The twenty third was a particularly hot and humid day. It was our last day in the field. The water of the lake whose shore we study is polluted and brackish. This makes the air particularly heavy. By the end of the day I had a splitting headache and nausea. My friend Lucy and Athena did not look any better
Samir’s car had apart from us our Egyptian friends, Emad, Ahmed and Ehab. (Samir makes amazing tea on the gas cylinder in his boot. Those who get to go with him to the field are the chosen ones). A kilometre off to the West from our regular route we stopped in front of a small yellow painted mosque. We learned that they wanted to buy some figs. The megaphone announced the evening prayer just then. And we were left to a fifteen minutes wait.
The mosque was the face of a small fig grove. It stood out in its greenery from the occasional shrubbery and the near total absence of trees of the region. But the sight did not help us much because the heat in the parked car was too oppressive for us.
As our companions left either to pray or to pluck the figs, the gardener invited us to sit in the shade. He had spread a carpet there for us. (alright… it was a plastic carpet). The shade was cool and we discovered a breeze that we missed inside the car. Lucy immediately crashed on the carpet refusing to budge. And then the man returns with his hands full of the choicest figs…
As the queens of Arabia reclined, chatted and ate thus for a while the men returned. They had a tough time persuading us to come back.
Samir’s car had apart from us our Egyptian friends, Emad, Ahmed and Ehab. (Samir makes amazing tea on the gas cylinder in his boot. Those who get to go with him to the field are the chosen ones). A kilometre off to the West from our regular route we stopped in front of a small yellow painted mosque. We learned that they wanted to buy some figs. The megaphone announced the evening prayer just then. And we were left to a fifteen minutes wait.
The mosque was the face of a small fig grove. It stood out in its greenery from the occasional shrubbery and the near total absence of trees of the region. But the sight did not help us much because the heat in the parked car was too oppressive for us.
As our companions left either to pray or to pluck the figs, the gardener invited us to sit in the shade. He had spread a carpet there for us. (alright… it was a plastic carpet). The shade was cool and we discovered a breeze that we missed inside the car. Lucy immediately crashed on the carpet refusing to budge. And then the man returns with his hands full of the choicest figs…
As the queens of Arabia reclined, chatted and ate thus for a while the men returned. They had a tough time persuading us to come back.
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