June 17, 2003
Cairo

I was very excited to venture to the tourist-free northern cemetary with my new Egyptian friend Meeso who couldn't understand why I would possibly want to travel to a Cairo cemetary for pleasure. I imagined green grass, purple hollyhocks, ancient grave sites.. the perfect place for a picnic ? I was a bit surprised to find that cemetaries in Cairo were nothing like I imagined. They are rows and rows of little roofless houses on paved streets. I think the dead people are buried beneath the dirt floors. Living people often live in them. Unfortunately there was no place for a nice relaxing picnic as you can see from this picture.

Working on a painting of Abu Simbel.