Cairo

Friday evening we started back for Cairo. Rob discovered that a mini-bus only took seven hours, as opposed to the 8 ½ for a normal bus, because the mini-bus did not go through Sharm el-Sheikh. The driver lashed our packs to the room and Rob and I got in the back of the mini-bus. There were only six of us for five rows of seats so it appeared as though we would have a comfortable journey. Unfortunately though the driver waited until all seats were full, and only departed after there were fifteen (fifteen!) of us occupying the van. It was a long, uncomfortable drive. I alternated between trying to sleep in some contorted position and watching the driver with fear and astonishment. He would drive down the middle of the two-lane highway without the aid of headlights. If another car was approaching he would flash his bright lights at them and swerve to the right. Anything we passed other than sand (car, camel, house, etc.) seemed to warrant honking as well. I had never seen anything like it before.

Fortunately we made it back to Heliopolis without incident. Rob and I returned to his apartment and slept for a while before heading down to Islamic Cairo. There I was once again astonished at what I saw: Narrow, crowded streets full of bustling people going about their daily business. Different areas were dedicated to selling spices or textiles or rope or whatever. Each grouped together by merchandise. It was quite different to what I am used to in the States, where people choose where they shop based on convenience and location, and one shopping center may have a grocery store, a dry cleaner, a video store, and so on. In Islamic Cairo however, ALL of the produce shops were grouped together. I wondered out loud to Rob what would make someone go to the fourth produce shop down the line. In the midst of all of this chaos I found myself still weary from all of the traveling, so Rob and I sought refuge in the Mosque of Al-Hakim. This mosque dates back to 1010, and it contains some of the oldest minarets in Cairo. We climbed to the top of one of the minarets to look out over the city as Rob shared with me some of the history of the mosque. It was used be Napoleon as a warehouse when he conquered Egypt, and supposedly you can still see graffiti carved into the walls by his troops, although we never located it. From the minaret we could see the old north wall of the city, from before Cairo outgrew its confines. We also took the opportunity to look down on the crowded streets below without being swallowed by them. To the north of the mosque we could see one of the cities of the dead. Here Muslims live amongst a cemetery filled with their ancestors. The people could be seen paying their respects to the dead. It was a unique perspective from the minaret, behind most of the walls lining the streets stood rubble and trash instead of buildings.

The afternoon was waning and Rob had class to teach in the evening, so we returned to Heliopolis. I rested for a while before venturing out by myself to find the Thomas Cook office. Rob had made reservations for me to take a trip down the Nile and I needed to purchase the tickets. I ended up getting completely lost and just wandered around town, but it did not bother me. I had plenty of time while Rob was teaching and I was enjoying my strange surroundings. The safety offered by passing taxis always reassured me as well. I was amazed by how the city changed at sunset. All of the noise, the commotion, the life, left the streets and went to break fast. The streets were quiet and empty and I looked through windows to see families sitting down together to enjoy generous meals. The Islamic culture was vastly different than anything I had ever seen before. They were so devout; many of the men had calluses on their foreheads from praying five times each day.

To the Pyramids...