As we were sailing one day we were up on the top deck enjoying the pool and sun when we heard this loud "Halloo" coming from below on the water. I looked over the edge and saw two men in a small boat tied to the side of the moving ship. They had rowed vigorously to meet the relatively slow moving ship then attached themselves. They were not allowed to come aboard but could "do business" with the passengers. (I think I mentioned before that this ship could carry 140 passengers but at this time had only 21. The vendors had no way of knowing this. They just look at a large passing boat as a potential to have some income for the day.) So when I looked over the edge, one of the men shouted, "Hello pretty lady! I have something for you!" He held up a gallabia (however it might be spelled in English- basically a caftan) folded in a plastic package. I shouted politely, "No thank you." I had never had any intention of buying something. I was only curious as to who was trying to get whose attention. He said something like, "You will like this. It would be nice for you." Then he proceeded to make a ball of the package and heaved it up on the deck of the ship. I was a bit startled, picked it up, and looked at it- never taking it out of the package. I thought my response was sufficient when I said, "No. I could not wear this. It has too many decorations." It was bright red with lots of sequins and stuff- definitely not my style. So I asked how to get it back to him since I was afraid if I threw it back down it would end up in the water. Rather than help me figure out how to return the one he had thrown, he proceeded to select another one and threw that up to me! I said, "NO! Please don't throw up any more!" But, to be polite, I took it out of the package and looked at it. I actually kind of liked it so I unfolded to try it on, partly to see if it fit and partly because I really thought it would probably be too small which would provide me a good excuse not to buy it. However, it fit. I asked, "How much?", just out of curiosity when I found that it fit okay. Instead of answering me, he pulled out another package and yelled, "For your husband!", and proceeded to heave that up on the deck as well. In a panic, I yelled, "Please, don't throw anything more!" Then I said I didn't know how to get the rejected caftan back to him nor did I know how to pay him. He said, "Come down here", pointing to the entrance to the ship at water level. I went to our room and got the money we agreed on, after considerable haggling and my repeatedly telling him I had NO Egyptian money, only American dollars. I put the $30 for the 2 caftans in the package with the sequined red caftan and went all the way down to the main deck. The kind ship employee at the reception desk took the package from me as he saw me look toward the little boat dragging beside the ship and he tossed it to the guy in the boat. I then turned to go back to my room to put away the caftans and explain it all to Russ. I could hear the guy in the boat yelling, "Lady! Hey, lady! Come back!" I have no idea why he wanted me to come back. I like to think maybe he wanted to thank me but was afraid he might throw something more at me so I never found out what he wanted. I think maybe the ship employee told him to go away. You can't see Russ's caftan in this photo but you can see mine. Isn't it lovely?
By the way, just as an example of the difference in economies, I bought two lovely hand-embroidered caftans in Egypt for $30. Last night here in Jerusalem, we went out for dessert with James, Susanne, Bruce and Janet Brower. It was a lovely dessert at an outdoor cafe. The bill, including 3 glasses of water and 3 glasses of cider and a tip, was $100. But it was lovely and delicious!
No comments:
Post a Comment