Pyramids and Pudding

I'm kind of at the end of a line here. I took the night train down from Luxor three days ago and ever since I stepped off into that morning haze of Cairo's chaotic rush hour with no direction and no connection, life has been good; I certainly can't complain even though at times I really try.

It is quite a special experience to get off the train sleepy-eyed and slowly in a brand new city of 20 million people and have no idea where to go and no need to go anywhere. First step I took was to exit the station and go in search of a morning beverage. This ended me at an adjacent orange juice stand, where during the course of drinking, I was befriended by an Egyptian man who had just returned from living for 14 years in Namibia. For god knows what reasons exactly, this man Mahmoud was entirely devoted to helping me get to where i needed to go -- namely downtown, where the LP recommended budget hotels are located-- without any need for personal gain whatsoever. I say this with a bit of incredulity because it was a first for me in Egypt. Not that people are any less helpful and good natured here, it’s just that in relation to other places I’ve been on this trip, the level of street swindlers, scammers and sellers is astronomically higher. I have had to build up a hardy shell of skepticism in my encounters with people on the street, only to avoid being the constant victim of thickly embellished sales schemes.

After finishing our juice, Mahmoud and I took a taxi together to downtown Cairo and he dropped me off right where I needed to be. I got out the taxi and wandered several blocks down from the enormous traffic rotary of death at Mahab Tahrir and started looking for the budget hotels. Of course before I had a chance to find the one I was looking for, some dude with a striking resemblance to Tiger Woods asked me what I was looking for and if he could help. To be sure this was by no means going to be a selfless act. But in the end, Tiger Woods, as he preferred to be called, was genuinely helpful and pretty hilarious. First I asked if he could help me find the Syrian embassy, after which he insisted on showing me a hotel which he thought would be more suitable for me and my budget. He brought me up to the Dahab Hotel on the seventh and top floor of a building in the heart of downtown Cairo. This place turned out to be a real oasis of rooftop calm, potted plants, and a very diverse array of international backpacker types, from the classic Euros to the quirky Christian surfers from Hawaii, to a really sweet couple from Washington Avenue in FT Greene BROOKLYN! But what convinced me to follow Tiger’s advice was not so much the sweet setting of the place which didn’t really become apparent until later, but it was more the fact than when I arrived at the reception desk, the people checking in before me were none other than the two travelers sitting next to me on the train, whom I had noticed but not spoken with. As usual, nothing is as it seems and it’s always better to follow a whim than a reason.

Back to Tiger. After I checked in contentedly, he naturally insisted I come downstairs to his perfume shop and have a look around. I chuckled lightly thinking there was no way he would sucker me after I told him countless times that I was not in the market. But low and behold, after two cups of tea and his long monologue about the energetic chakra healing properties of his uniquely high quality essential oils (and me realistically considering the fact that I have been without any deodorant or added body scent for two months), I gave in. I left the shop happily and indeed energetically awakened from my overnight train stupor. On my way back upstairs to the Dahab, I bumped into the the two from the train--Canadians, Sarah and John--who were on their way out to visit the markets and mosques of Old Cairo. At first I thought I needed to shower and relax, but after some good cajoling and conversation with them, I was convinced to head right out and dive into the sights of the city.

From that point forward, I’ve been blessed with a continual barrage of Cairo sight seeing, walking, driving, talking, and taking in. I could have spent hours inside the Cairo museum but of course I was a bit distracted and disgruntled by the package tour hordes. I did leave the museum however fully satisfied by the experience of seeing the mummified body of Ramses II and about 20 other major pharonic personalities under glass and wrapped in the original formaldehyde soaked bandages of three thousand years ago. Something about the shriveled bodies and frazzled orange hair still clinging to their softball sized skulls really gave me a sense of what everyone is after here... We love the dead because it reminds us of how nice life is now?

