Once More into the Breach

Well, I'm back from my second field visit and have some fun pictures to share. First, though, here are some pictures from an outing Katherina and I took in the Old City in Sana'a before I left. There is a great market in the Old City with a fun combination of touristy shops as well as practical shops selling anything from bolts of cloth to dustpans and brooms to belts to various skilled crafts such as mettle-works, carved doors and baskets. Katherina and I walked around the market and then went to a fancy hotel in the Old City called the Burj Al Salam Hotel. It's pretty expensive as far as Yemen goes, but it's actually really really cool. I didn't get to see any of the rooms, but the building is a beautiful old refurbished building. All the buildings in the Old City are these gorgeous old stone structures bordered by narrow cobbled streets. Anyway, the hotel has a mufraj on the top floor where you can sit comfortably and drink tea and juice while looking out over the city. It was quite enjoyable. Here's the mufraj (sitting room).




Here's the view of Sana'a from the mufraj.


So, now on to the field!
We decided to leave a little later in the morning than we had on previous trips because we wouldn't be visiting any villages the first day, just traveling to Ta'iz. This turned out to be an unfortunate decision to a certain extent, but it all worked out in the end.

After taking our time getting out of Sana'a we were stopped at the first of the checkpoints leaving the Sana'a area and they made us wait for a while. It turned out that the Social Fund had applied for my travel permission for both of my trips together on one permission. This was all correct and in order, but the checkpoint guards didn't like it and said we needed a new one for the second trip. We had to call the Social Fund who gave us the number of the person who does all the travel arrangements for them, then he had to call the tourist police and get them to contact the checkpoint guards and finally we were able to get on our way. While we waited we drove around some of the little side roads in the area, this is a picture taken on one of these little side drives.

Finally we got underway and started the long drive to Ta'iz. At this point we had probably already been in the car for a couple of hours what with getting around the traffic in Sana'a, getting to the checkpoint, and then waiting for about an hour to be let through. We still had a good 3 or 4 hours at least to drive, so we were settled in for a long trip.

The trip went smoothly other than the fact that we got a security tail twice. This happens often in Yemen and is the main reason why we should have left early in the morning. Had we gotten on the road earlier, it would have been less likely that there were police or army personnel hanging around with nothing better to do than to follow a car with an American in it. They do it for the safety of the foreigner nominally, but people say they actually want money. It was unfortunate for me because the way I was traveling (just me all dressed in black with a black headscarf and with my two Yemeni counterparts) it would have been safer for me to fly under the radar. Having a police car or army truck following you only draws attention to you. Anyway, we had a police car for a nice long stretch filled with like 5 or 6 police men insisting on following us. Then they finally laid off, but at another checkpoint there was an army truck that decided to follow us through the area around Ibb city. That was impressive... a big army truck with a mounted gun on the back and everything. Anyway, they only stuck with us for a short while and eventually we were back on our own.

The drive was absolutely beautiful. To travel to Ta'iz you drive through the governorate of Ibb which is known as the Green Governorate here. It's lush and epic with intense mountains and valleys like everywhere in Yemen, but somehow much more breathtaking due to the greenness of the landscape.




Finally we got to Ta'iz and after finding a hotel and getting some dinner Abdulla drove us up the mountain in Ta'iz to a great vantage point where you can see the city laid out under you.


The next day we got an early start and headed into the field. We made our way from Ta'iz into the governorate of Lahaj to a district called al-maqatira. We didn't have a local consultant with us in this area, our contact being one of the village members themselves who, when contacted once we got to the main city in that area, informed us that he was actually in Ta'iz that day, so we were on our own. It took us hours and hours to get to the first village. We had to stop and ask directions along the way repeatedly and initially were instructed to go a route that was actually not possible. This first route was through the wadi bottom and though it ended up being a dead end, it was quite beautiful.


Pictures from the wadi.





Finally we headed back up the road into the mountains and were directed to a little dirt road meandering its way along the mountain face. The roads in this area are just barely there and many are actively under construction. This one was in pretty bad shape and ended up being quite an adventure, though with a breathtaking view of the valley below us.

