Feb. 10, 1978 - Yemen

Friday is a holy day so everything closes down.  The Indian man had arranged for a Mercedes taxi to Sana'a and invited us to share with him.  We had said we wanted to stop in Ibb on the way and rather than go alone himself he wanted to pay for the taxi to take us all there.  It was the difference of 300 reals and 60 reals and we were glad to take him up on it.

Here I am with our generous friend whose name I unfortunately didn't write down.

The mountain drive was spectacular, spotted with fortress castles out of the middle ages.  I don't know how they got to them.  This country was at civil war until 1963 with the lords of the castles fighting among themselves and they actually defended these castle kingdoms even then.

We drove through Ibb and stayed there ½ hour to see the market and drove on to Sana'a across the plains and high plateau

Sana'a is a postcard city – although this country is not yet commercial enough to provide postcards.  After checking in at a hotel – El Mokah – too expensive and dirty – we went for a stroll.  We were not bothered by anyone, although I felt more stared at than in Taiz.  They have, supposedly, 5000 foreigners here so they should be used to foreign women but apparently the north is more fanatic about religion.

The women of the city wear not the stark black of Taiz but a colorful gray, red and blue Indian print cloth covering them.  They drape it over them like you would a table cloth and cover their faces with sheer black and red fabric.  The girls wear brocade bonnets, dresses and pants.  The men look like Taiz men with long shift dresses or skirts and a suit jacket.  Each wears a belt with a dagger and sheath in it. And each has a wad of chat in his cheek.

I think if I were to describe the Yemenis in three words it would be 1) chat 2) stones and 3) car horns.

Chat – locally pronounced cat – is evident everywhere – more so than in Ethiopia because there only Muslims chew it and here everyone is Muslim.  A Yemeni can pay up to 1000 reals ($202)/week on chat – a very expensive habit.  They keep an ever increasing wad in their cheek until it stretches round and shiny and even the poorest looking craftsman or shopkeeper seems to afford it although maybe not on such a large scale.  The sheep eat the residues from the chat market and seem quite happy – that market is the busiest place around.

Sandy said the Yemenis are obsessed by stones and this country is certainly blessed with them.  When we flew into Taiz we saw piles of pink and white near the houses and I thought it was crops drying – maybe potatoes or onions.  Instead we found they were stones – everywhere piles of stones - ready just in case someone wants to build something.  Every home in Yemen seems either to be in the process of going up or falling down – always surrounded by piles of stones.

Sandy also said that the number of cars had tripled since he arrived 2 years before.  There are too many cars here, each one equipped with a horn and a willing Yemeni to honk it.  The noise level from the car horns is very annoying – the price of too rapid modernization.