Got in to Cairo after 17 hours of travel. No problems getting a visa and was pulled out of the long customs line and allowed to skip the line and go through the diplomats queue. It was really nice to be met by my friend Elisabeth at the airport. It occurred to me that it has was the first time I have traveled to a new place and had someone I knew waiting for me (except Colombia, but I didn't know my hosts yet, back then). It helped take off some of the edge of navigating a completely strange environment all tired and jet lagged. Quite nice!
Elisabeth's friend was driving and we dropped my backpack off at her flat in Nassr City where she lives. It is a big place right off a busy street full of shops with lots of apartment housing buildings. She had my room and bed made up with fun flavored potato chips and candy to welcome me. So sweet and she knows me so well :) We headed out for a little walk and I got my bearings of where the nearest bank, coffee shop and grocery stores were. It is cleaner (although very dusty), less chaotic, and more modern than I expected. There was even small fireworks (which Elisabeth said happens almost nightly for celebrations). Traffic is hectic with lots of cars and honking, and no crossing lights. Luckily, I am getting pretty good at just walking into traffic and hoping no one hits me, learned in previous SE Asia travels. Got to hear what the riot police sound like, as they drove passed us on the road on their way to something. But all in all, it feels pretty safe. I passed on the opportunity for McDonalds (which offers delivery here on mopeds!) and we all went for a quick bite to eat and for some watermelon and mint shisha and mint tea in a restaurant mainly full of a mixture of old and younger men playing each other at backgammon and watching football/soccer. Elisabeth's friend Mohammed (which is apparently a common name that you can call out and three quarters of the men will turn around) seems interesting as he went to school to be a veterinarian but now works in human rights. He seems super helpful and has been working on getting us a deal for the cruise down the Nile and may also join us on the trip. Made it until about 11:30pm before I zonked out.
Got up late the next (well, technically, afternoon) to honking traffic. Well, I was awakened at 4:30am to the loud sound of the calling to prayer, but managed to back asleep, by accident. So we got a late start to downtown, but still made a good day if it. Passed the Department of Interior which had a very heavy military presence, complete with snipers in towers behind sandbags. Taking the bridge into the downtown core was neat to see because you are amongst the tall buildings, sometimes eye level with windows or rooftops full of satellite dishes on crumbling old apartments. The skyline is dotted with beautiful mosques and a few churches. We got out of the cab at Tahir Square (which seems much smaller than I expected and I had to point out that it really wasn't a square, since it is the area around a traffic circle). There are a few military with tanks around the "square", but relatively quiet.
We then just walked and got lost in the central downtown area, enjoying some interesting revolution graffiti, getting dried mish mish (apricots) at a spice stand and stopping for koshary, a local Egyptian dish of chickpeas, lentils, tomato sauce, and spices over rice and pasta. People on the streets seem friendly enough, but Elisabeth is trying to train me to stop smiling so much and chatting on with everyone that come up to talk to me that just want me to visit their store (which I don't mind so much as I have nowhere set to go). Another of Elisabeth's friends (yep, his name is also Mohammed) happened to be in the downtown area not far from us and he picked us up to drive back home.
We changed our minds after dropping of his dad and headed back downtown to the old town of Khan el-Khalili, a marketplace in the center of the Islamic area of downtown. It is entirely built between these fort-style walls, with a beautifully lit mosque and narrow, winding streets full of shops and apartments. We were the only foreigners for most of the time we were there, with only a handful seen in a famous coffee shop we visited. We then started back out of the city, through a graveyard that people also live in and we stopped on the bridge over the Nile to watch the twinkling lights and lit-up party boats. Mohammed is luckily a very good driver, as traffic is organized chaos and a crazy test of reflexes. The lanes appear to be mere suggestions, fitting in as many cars as possible so you are squeezed in as close as possible. Cars merging in an out, people randomly walking in and out of traffic, and headlights at night? Totally not mandatory.
I will likely venture back into downtown again by myself later today, as Elisabeth has to work (and I still cant sleep through the early call to prayer). Then Giza and the pyramids on Friday before heading off by myself either on the overnight bus or leaving Saturday on the 11 or 12 hour bus ride to a desert oasis town called Siwa, not far from the border with Libya (likely not much Internet once I leave the city).
Oh, it looks like my phone works in Egypt so I can text for free (at least in the city). Although, I am 9 hours ahead of Seattle and may not have it on me all the time, and can't make it accept calls (I still have access to Skype while at Elisabeth's).
Love,
Betsy
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