Cairo

When I told my incredibly energeic and well traveled friend Kelly that we were going to Cairo she said, "Oh, you are just going to love it! It is so...so...third world." Her response actually made me more nervous than excited to go there, but in hindsight, she summed it up perfectly. Cairo is an incredibly filthy city -- so much so that your nose runs the whole time you are there, your eyes burn from the pollution and you constantly feel dirty. You can even feel the grit of the dirt and pollution in your teeth sometimes. However, the majority of our easy lives are spent in such a bubble of comfort and anti-bacterial cleanliness that sometimes I think it is good to get out there and realize the way the majority of the world actually lives.

I also think that we enjoyed Cairo so much because we were only there two days and we survived unscathed. After hearing stories from other people that have been there, it is a complete crap shoot as to whether you will survive or come home with memories of getting sick or scammed. Even though we enjoyed Cairo so much, it is only because we had neither of those things happen to us that we have such nice things to say about it.

We had two very intense, constantly on the go days there and by the end of the second day we were glad to be leaving just because touring there felt like such a struggle. Because we stood out among the locals (and white Westerners are known for having money), we were constantly haggled and harassed for tips and any other way they could get our money. There was one time when I walked into a bathroom behind a woman. As I came out, the woman I walked in with acted like she was the cleaner of the bathroom and asked for a tip. I think the basic rule of thumb there is whenever you see a white person, you might as well hit them up for money and maybe you'll get lucky. The tour books constantly warn you that if someone helps you with directions (even if you don't ask them) they will expect a bit of a tip. Of course the tips are only about .25-.75 cents, but after awhile it just gets old. One kind man who was a university professor actually came up to help us as we looked at a map and because we seemed so guarded had to immediately say, "No, I don't want a tip, I am just trying to be nice."

The pyramids were amazing, but I could never seem to get my mind around just how old they were. 2560BC is just a number to me and I couldn't really grasp just how old long ago that was.

Even though most of the women are covered with head scarves, they do actually show their own style with them by using wearing colored and patterned ones. However, I still don't understand how women can wear the all black outfits. We were there in early May and it was already quite warm and especially hot in the sun. To be covered from head to toe in black looked miserable.

Even though the women didn't have to have their eyes covered like I have seen in other Arab countries, I still don't think they have very many rights. At every coffee shop you would see tables and tables full of men sitting around drinking coffee, smoking a water pipe and playing cards looking like they had absolutely no where else to be. I have heard that women have their own fun at home together behind closed doors, but I still think it would be more fun to be out at a coffee shop rather than stuck at home with the laundry, dishes and children still surrounding you. The only time I felt stupid for being a woman was with our craziest taxi driver. He offered Kyle a cigarette and since I just assumed he would offer me one next I went ahead and said no thank you. Well you would have thought I was Jerry Seinfeld the way this man died laughing -- as if he would ever offer a woman a cigarette! I asked a nicer person later and they said that only 5% of women in Egypt smoke and they would never, ever smoke in public. Still, it didn't feel so good to have a man lauging at me like that.

Egyptians are the craziest drivers I have ever seen. Traffic lights were only introduced in the 1980s so they still aren't quite used to obeying them. Every so often there is a police officer directing traffic, but past that it is just a free for all. Basically, they rarely touch their brakes so they just try to keep weaving in and out of cars to keep up a constant speed. Amazingly though, for as crazy as the driving is, because they have all grown up with it, they all seem to know what is going on and we never saw an accident (although we did see many, many near accidents). Only because we survived the driving I can say that it was actually quite fun!

Click here to see how Egyptians play Frogger every time they cross the street. Kyle and I looked like scared, bug-eyed chickens every time we ran across the road, but at least we are still around to talk about it!

Click here to see pictures from Cairo.