So before heading to Cairo, we had heard some things from previous visitors. Mainly, that it was incredibly dirty, full of hassles, and that we would hate it.
2 out of 3 of those things were correct. We pulled into the train station at about 6:30 am and stepped out into the early morning light on a city street that was filled with trash. On the taxi ride to the hotel, our sight distance was limited by the hazy pollution and the streets were filled with illegal housing slums.
When we went to the pyramids, someone tried to steal our ticket. We were followed forever with the questions, “Camel ride? Horse ride? Camel? Buy a hat? Water?”
However, we actually loved Cairo.
“Why?” you ask. Well, there’s something about a city that provides a hard face up front. You can turn away pretty quickly, but if you don’t, you might notice the pulse of life that seems to be exploding behind every corner. Why is Cairo full of hassles and dirty? Because it’s massive! Every street was a labyrinth filled with people and donkeys and pastry shops and shoe shiners. But the best part of it was definitely the people. They had a “what can you do?” attitude toward the city’s problems and faced them with a smile and joke.
For example, one day, thanks to my exemplary map skills, we got really lost. Really, really lost in this crazy slum section of the city. If this had been a similar section of an American city, my very nice Nikon camera, Nic’s iphone, and our wallets would definitely have been confiscated. Instead though, people came to the rescue. A friend we met, Ahmad, who spoke no English, was able to figure out where we were headed. He lead us for over an hour (we were really lost!) to the spot we needed, and even bought us a yogurt drink because it was hot. He didn’t ask for money (which is a common thing in Egypt) but we insisted.
We didn’t do a huge amount of touring in Cairo- except the pyramids. Mostly, it was eating at Egyptian fast food restaurants and going on long walks. We traded the intense heat of Luxor with the intense crowds of Cairo.
I think it was a good trade.
Posted on Thursday, 5 August 2010
