El Atteuf

"I don't like it when they play the Koran when you are on hold," says my journey-woman, as she waits on her phone. She is not my host but essentially is the one who has brought me here in the M'Zab Valley and is responsible for me. We did not have the most auspicious incoming yesterday, with a 2 h delay due to a maintenace issue, and also a delay every step of the way to the plane, as if we were in a stop motion animation film. But the sunset flight was beautiful, and the almost-full moon gave a beaming welcome in the clear desert sky.

Today we had a day truly as women, inside, in feminized spaces. It is very rude to decline invitations, so we make visits and have lunch at F's place, and later at another apartment where we have labna/milk and dates, coffee and cakes, and many conversations in Arabic, which pass above my head. I pass the time by breathing. The old cities are very close, but we are on the new parts, where the non-Mozabites (i.e. Arabs and Kabyls) live. There are about 2 or 3 military guys every block on the main roads here - not an exceptional sign of peace - hence I am effectively forbidden to roam around like a cat off-leash and check into a hotel or guesthouse to do my own thing. Père T and S, who called to make sure I was ok, would never forgive her. They have known each other for many decades and been through much, not least Tibhurine and other horrors of the 90s. I don't want to add to their worries unnecessarily. It was quite bad 3 years ago here, and there were some tensions last year - security levels are 'ok' now, says S.

We return home in the new part of El Atteuf, and no sooner than we cross the threshold do I pronounce my intended mission to take a walk for a half hour. They concede, somewhat grudgingly.

Children, somehow, are so similar the world around. It seems that when they age into adults they become something else. Boys were kicking around a ball in the street but they catch on fairly quick when I start taking photos. Big huge smiles and screeching reactions when they see themselves on the lcd screen after. I walk up another street, and pretty soon I'm surrounded by about 20 young girls who appear from thin air. All just lovely princesses, and we do a short photo session before I head back home. They all escort me back, of course, like my personal bodyguards.