"Fishing"

Dear readers,

Every weekend, on our program, we take a field trip. A week or two ago, we had planned on going fishing in Lake Burullus, a fairly large lake in the Nile Delta that was maybe a three hours drive from Alexandria by bus. All the kids in the program went, along with a few of our Egyptian conversation partners, the program director, and the program director’s husband and children.

We had been looking forward to it for the whole week; fishing in the Nile Delta! With actual fishermen teaching us how! (I was pretty excited about eating the fish we were going to catch, though the vegetarians in the group were hoping for catch-and-release.) But this was not meant to be, although the experience was amazing in its own right.

None of us – including the native Egyptians on the trip – had ever been to this part of Egypt before, so we didn’t exactly know what to expect. What we found was a village with a level of poverty unbeknownst to us; kids were running around on dirt roads filled with trash, the houses were earthen and looked like something that I – a bearer of impossible wealth when measured on global standards – had only seen in movies. I was able to see the inside of one of these houses because I needed to use the bathroom before I left, and I realized when I was standing on its dirt floor, next to the only bed in the house, swatting away flies, that I am not in a first-world country.

Obviously I didn’t take pictures, because that would have been disrespectful. But I did take pictures of the boats! I was on two types of boats while I was there; the first type was like a canoe, and they crammed as many of us as they could fit onto each small boat to take us to the larger boats.

Then they docked us by the larger boats, and unloaded us onto them.

The larger boats -- "feluccas" -- were of a style that is unique only to this part of Egypt; very low to the surface of the water, with a distinctive sail and domed deck.

 

The ride was smooth, and the family that was running the operation was obviously extremely experienced with the felucca, and knew how to steer and control it with a high level of efficiency. Every member of the family was involved – even the kids, who ranged from age seven to age thirteen. (On a less professional note: seeing the program coordinator's kids and the fishermen's kids playing on the deck was very cute!!)

It was right around then that we realized that we weren't going to be fishing; apparently fishing in Lake Burullus is illegal without a permit, and none of the fishermen had permits, so we didn't want to be participating in that. So we ended up just sitting on the boat, hanging out. Which isn't a bad thing; we had a great time!

 

See how happy we are? :D

We also very much enjoyed the food we had for lunch, which the fisherman's family made for us:

Clockwise from top: Blackened fish, chips, fresh tomatoes, more fish, two types of rice, some of the best eggplant I've ever had (cooked in the style of moussaka), and pickled vegetables. VERY good.

After that we started to head back to shore. We were all pretty reluctant to go back (with the exception of the program coordinator, who had gotten motion-sick on the boat), and we were all grateful that the fishermen had given us that opportunity, and hospitality. We were especially grateful when we found out that someone had had his boat confiscated by the police after the last group visited (since the police feel the need to accompany any group of foreigners to visit this lake, for reasons unknown to me), so we were going to be the last group that the fishermen would allow to join them out on the water. I felt a little guilty about that, but there wasn’t much we could have done.

On reflection, one of the most interesting things about the trip was the fact that the native Egyptians on the trip were as shocked/amazed by everything we saw as we were – or possibly more so. Illogically, I had expected them to be familiar with it, but when you think about it, middle-class/wealthy Americans would be shocked if they visited, for example, the poorer and more dangerous parts of Baltimore, or Detroit. There’s no reason to think that things would be any different in Egypt.

So that’s about it! As per usual, I’ve been trying to post more often, but it hasn’t been working out so far... but inshallah I’ll be able to post more news later in the week.

- Beth C-C