She permits us to photograph her at work. The room's centerpiece, a Kalashnikov, hangs on the wall. Everywhere else we go, black-clad veiled women slide past without noticing us. Some Yemeni houses have bridges to allow women to visit each other without being seen from the street. From now on, the journey continues downhill through the Wadi Surdud to Al Hudaydah, the second major shipping port on the Red Sea.
Women work the lush fields.
Their dress is colorful, and occasionally a face remains unveiled. The main interest of Al Hudaydah is the early morning fish market. We see mostly sharks, laid on flatbed trucks, and red snapper in woven baskets. It is reasonably clean and not smelly. From Al Hudaydah, still in the hot plains of the Tihamah, we travel southward inland from the Red Sea.