Finally we got to a point where the road ended and we were told by some kids that in order to get to the village we had to walk the rest of the way, so Sultan and I headed off along a narrow rocky trail skirting the mountain edge. It was beautiful, though exhausting. The altitude was quite high and I was in flip-flops, deciding to leave by tennis shoes in Sana'a on this trip to save space. We had to walk about a mile and a quarter to get to the village, give or take, and finally made it there and were able to gather some villagers together to get the interview underway. The interview went well, but it had taken us so long to get there that it was well into lunchtime by the time we got started so the villagers were itchy to stop and eat once food was brought. Because we hadn't finished the interview yet, were stuck over a mile from the car and our own supplies, were exhausted and famished, Sultan and I ended up not being able to refuse to share their meal, so we joined them for lunch and then finished the interview.

Unfortunately I didn't get many good pictures in the village because I had inadvertently hit a button on my camera that made the contrast really low and everything was coming out too bright but I couldn't figure out how to fix it. I finally figured it out on our walk back, but the pictures I have of the first set of terraces are not particularly good. I put this one in here because Sultan told me that the succulent plant in the bottom right corner is a plant called سلب (salab) in Arabic, and is used to make rope.

On the walk back to the car he pointed out some more local plants of interest. This is a Carob tree called كروب (Karoob) or كرنوب (Karnoob) in Arabic. They eat the dried pods right off the tree he said.

Here's a picture of me looking somewhat nonplussed. I was actually pretty happy at that point, the walk was really beautiful, but I pulled an odd face for the picture nevertheless.

Here's another neat plant. It's called مشموم (mashmoom) in Arabic and is used as a perfume in rural areas. Women pick bunches of it and place it on the backs of their necks under their scarves. It smells and looks to me like it's related to some type of geranium. We picked some to have in the car for the rest of the day.

I don't know what this one is called in Arabic, but I took a picture because I seemed like a kind of mint to me. It smelled a little like pennyroyal or mint and had pretty purple flowers.

After we got back to the car we drove a little way back along the windy bumpy dirt road, then stopped for our own lunch. Abdulla had waited at the car while we went to the village so he hadn't eaten yet, so we needed to stop for him at least. We had a little picnic on the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley. It consisted of canned tuna, yogurt, bread, and raw onion, mmmm.



We had originally planned to see a second village on that day, but by the time we finished at the first one it was already 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon and when we asked the villagers where the second village was they kindly pointed it out to us. It was visible from the vantage point of their village, but in order to access it we would have had to have drove all the way back down all through the wadi bottom, around the next set of mountain ridges, and back up into the mountains, and we would have had to walk the last stretch to get there too. So, given that we had to make it back to Ta'iz that night I made the call to drop the second village for that day.

It was actually pretty funny. The villagers at the first village were laughing telling us that when the Social Fund had come before to conduct the survey that had originally brought them to our attention, the surveyors hadn't even made it all the way to the village but had made the villagers come out to them. We were gratified to know that we had gone the extra mile... literally.

So, we headed straight back to Ta'iz and got there before dark. Abdulla took us to an old palace in Ta'iz. I believe it was an Imam's palace from some time in the 1800s. We walked around for a few minutes and took some pictures, then headed back to the hotel for an early evening.


This is a common site. These dry prickly branches are laid along the tops of low stone terrace walls and other places. They are used to keep goats and sheep and other grazing animals out of certain areas. I took a picture of this one because it's also adorned with the Yemeni national flower, the plastic bag, found EVERYWHERE. It was actually pretty funny because after we finished our picnic lunch that day I started gathering up all the leftovers and debris and putting them in the bags explaining that we should clean up after ourselves to make a good example. Sultan nodded sagely at this and helped me, then, when I picked up the bag he said "No, no, you can just leave it here." I explained that that was the point, that I didn't want to litter. He just looked at me blankly and explained to Abdulla that I wanted to take our garbage back with us in the car. Abdulla protested too, they both were looking at me like I was crazy. I finally had to pull rank, insisting that we take it with us. I guess the reduction in litter in this country will be a very long time coming.


On our way back to Ta'iz that day I asked Sultan and Abdulla what Ta'iz was famous for, if anything. They said they were famous for a certain type of cheese and they stopped at a roadside stand so that I could buy some. The cheese is a soft gelatinous goat cheese that tastes smoked. It's actually quite delicious, I had some with my dinner that night.


More on this trip to follow...