Cairo diary: 9/17

Once, there was a time where I'd spend my weekends sleeping until the sun reached its highest point on the sky. And then I'd sleep some more. But alas, that was then! This morning we jumped into a taxi around eight in the morning, and headed south to the Souq El-Gomma - the Friday Market - located between old Islamic Cairo and the City of the Dead. At the crossroad of life and death in one way, but definitely alive in another. The Souq El-Gomma is hectic, to put it mildly.

If you've got a soft heart when it comes to animals, the souq might not be the place for you. There were puppies held up in the air, crates of turtles and cages with ducks and quails. They had fish, they had kittens. They had pigeons and they had snakes. And they had a lot of them. It's still an interesting walk though, just looking at the color and pulse of the crowd as you see everything from boxer shorts to computer parts. The only thing that might've killed the mood a bit, is the way we stood out in the streets, having young boys tail us around while trying to call us names in various languages. It was still great though. Great, and awfully hot.