Bridezilla wanted peacock feathers for her wedding centerpieces...and decoration in general. I don't know were she got the idea. She started obsessing as to were would be the place that sold them in batches and there was only one.
Darb el Barabra (My sisters call it Barbados for code)
Darb el Barabra is a local souk in Cairo. It sells everything..dried flowers, plastics, silver wear, leather, fake flowers, bee lights, fabric, cats, stationary... they sell everything... in bulk.
When I suggested that she go there... I didn't know she'd me taking me and my two other sisters with. But one day I found myself being dragged out of bed, getting dressed...and on the way to Barbados.
For three whole hours we searched the alleys of Barbados. Asking around for anyone who sells peacock feathers. It was obviously something that no one asked for very often. The store keepers kept eyeing us suspiciously and telling us that they stopped selling it because of bird flu.... ummmmm yeah.....
The other thing that bothered the shop keepers was that we were not the usual customer type. We look different and dress different from most Egyptians and most of them insisted that we were foreigners. YOU ARE BEEUUTCHIFUL..... one guy called after my sister.
After my sandals were caked with soil, and my blisters were about to pop... someone finally lead us to a store that sells them. We bought 101 peacock feathers at a bargain price. Don't ask me why we chose 101... someone said 100 would be unlucky. The store keeper was a cute fellow with a beard that everyone called "The Sunni". He made small talk with my mom about the swine flu as we chose the largest brightest feathers...
When we got home bridezilla was happy. Thank God! My cat was happy too...she kept sniffing and chewing on the feathers until we had to put them away.
