A visit to Sana’a in 2005 – Amido (text) and Purushottama (photographs)
(click on photos to see them fullscreen)
Our two-year English-language teaching contract was complete, and we left Hong Kong and flew to Dubai. We decided to visit Yemen. Fortunately this proved to be an opportune time – periods of peace are infrequent, but we’d found one.
We used our tried-and-true Lonely Planet guide to help us catch a bus to the guesthouse we had selected from it. This was a timeless building with an interior staircase built for giants – it had enormously high steps that I remember struggling up with my backpack! Our room was a delight – it looked out on the unique architecture of this ancient land. Our host was a young man, perfectly welcoming, who made us the most delicious glass of mint tea I have ever tasted before or since.
We spent a couple of days exploring Sana’a, the capital city; it has a population of over three million. People have lived in this mountain valley for more than 2,500 years. The weather was beautiful, most likely thanks to the 7,500-foot elevation.
What charmed us were two things: the decorative elements on buildings, and the people.
Who could ask for anything more? Gingerbread houses everywhere!
The densely-packed old city area uses stone for the lower levels and rammed earth for the upper levels of its multi-storied buildings. The geometric patterns are from white gypsum (not icing sugar).
Left: The men mostly dress in sportscoats with a decorated dagger plunged into a belt over their bellies. Right: Of course, you cannot help but wonder if the daggers are simply an accessory, or a weapon.
Left: A highly-decorated scabbard. Right: And such color coordination.
In addition to the dagger, a rifle of some kind was often slung carelessly over a shoulder. I remember entering a building with a metal detector. The rifles were not allowed in so their owners piled them somewhat carelessly against a wall to be picked up on the way out.
Not so many women were visible on the streets, and all were covered from head to toe by a burka. It seems that burkas are required once a girl reaches puberty. Until the age of six or seven, girls can play in the streets, often dressed in the prettiest of dresses. In some Muslim countries, from age 7 until 12 most girls wear a white or black head covering. The rules for older women (over 60 years old) are more lax, and some stop wearing a burka and face covering. The little research I have done shows that parents are encouraged to prepare their daughters for the rules they have to live by, once puberty is reached, by introducing some of the restrictions earlier.
It must have been a chilly morning selling herbs and bread on the street for her to be so wrapped up in colorful drapes. The women have their faces covered, but not the young girl.
Some kind of semi-transparent fabric covered the eyes of a few women. For others, the face covering included an opening for the eyes. Eyes become quite mesmerizing when they are the only part of the face you can see; and so expressive.
We saw few women engaged in commerce.
The city gate was an endless seething mass of humanity, purposefully heading in a variety of directions. We spent a lot of time there, taking pictures and simply lapping it all up!
This beautiful gate is an entrance to the old city, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Much entrepreneurial activity occurs here.
On the other side of the gate.
Yemen, due to its politically unstable past, is on the edge economically – even more so now, after a further 20 years of intermittent civil war. Many people work as street hawkers.
A street leading to the market.
The souk (market) is a sensory overload of smells and colors. All subsequent markets have been measured against this one!
Several times we went to a popular café in a newer part of the city. It was always crowded with people buying desserts and juices. Pomegranate juice was our favorite. An amazingly juicy fruit to grow in such an arid environment!
Something we ate frequently, as did everyone else, was foule (fava bean stew) with layered bread, similar to a large, thin paratha. It can be eaten for breakfast or dinner and is both inexpensive and nourishing.
I can almost smell the cumin.
An orderly crowd.
Left: Wearing and selling sportscoats. Right: Having a haircut is a social affair.
The children, ever a delight, and the same wherever you go – curious and so alive.
And another timeless activity.
A funeral procession.
Not all doors are created equal.
We next decided to travel around Yemen, but needed official permission. It so happened that someone qualified to give such permission owned the guesthouse where we were staying. Our young host let him know our intentions. A couple of days later we were invited upstairs to the large room at the top of the house. It had windows on all sides, and additionally on all four sides, comfortable cushions with men and only men sitting on them. The uncle, who was the official we had come to see, invited us to sit down; everything was done in what seemed like slow motion. We may even have been offered tea! I was not sure if I should be there, but there I was, and a certain leniency is so often generously granted to the ignorant! The document was signed and given to us. Everything was so very courteous. There is something about these ancient civilizations, where change is slow to happen, that engender a kind of timelessness. We in the western world lose this timelessness with our eternal quest for change. But I have to say, I do prefer not to be required to wear a burka and to be excluded from so much that society offers.
Left: Saying goodbye to Sana’a. Right: Sana’a nestled in its mountain home.
And so off we went by bus, precious document secured. Part II will show the places we visited.
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