and then i was in cairo
it didnt quite go down like this this go round
though it was long hot and confusing but perfectly sensible, just like egypt
however, at my sisters request im posting an email note i sent from my first arrival in cairo in the summer of 2009
whoa...
cairo got to the border crossing
too late to catch the cheapo bus. after considering sleeping the night
in the streets with the beduins, we haggled as much we could for a 7 hour
taxi into town. we thought we had it good, just the two of us in a mini
van. nope. about half an hour through curvy desert cliffs at high
speeds we were told to get into a different van, that wasn't built for
leg room and packed to the gills with men women children.
as the sun rose over the barren desert we approached
cairo.
we were dropped at the very edge of her limits, where western eyes
seldom see. dirt streets and hustle in every direction, 6am? barely a
word of english but a friendly fellow from our bus helps us find a cab
to the center of town, almost an hour further in to the chaos. the air
hanging thick and dirty on everything around no end in sight, all
dierctions. hit the ground running and found the obscure hostel where a
friend had checked into just days pryer. a coucher surfer opted to be
our guide as we road horse back to the pyramids of giza and checked out
the ancient seat of power in a town called memphis. later the sureality
set in deep, as we met army jesus and wondered the night streets, which
are no different at 4am than they are at any other time. people
shopping, whole families dining in the streets, crazy honking traffic in
every direction, it really never stops. we found out selves in a
strange scene hookah hooker? bar that didn't sit to well, but the
mustache man found us and invited us to a local drinkin establishment.
jackie chan in arabic and friendly (as they all are) egyptians treating
us to local pub snacks.
late rise and set out into the hot
egyptian sun, pointed towards the market of all markets, where anything
and evrything exists. going in means possibly never emerging. "welcome
to egypt! where are you from, obama number one!" i succesfully haggled a
cloth that wasn't exactly what i wanted but later traded for a broken
in version right out from under another merchants goods. a fine falafelf
feast to follow and a mosquey nap before we wandered into midevil
times. really not much has changed in some parts of
cairo,
we stepped into a time machine, where chicken blood runs in the dirt
street, carts are pulled by donkeys and things are done just as they
have been, save for sparse electricty and dirty but colorful t shirts.
emerging from the old town and back into the mayhem where the only
traffic law is, honk, frequently, and flash your headlights, which
aren't on...
