It spelled lucrative trade for some and despair for others…40 days of discomfort at best and at worst, of agony. The caravan- the most romantic of all desert scenes, and the most terrible…
-Jenny Jobbins, The 40 Days’ Nightmare, Al-Ahram Weekly, November 13, 2003
Despair, discomfort, agony? The most terrible? A forty day nightmare? Never. As an Egyptian once said when my cousin scolded me for snoring, Al-Naayim huwa Sultan, The Sleeper is a Sultan. Just keep dreaming, KhairAllah might have said to me if I ever complained. Or, You can sleep on soft pillows when we get to Cairo.