In "Other Africa"

This last weekend I took a trip with a couple of friends to another part of my "other Africa" experience. We took a van, a ferry, a bus, a car, and walked a lot too. A lot. Makes up for all the delicious food we ate, I guess. It was a really neat weekend, although short hours of sleep and lots of untangling Arabic made for a very tired Abby by the end of it. Here are some picture with quick explanations:

Taking the ferry across. The pickup below is piled high with sacks of olives.

Henna in the henna market. There were tons of piles of henna just like this. It changes color when you get it wet, but dry it is this light green color.

Other spices for sale in the henna market: tumeric, ginger, 4 spice, pepper, and more!

Boat building. I found this process fascinating!

Local food-- it's egg and parsley deep-fried in a paper-thin wrapper.

Couscous, a local favorite (and absolutely delicious! They cook it by steam, with a rich broth below. Then serve by pouring the broth over the top and decorating with vegetables and meat)

Desert roses: one of the Father's cool creations.

A hole in the ground house. Amazingly warm in the cool weather, and they say that these houses are cool in hot weather too! Some of the homes I visited were several hundred years old. The oldest was 1020 years old.

Anyway, it was a great trip. Despite being exhausted afterward, the memories were worth it. Can't believe I'll be leaving this place already on Friday.