Picking up from yesterday –
So, then the guide is telling me he wanted me to see this guy’s papyrus shop. And I was like “wasn’t there some famous papyrus place you were gonna take me, where they show you how to make papyrus paper?”
And he’s like “Oh, this local place is better. And it’s cheaper. And it’s right here.”
But then he’s describing it as a store. And I was like “am I gonna be able to see how it’s made or what?” And he was like “no, but the quality is so great. And the process isn’t that special.”
And it’s like “are you KIDDING me?! I don’t like to shop! I like to have experiences. You’re trying to get me to buy stuff from your friend instead of taking me to the main papyrus place – where I only want to go so I can see it be done, and you don’t even want to recreate that part?”
And he’s like “you might like it; just go in.”
And at this point in Egypt, I KNOW not to “just go in” anywhere.
So, finally he talks to the guy, and they agree he’ll show me how to make papyrus if I go there instead of the main papyrus place. So, I do.
They give me a little demonstration. then they show me the papyrus art.
And it is nice. But I don’t have anywhere to put it in my home, so I offer money just as a thanks for the fact that he showed me how it’s made and he’s like “oh, I can’t just accept this money, you have to buy something.”
And then he’s trying to ‘make deals’ or whatever with his artwork.
And finally, as I’m learning to just insanely put your foot down in Egypt, I’m like, “I would love to give you money for you time. I am not buying art today. You can accept this money as a thank you for your time, or I am going to leave not giving you any money at all.”
And he took my money, and then the guide took me back home.
But I did skip a thing in the morning about taking me to a carpet-making place, so I’ll go ahead and do that tomorrow.