Author Archives: Julie Paterson
A long visit to Limboland
Limboland. It’s not a place I have spent much time in before. Who would have thought, that whilst on a 4 week holiday in my country of birth, New Zealand, visiting friends and family, that I would have gotten stranded here in Limboland, with my life as I knew it turned upside down? Mid March […]
Cuba – a journey and a lesson
Cuba: Pina Coladas, cigars, tropical beaches, salsa and old cars! That’s the main image most people have of this hot, time-warped Caribbean island. But, as with any travels, we discovered much more than that: a land with a rocky history, which still very much affects the present, and locals bracing themselves for the future. Above […]
Revisiting Ethiopia 10 years on…
It had been a few years since I had been to Ethiopia, so I was curious to see the changes. Sometimes things change for the good, sometimes for the worse. But I think what I had forgotten is that it’s how Ethiopia changes you. Unlike most other countries which you visit, learn about the culture […]
Bedouin women making history
Um Yasser, a middle-aged Bedouin woman of the Hamada tribe in South Sinai, was born in a rock house, but spent much of her childhood living in a cave dwelling in the desert, where she and her mother tended their herd of goats. The Bedouins are an old, conservative ethnic group, with laws that govern […]
Ramadan in the Sinai
I have just spent my first full month of Ramadan in the Sinai, Egypt. In the past I had experienced snippets of Ramadan before in other Arab countries, but never been here for the full length, so was kind of excited to see how things progress. Here is a little bit of background and a […]
Getting married the BEDOUIN way – the women’s party
I walked carefully in the dark between the houses, through rough alleyways on stony ground, the sound of the Egyptian pop music getting louder. Finally I saw the tent walls and the hanging lights. Little boys hung around outside, as they always do, eager to get a glimpse of the girls as they anonymously entered […]
HOW TO TAKE TIME OUT FROM LIFE
Ever worked like a madman? For years I had a ridiculously manic work life, working 6 days a week in tourism and up to 12 hour days. At the end of my “paid work day” in an office, there was all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, socializing, emails, and hobbies (if there was any time for […]
Oman -why I fell in love with it
Oman… I wasn’t quite sure what to expect before arriving, not having done much research. Saw a few pictures, heard it was nice, that’s about it. And then I arrived and it all fell into place…
Valuable lessons about giving charity
Recently I posted a picture on Facebook of an old Egyptian man sitting in his chair on a chilly winters day outside a pharmacy in the little Red Sea town of Dahab. Spread in front of him was a blanket, where he was trying to sell odd things – shoes, some clothes – to eke […]
Adventures of Venus 