After the museum, I strolled across one of the many Nile bridges into the upscale (island) neighborhood of Zamelek with a plan to meet a friend of a friend for dinner. Dear sweet Rima from NYC had mentioned to me several months back that she had a friend Suzanne who owned a restaurant in Cairo. Of course at the time I had no idea that Suzanne owned the best restarurant in the whole damn city and her and her husband and their 3-year old boy are amazing people and quite a blessing to know. The restaurant, La Bodega is set up in amazing colonial era mansion, with goegroeus murals, a decked out comfy lounge bar, and an extensively mouth watering menu that was on par with the best of the best in that other little upscale island neighborhood we all know so well. We sat and dined and chatted for three hours about their lives, my trip, and the frenetic nature of cairo. I left feeling for the first time completely recharged and ecstatic to be in Cairo. More than anything, I was humbled once again by the enormous generousity of what would otherwise be strangers and also again by an overwhelming appreciation for the unfolding plan, of which I seem to have no ultimate control but complete trust in.

And now it only gets better. I spent yesterday bouncing around in a mini bus to the three major Cairo pyramid sites (my own little package tour). It all began at one in the morning the night before when I mentioned to the manager of the Dahab that I might like to travel down to Giza for the day and in a matter of five minutes he had returned to me with news that a German couple was looking to do the same and it could be arranged for only 12 dollars a person. So off we went, me and the middle aged german couple, Joseph and Monica, to check off perhaps the single most acclaimed tourist experience in the world. In full style, we circumnavigated the Giza pyramids atop horses, gazing at the dessert monoliths and the Disney like clamor of 100,ooo others streaming about. This experience could be nothing more than slightly anticlimactic, alas we quickly moved on to the next site. The highlight of the day was indeed at the Saqara Red Pyramid, into which we were allowed to descend without paying the usual additional 10 or 20 dollar ticket charge. The inside of the three thousand year old building smelled strongly of ammonia or perhaps stale pee pee. Either way it was quite a memorable space for a minute. But actually the most memorable part of the day was the rush hour traffic through Cairo on the way back north. I believe the city planners must simply have forgotten to consider the modern predicament of cars and drivers. In fact, there is no city planning at all in Cairo! The city is ancient and completely broken when it comes to driving. The subway system ain’t half bad though, but the roads are a mess! Trying to cross the street on foot is a bit like Russian roulette though I’ve heard Delhi and Bangkok might be worse.

Anyhow, I don’t really to have to worry about traffic anymore because last night after returning to the hotel with the Germans, (who by the way it turns out are professional waste oil collectors, biodiesel manufacturers and diesel engineers back home in Munich) I packed my bag and took the metro down to the wealthy Cairo suburb of El Maadi. Yet another example of the unfolding goodness of the plan and people along the way, back in Luxor, I met a group of American school teachers – they happen to be Canadian but what’s the difference, eh – and one of them named Laura was sweet enough to offer me her guest bedroom in the house (see above) she shares with her boyfriend Hanni and their two cats. It was really pretty extraordinary to make this offer after knowing me for all of an hour and a half and to be honest I wasn’t really sure if it was right of me to take advantage of such openness. But I guess the point is nothing is to be taken advantage of out here, only appreciated and reciprocated. Though it may sound smug cliché or contrived, I realize this is the only approach to life when you have no home, only the world as nesting material. I’ll even go so far as to say, the proof is in the pudding.

Last night we ate at the Korean restaurant RIGHT around the corner from their house, then came back “home” and baked cupcakes for Laura’s seventh grade class bake sale. We chatted about the demands of teaching and the love/hate intensity of the city. Hanni and I spoke about the fruit and vegetable distribution business that he owns with his brother and Egyptian agriculture. By the end of the night, I felt more comfortable and ‘familiar’ than I have in a month, at least since I left Daniela in Nanyuki. I woke up this morning completely refreshed from the first real night’s sleep in weeks, took a beautiful shower, ate cereal and drank tea. Now it’s time to part ways with the slumbering cats of this lovely abode and go a wandering and book shopping on these new jersey-esque streets.