Welcome To Egypt - Cairo

Stepped pyramid of Djoser - the first pyramid I visited in Egypt!
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I've titled this journal the most common phrase that I've heard from Egyptians throughout this trip - and I feel very welcome, thank you very much.

I have spent the last two weeks at breakneck speed traveling through this country. I've ridden on the metro in Cairo, in a taxi, several types of minibuses, a modified pickup, the local bus, and train. I've ridden on a camel through the desert and on a donkey up the side of a mountain. I've sailed on a felucca up the Nile river as well as a dinner boat cruise in Cairo. I've danced with Nubian children and seen sufi and belly dancers perform. I took a ferry boat across and snorkeled in the reefs of the Red Sea.

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I am listing the items that are very fresh in my memories for the last two weeks. The means of transportation have the strongest memories only because these are the times when my life felt threatened. Driving in Egypt is not for those who like to look forward while you are in the passenger seat, it's far too harrowing an experience! As is always the case, whenever you step out of the airport or off the boat your first impressions of a country are always made while being transported to your hotel. The new landscape passes by and you are so excited to take it all in. I missed the section explaining driving in Egypt in my guide book because it was at the very end. It should be first and have a disclaimer - if you are a foreigner, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE!!! I lost count of how many times I thought we were going to hit a pedestrian or be hit by on-coming traffic. My rule is only look out the side window, never watch where you are going. The taxi driver that picked up me and my fellow tour-mate from the airport said it best. There are three rules to driving in Egypt. 1. You must have a good horn (it is how they communicate and trust me, horns are used all the time) 2. You must have good brakes 3. There are no road rules, really! If there are lane markings they are ignored. To be honest, I still don't understand how cars know when to stop at intersections as there are few traffic lights. I have yet to be in a taxi that has a seatbelt. They don't use their headlights at night, or at least not everyone does. It is just such a shocking experience that I felt that I had to include this!

Back to the welcoming attitudes. Our tour guide explained that it is very rare for Egyptians to travel (the non-rich, that is) so whenever school children see foreigners it is very exciting to them. They ask you to be in their photos and you are quickly surrounded by a group of gigiling school girls. I should explain that this is what we encountered at the major tourist sites, but not on the street. On the street it was more common to hear a cheery "hello" as we passed by a group of children, or a series of hellos..... There are a lot of children in Egypt. I guess they are having a baby boom of sorts if the information that one of the guides gave is correct. I think he said that 70% of egyptians are under 30? Some rather large percentage anyhow. I guess it is noticeable only because the family unit is much more noticeable than what I see in the states. It is very evident that Egyptians adore their children, and I have to admit that it's a very nice thing to see so many families out on the streets together.

One thing that I have to admit that I was not expecting to see was the poverty, or at least the extent. There are still carts being pulled through the streets of Cairo via Donkey (fewer here than in the other cities I visited). I think that I have sand and dirt permenantly ground into my body at this point. I don't even want to think about what I have walked over in the streets. By far the most culturally shocking time for me came at the end of our tour when we visited garbage city here in Cairo. This is the area where the garbage collectors live. They collect the trash bags from the homes in Cairo and then take it back to the area where they live where the women sit and sort through everything to be recycled on the ground floors of their homes. I saw stairs descending into piles of trash. I can't imagine what it is like to live like this. It's hard to explain what an overwhelming experience this was via photo alone. You really have to smell it and be surrounded by street after narrow, filthy, street to understand the extent of it. The most amazing thing is that I didn't see one person using gloves.

Although I need a lot more time than my short two weeks I can at least say that I have a better understanding of the Islamic faith. I had heard the call to prayer before on television but to experience it 5 times a day for 2 weeks really makes it much more real. I find the calls to be quite beautiful which is a good thing as they always wake me up in the morning around a quarter to 5 or so. Fortunately our guide here in Cairo took some time to explain the Islamic traditions (brief, condensed version) and I found it to be helpful to understand about things I had seen here. I realize that it is one person's perspective and I know that there are many different interpretations out there as to how to interpret the Koran but I found it very interesting, nonetheless.

Well, I am going to have to sign off now. I am trying to get used to writing things online, one thing is for sure, it's rather time consuming!!! I promise to get the photos posted soon and post more entries with the things I experienced in all of the cities I visited.

I should mention that this was my first day of freedom, my tour has ended and I am now officially my own tour guide!