Egypt, Part I

With finals approaching I'm not sure when I'll be able to write about the second half of Egypt and Morocco, so here's what I've gotten down so far. Tales of jeep safaris, camel rides and pyramid exploring to follow.

Day One

At about ten in the morning, I walked through the exit of the immigration building to take my first step in Africa.  A beautiful square emerged underneath the blue sky, lush green plants surrounding a fountain and date palm trees lining the way out to the gate of Alexandria.  Walking out into the light I immediately felt the sun beating down on me, and I questioned my decision to wear pants; apparently people here disapprove of shorts and it would’ve instantly categorized me as a tourist.  Because of the difficulty and risk in using the public transportation here, most of the students signed up for overnight trips organized by the ship.  My two guy friends and I however decided to have an adventure and travel to Cairo on our own.  We walked out of the mirage that was the inside of the port to receive a rude awakening; as we stepped outside the gate a swarm of cab drivers rushed toward us, unleashing a barrage of tactics to get us into their cabs.  Knowing better we ignored them and walked past, and as we started on the sidewalk five girls ran toward us asking if we’d walk with them; not five minutes out of the gate and we were all huddled together in an attempt to deal with a level of chaos we’d never experienced before.  We walked for some time and took in the surroundings: the decaying buildings, the excrement on the sidewalk, the polluted air, the blaring horns of cabs and vans that were packed with people like sardines.  We separated from the girls to find the train station, and crossing the street toward the center of the city we immediately ran into two other girls who were going to Cairo on their own.  Agreeing to go together we walked for some time, making our way through the busy streets and warding off the string of seemingly innocent attempts by the locals to get money out of us.  About 45 minutes later, sweating and exhausted, we walked into the train station to see an unexpected sight.  As soon as we walked onto the platform, there on the right, was a literal train wreck.  A small crowd of people stood around the mangled train riding up on the rubble against the wall, but otherwise people shuffled through the station seemingly unaffected.  I tried not to think about it too much as I bought a first-class ticket to Cairo and ran to catch the train in time.  What we expected to be a two-hour ride stretched to four hours as the slow train stopped at random locations on the track, and I reluctantly snacked on the kebab-flavored potato chips I bought at the station, deeply regretting not getting up in time for breakfast.  Eventually the slow train arrived in Cairo, the largest city in Africa; and the madness that followed was on a whole new level from Alexandria.  We walked outside into what I can only describe as a cacophony of honking cars and yelling men.  The smog pervaded the air as we walked hastily on a sidewalk beneath the bridge, stepping over mysterious black puddles and scattered garbage.  Women covered from head to toe in black burkas looked at us suspiciously behind the narrow slits, which revealed their eyes and nothing else.  You never know what you’re going to see while walking through this city: not five minutes after the train station I witnessed an eight-year old whipping the hell out of a donkey in the middle of the street while cars sped past around him.  Surprisingly enough, we managed to navigate through Cairo using a compass and random street maps in Arabic, and we finally found the hostel that the girls were staying at.  After making arrangements for the night, we took the hostel worker’s recommendation and ate at a small restaurant down the street.  I had falafels and a chicken shawerma, which consisted of a pita, rice, vegetables and chicken.  They brought out enough food for two full meals and it cost me about six bucks.  We went back to the hostel and were led to our rooms, and Mohammed, who booked our rooms for us, offered to arrange for a private car to take us to the pyramids for a sound and lights show.  Since we didn’t know how to get anywhere we happily accepted his offer, then went back to our room to shower and rest.  At 8 o’clock we got into a minivan and went on a ride through Cairo to Giza, chatting along the way with our slightly racist (toward Arabs at least) driver Hemmet.  We arrived an hour early for the English showing, so we sat down at a small café for hookah and tea.  We bought our tickets and entered the gates to find rows of chairs sitting about half a mile from the three great pyramids of Giza.  Soon the dramatic music came on, and we were treated to a 90-minute show with lasers and colorful lights illuminating the pyramids, while a narrator recounted their history.  Though the pyramids were absolutely breathtaking even from afar in the dark, the lights and the over-the-top narration by the Sphinx (as they made it to look like) really cheapened the experience in my opinion.  I would get to see the pyramids on my own over the next few days so I didn’t mind too much, and accepted the fact that I was in a major tourist trap.  After the show our driver picked us up and dropped us off at the hotel, and we decided to try our luck at finding a bar.  We wandered for almost an hour, crossing the bridge over the Nile to the resort area.  We entered one luxurious hotel only to find the bar there had a minimum of fifty dollars each, so we went back down to the river and settled for ice cream soda at a café.  We returned to the hostel at one o’clock and went right to bed.

Day Two

Our new friends had plans to go see the pyramids at 7:30 in the morning, but we slept in till 11am.  We got ready and headed out to see the bazaar.  While we were wandering around trying to find our way, a random guy started following us, starting a conversation with the now-familiar line: “Where you from?” Thinking he might be able to point us in the right direction we went along, and he insisted on leading us there.  About ten minutes later, we found ourselves not at the market but at a perfume shop where he worked.  Realizing we had fallen into his trap to get us into his store we walked away and signaled for a cab.  We were nervous about taking a cab in the crazy streets of Cairo but luckily we arrived at the bazaar safely, and the three of us walked into the busy outdoor market.  Even our experience at the Turkish Grand Bazaar wasn’t enough to prepare us for this place.  Lugging my heavy back pack I entered the narrow alleyway lined on both sides with racks and tables, as the locals briskly walked in the middle. The people looked up as they saw the three strange Americans, rushing to get a few words in to get us into the store.  One guy called out to us yelling, “Hey Obama! Obama!” as he followed us through the market – I wasn’t sure if he was a fan of Obama or he was just making fun of us.  Trying to deal with the onslaught of calls from shop owners and the workers hissing at us as they shoved past with their load of goods on their shoulders, we barely had the time to look at all the goods they were selling as we walked along.  At first we saw the familiar souvenir items like fez hats, bongos, little pyramids, papyrus prints and other things, but as we made our way through the alley we noticed that the goods weren’t really there for the tourists.  There were clothing, spices, blankets, toys, vegetables and other foods; this bazaar was here for the locals, not us – it was a refreshing getaway from the tourist traps.  But after half an hour we couldn’t stand to be in there any longer.  We found our way out and sat down at an outside café for another delicious shawerma and a surprisingly good glass of mango juice, which is apparently common in the summertime.  Next we hopped in a cab and pointed at our map to be taken to the Egyptian Museum.  There I saw the famous mask of King Tutankhamen and a huge collection of ancient statues and treasurers.  After carrying our heavy bags in the hot sun for so long we were exhausted by the afternoon, so we found our way to a bus station to return to Alexandria.  We bought our tickets but the time and bus info were all in Arabic, so we spent some time trying to figure out which bus would take us back to the ship.  The three of us boarded a bus with an illegible sign based on seemingly conflicting directions from the people in the station, and prayed we’d get back to the right town.  About four hours later we arrived in a completely unfamiliar place: a dirt parking lot in the middle of nowhere filled with other buses, with not one person that looked like they’d speak English.  Fortunately we found a cab driver and, after pointing to a map, we discovered that we were in the edge of Alexandria after all.  He dropped us off at a square not far from port and we managed to get back to the ship, but not before another random guy started following us to get us into some other store.  I’ve never been so relieved to see the ship as we arrived in port; the lights welcoming us back to safety, comfort and familiarity.  We spent the night at the pool bar eating pizza and ice cream and cheeseburgers, recovering from the past two days.  So far my time in Egypt was simultaneously the most exciting and shocking experience of the whole voyage.