Hi-Yo from Cairo

Tomorrow morning I'll get up first thing in the morning to visit the Pyramids. It's now 9:45pm here, and the city of Cairo is as awake as ever, but this is my last task before returning to my hostel (Sara Inn) to shower up and hit the sack.

We arrived in Cairo around 8:30am, after we caught a 10pm bus out of Siwa to Alexandria, then made the quick decision in Alexandria to just continue on immediately to Cairo. Although I slept on both buses, even to the point of drooling on the Arab scarf that I was wearing around my neck, my weariness is now catching up to me.

Cairo is one of the largest cities in the world. Due to a population explosion in recent decades, the city's infrastructure has not kept up with the number of inhabitants. And so the streets here are jam-packed with cars and with people. In addition there are very, very few traffic lights; I've been told that there are only two in the whole city, and that may be the truth.

As long as we're on this topic, let me relate an interesting adventure I had earlier this evening. I had to catch a microbus from the wealthy neighborhood of Nasr City (near the airport, and where Roland is staying with friends for the night) to the downtown area, in order to return to the hostel where I am staying for the next two nights. While I was catching the microbus, Karim (Roland's friend) was yelling at me to push my way into the microbus; I ended up squeezing my body facing backward while the sliding side-door to the van (i.e., the microbus) was still open while we were moving. At the next stop someone got off and I was able to replace their spot. The ride lasted for nearly 45 minutes through typical Cairo traffic; it's like the Daytona 500, there are no lanes, and every vehicle is constantly jockeying for position and weaving in and out of the other cars. Looking out the window of the van, I observed how much the city reminds me of the boroughs in New York, as there were lots of well-lit commercial establishments all over the place, with tons of people walking around. When I finally reached the last stop I got out and had to find my way on my own back to the hostel, with only a small map on the hostel's business card to guide me. Of course this meant crossing several major roads and intersections, which as I said earlier none of which have stop lights. This part of my trip reminded of the game Frogger, because I literally had to time my jumps from lane to so-called lane to avoid being hit by a car (earlier today while walking with Roland a car tried to turn where I was walking, and it's right front tire literally rolled over my foot before I hit the car with my hand and the driver stopped). As is common among pedestrians here, there were times while crossing the road that I had to wait, between lanes as cars passed by me, until I could proceed across another lane on the road. It was an exhilirating experience, although one that requires total attention.

Earlier today I visited the Egyptian Museum. Although I really like museums, they invariably make me tired and sleepy. But since I was alone I simply took my time and took plenty of rests. The best part of the Egyptian Museum was the exhibit of the Royal Mummies, for which I had to pay an additional entrance fee. This exhibit featured the mummies of such pharoahs as Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis. It was really cool and really surreal.

After my visit to the museum, I had to get lunch. I walked into a local restaurant, ordered two "ful" (bean-filled pita) and sat down to eat. Two men at the next table started talking to me. They asked me where I was from; of course I told them the USA. They asked me my opinion of Bush and I indicated with a hand-motion so-so; they immediately put their thumbs down. They asked me if Barack Obama was Muslim; I told them that he isn't but his father was a Muslim from Kenya; they hadn't known that. They asked me if I was Christian and I said yes; so I asked them if they were Muslim and they said yes; I told them that I love everybody as long as they're nice to me, they gave me a thumbs up. As it turned out, one was a legal advisor and the other was a lawyer. I asked them what they were eating, they told me it was "kofta" and asked if I would like to have one, I said sure; at the end, despite my attempt to pay for it, they insisted that they treat me to the kofta. It was really nice of them, and it was the type of direct personal interaction between people of different countries and cultures that I so enjoy.

Well, that's about all for now. I will fill in more details and clean up my writing on these posts once I get home. So please bear with me for now. Just know that I am thinking about all of you, yes you! And so you can be sure that a part of you is with me here in northeastern Africa.

Finally I'll say that contrary to what you may think the weather here has been relatively cool. This morning when we came into Cairo on the bus I was wearing a t-shirt, a long-sleeve button-down shirt, and a sweater, and I still felt a bit cool. Throughout the rest of the day, although I rolled up the sleeves, I continued to wear the long-sleeve shirt.

Anyway, a part of me is beginning to miss home now. But I know that I have two more days here in Egypt, then three more days in Europe to let it all out before returning to the grind. Feel free to leave a comment or to send me an email, as I am checking every day and would very much love to get a little transatlantic love from my homies. Peace out, y'all! Keep feeling alive in the 2-1-5!