We have entered the last two weeks of our stay here in Cairo, which means all the things I have been putting off either need to happen or be forgotten. Over the past few months I have gone back and forth over whether I should buy a tent. Fact is, having a hand made Egyptian tent is completely sweet! However, I have been a bit concerned about how to get it home. I finally decided to stop being wishy washy and just get the darn thing and take it home on the plane. Rather trivial actually.

We purchased the tent in an area of Islamic Cairo aptly named the "tentmakers street"(Sharia Khayyamiya). They have been making tents here for hundreds of years and the shop itself sits in the oldest covered market (souk) in Egypt. After some bargaining and looking around we finally made a deal with the seller and agreed to pick up the tent in 2 to 3 days, giving them time to make it.

Kaza kaza kaza I went back today to buy it, took a few pictures and made this nice little video of them putting it up for me to look at before I paid them. The tent weighs roughly 27KG/60lbs and I had them put it into this nice sack I happened to have. Nonetheless, I still had to carry it from the shop, through the market to the street where I could catch a taxi back to our flat. Out of all the time I have been in Cairo, I never empathized more with Egyptians than I did carrying this heavy sack on my shoulder through the market. I had to dodge women, children, scooters, chairs, trash, sacks of cotton and an occasional sheep while balancing this darn thing. Of course I also had to maintain my composure and not look like I was struggling since keeping up appearances is important even in the souk.

Whenever I visit the market I see the men running back and forth carrying all sorts of things, and it looks like a lot of work. Now I can tell you first hand, it IS a lot of work. I only carried this bag about 1/2 KM and I already had a sore shoulder and a neck cramp. I cannot even imagine hauling stuff all day, everyday for my entire life. A bit of perspective now and then never hurts.

Now that I have the (awesome) tent back in my flat, it's ready to make the journey home. Trust me, when this baby goes up during a party its gonna be worth it!