Cairo

Travel Journal 9/4/2007:

I've split my time in Cairo between being a local, being a tourist and being lazy. I'm not proud to say the latter two have been more common than the former.

The first night in the city, Hala and I joined our couchsurfer host, Mostafa, and his friends at a screening of films by the local film shool students and then to a cafe downtown for tea, food and sheesha. Mostafa speaks perfect English as he studied in America and has spent time in the UK. His friends don't really speak English at all but we communicate well with gestures and though out host. That night we stayed up until 530am playing cards. The next day we woke up so late that we ended up not doing anything more productive than checking our email.

The Egyptian Museum was disappointing. There was nothing I hadn't seen a half dozen times already in the great museums of Europe. Instead of going to the pyramids that night, we ended up hanging around Mostafa's apartment trying to beat the heat, a common practice for everyone. The days are so hot and we stay up so late usually that we rarely get up and out of the house much before sunset.

Hala and I did make our way to the pyramids for sunset a couple nights ago. Unfortunately we were rushed since we were misinformed of the closing time. We didn't get a chance to walk around them for a view of the structures lit up by the golden lights of the setting sun and we ad to settle for a backlit view.

On our way out we feigned ignorance and headed down the wrong path in hopes of double backing for a few more minutes with the great stone giants. We were confronted by a guard. Instead of sending us away he assured us we were okay and offered us to climb a little on one of the giant pyramid and even took our picture and posed for one with Hala. Of course a small baksheesh was necessary as payment for his extra service.

I was less disappointed after this friendly encounter because we got to touch the limestone mammoths, had a few unrushed minutes alone with them and got a few decent pictures because of it.

Late that night, Mostafa escorted us to the old Islamic city with sections of the original city walls, 9th and 10th century mosques and a friendly bazaar open long after 11pm.

Our trio strolled the narrow lanes of the bazaar shopping for nothing in particular and chatting and joking with the amiable shopkeepers. As we hadn't eaten much that day we stopped at a cafe and our host ordered us a couple warm and creamy desserts, like a milkier Egyptian version of creme brulee.

With our appetite's curbed temporarily Mostafa led us on a late night tour among the towering minarets of te old main road of Islamic Cairo. e was an incredibly knowledgable tour guide and we walked for hours in the early mornin stoppin to gaze at another gorgeous mosque facade or to ask or answer a question.

The black and white marble of many of the mosques reminded me of the Duomo in Siena which was designed to incorporate influences of many cultures including the Arab world in order to exhibit their multinational importance.

As we passed on of these mosques a tourist police came up, chatted with Mostafa for a few seconds until our host turned guide looked to us and asked if we would like to go inside the large mosque complex in front of us. The smiling policeman gave Mostafa history and architectural information that was passed on to us and we were encouraged to explore the corners of the stone courtyard in the center and to take pictures. He even instructed us to stand in a far dark corner from where the giant dome of the other side of the mosque was visible out of the center courtyard. It was all so peaceful alone in the giant gray structure at 2am and was an inspring experience.

On our last day in Cairo Hala and I made our way to the Coptic area of the city. We visited some churches and made our way down narrow alleys in search of more monasteries and chapels. Many of the buildings were very old and were built on ancient Roman structures that were sometimes visible below the floor.

That night Mostafa met us for some culture. A few hours of beautiful folk singing and dancing at a cultural center was an unforgetable experience. I believe the style is called Zar and is a mix of many folk styles from around Egypt. In it the women play the central roll and the men are secondary. During our show the old costumed women sang gorgeously in Arabic and gracefully and slowly slipped around the small room connecting with the audience. Some of the fun moments included a man with sunken cheeks playing a flute. When he would blow, his cheeks would puff our like a frog croaking. For another song, a thin man with a huge pot belly strapped on a cumberbun of goat hooves and mimicked the "Twist" dance while essentially acting as a human marraca. That was my favorite.

The next morning we flew to Luxor where we are now. Our time in Cairo was varied and maybe we spent too much time doing too little. However I again didn't mind enjoying the hospitality of a new friend and relaxing with him and his crew playing cards, drinking tea and pretending the heat didn't bother us.