacy What is the supposed connection between snakes and healing? Looks like a glass of poison to me. |
Cupping with Mohamed (Sowaid) Duane took the lead. They had just given us our owm jambia knives to take home, so we wore them just to look ridiculous. Since the whole thing seemed like a demo for an amazing blender, or ginzu knives, I added some smart-ass commentary to the bulletin board. |
Cupping with Mohamed (Sowaid) These were all roasted with a popcorn popper. I am not sure anyone in Yemen has ever even seen a real multi-barrel sample roaster. |
Cupping with Mohamed (Sowaid) Back in Sana'a, we arranged with the Sowaids to have a cupping. If you can believe it, nobody in Yemen cups coffee. They look at green coffee, they look at dry cherry, they are experts at looking at coffee. But there is no cupping. Sowaid wants to change that. |
 Cupping with Mohamed (Sowaid) George M. George and myself at the impromptu "cupping table" |
 George M. George George M. George is Mr. Sowaid's main assistant, and is from south India. And he loves country music! (George; Those Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Waylon Jennings CDs are on there way to you!) |
Sweet Maria's Travelogue - November 2007 Yemen Coffee "Haj" David Roche (CQI) and Steve McCarthy Article |
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