The Face of Syria

Damascus Syria 2010

Syria isn’t anything like these photos now and I’m sorry for all the horrors the Syrians are living through. I hope that one day soon, life in Damascus and the rest of Syria will return to these halcyon days or maybe better halcyon days.

The photo above is of a Tamarind juice vendor. He carries an ornate urn on his back and dispenses drinks to the crowd. Children would beg their parents for a drink. I’m sure they loved the taste of the juice, but maybe as well they enjoyed seeing the Tamarind Man pour out the juice by tipping the heavy urn in a ritual as old as the souk itself.

For more Tamarind Man photos click here: http://www.rosemarysheel.com/archives/tamarind-man

Corn on the Cob: a perfect walk-around Snack

A snack shop…no franchise needed. Corn on the cob and lentil soup were two snacks that required a portable stove.  I don’t know how he heated all that water. I’m guessing butane.

A Friendly Face in the Damascus Souk

 A man smiles down from his shop window in the souk arcade. He sensed me taking his photo. Funny how that is. He could feel my eyes on him even from the street below.  He is surrounded by dresses of Bedouin design. I’m sure he hoped I’d soon be in his shop fingering the merchandise, but I wasn’t.

Damascus: The Coffee House

O.K. This isn’t a portrait of a denizen of Damascus. I need to tell you that I love coffee and I have a mental picture in my head of old middle-eastern coffee houses…or Viennese coffee houses, and Turkish and Italian. You get the idea. The problem is that I have never been able to find a coffee house that fits my mental image. They must be old, they must be dark, they must have old chairs and tables with interesting men smoking and wearing black berets and wearing baggy pants with old suit coats….Oh, I am almost to the point of giving up but then I think, well this photo has some of that mystery and retro-ness. It’ll do until I find the real thing.