Navigating

[Listening: the sounds of the city around me]

I had the most amazing cous cous dish tonight: with sugar and raisins. Julie you would've found it extremely sweet but i assure you the flavor was stunning.

Spent much of the day meandering though downtown Cairo window shopping and then old Islamic Cairo; enjoying the sights, smells (seriously), and sounds of this largest African city - 17 million! The culture revolves around religion and Islam has a strong basis in chant and song so the streets are filled with music. Hearing and seeing the call to prayer is pretty amazing. The loudspeakers scattered throughout the city, perched on building walls squawk and then "Allah akbar Allah akbar" blares out followed by chants. It's lovely for a few reasons: the sound is beautiful and as people pour into the mosques the streets are pleasantly less crowded.

So allow me a moment to describe the experience of navigating the city. I would not call Cairo an extremely pedestrian friendly city in terms of Western Urban planning, yet there are plenty of people walking and there is an order to the chaos. Chaotic is truly the only word appropriate for the streets. There are lane markers, even marked crosswalks, yet it is as though they are but bits of litter to drive across. Cars weave and swerve around each other and any obstacles with a reckless (and surprisingly wreckless) abandon.

Cars, trucks, bicycles, carts, horses, motorcycles, scooters and walkers vie for some small shred of road; wide or narrow. The market streets are my favorite. It looks just like in Indiana Jones: stalls and stands line a narrow alley way, vendors hawk their wares yelling a steady stream of Arabic and the occasional "Hello!" or "Welcome, best cloth here!" to the foreigners. As you push your way through attempting to look purposeful to avoid being an easy mark you have to also avoid being run down by trucks with less than 5 inches of clearance! Not that I want to make it seem as though I'm lucky to be alive, it's actually quite easy and even fun. Even on streets with sidewalks, many of us rarely use them, preferring to walk in the street. The sidewalk is littered with even more stands and stalls selling any and every thing imaginable and the roadway, though ostensibly more dangerous at least has order.

Crossing a street is a similar harrowing yet easily accomplished task. "Jaywalking" doesn't begin to describe the adventure. One simply steps out, keeps a straight line and a constant pace and the cars veer around you. Not that you should close your eyes and just walk, but i have had fewer close calls here than in Illinois and it`s actually less frustrating than the nervous Seattle drivers. There is a constant chirping of car horns as drivers attempt to force their way through the throng.

So I am permanently intrigued by the business model of the various stalls and blankets hawking every good imaginable. The commercial districts of Cairo are someone segregated by what is sold. There is an autoparts neighborhood, a restaurant neighborhood, and the best thing for someone with seasonal affective disorder, a light fixture neighborhood! Selling commercial HID fixtures right along side table lamps. And the autoparts neighborhood?!? It is as though someone split a Napa or a Schucks into 15 different shops all in a row. I saw a guy selling nothing but brake lights; another selling window levers. Seriously. How often does someone need a new window lever? It is truly fascinating.

Ok, another curiosity: this:

clothing stores with storefronts teeming with what appear to be Scandinavian children staring out with malicious grins. Hundreds of very white, very blond mannequins. There are not a lot of blond Egyptians so I find this somewhat bizarre.

Spent yesterday walking around the Islamic Quarter. I climbed the Bab Zuweila - an old city gate. Here are a couple of pictures:


I ascended the pitch dark, narrow, circular stair and even climbed that very frightening rickety metal stairway to the top. What is cuter: my near paralyzing fear of heights or my terror of the dark?

My view of the city.


So I ran around the Islamic quarter suq (market) with my new friend Fahd. Fahd is Beduin, a nomadic people of the desert. Common practice in Egypt is to approach a tourist and impromptu guide them from shop to shop. They usually earn a commission on your purchases and can range from extremely helpful and knowledgeable to downright conniving. Guidebooks and other traveler's stories serve to demonize this practice somewhat and I'm sure that there are some pretty bad folk out there but my luck thus far has been excellent. Fahd and I had tea and talked about the tours he leads to the Sinai desert. It does sound beautiful and fun but I don't think I'll join on that one. The Sinai is not the safest part of Egypt as there is a fair bit of gun and drug trade through the region. Fahd even insinuated that his family was not above this practice. He did guide me around the suq a bit, however. I met a man blowing vases and ornaments from pyrex and an old and skilled artisan who paints on papyrus: Mr. Said. Fahd helped me navigate the twisting back alleys of the market through cloth shops, cotton bags, aromatic spice sacks. Cairo is nothing if not a sensory adventure!

So lastly, let's talk about my well being. I'm feeling good about my trip. I miss Julie (and the cats) terribly. I was able to Skype Julie once which was great, but which doesn't not make up for not seeing her. I miss my friends and the comfort of home but have enjoyed immensely meeting new people. I think about you all and I hope that all is well.

Drop me a line sometime as I appear to have excellent connectivity so far.