Egypt Journal

(Keith) We arrived in Cairo after midnight surprised to find the streets full of people (men only). As we drove to our hotel we passed men walking, drinking tea in cafes, and smoking hookahs while playing card games. We passed beautiful mosques bathed in floodlight, and worshippers clad in white flowing robes and hats. After this experience, Lea and I ventured out for dinner around 8:00 pm each night to watch the nightlife. At this early hour entire families were out and the temperature had cooled from the scorching day. We often passed groups of men kneeling and praying towards Mecca; the prayers chanted in rhythms that oozed with atmosphere.

Also, and much more intimidating, upon arrival to Egypt you realize that this is a very well armed country. Everywhere policemen in white uniforms and body armor stand guard over some monument, bank, or hotel. At a minimum they are armed with an automatic machine gun; sometimes there will be an armored car with a turreted gun on the roof. These police are to discourage terrorists, but often made me rather uncomfortable.

We took a day trip out to Giza to view the Great Pyramids . . . a very hot experience (~110 F). These pyramids were built approximately 4600 years ago and consist of a series of buildings: pyramid, funerary temple, causeway, and pits. The pharaoh's mummified body was placed into the burial chamber of the pyramid along with all the necessary items required in the afterlife. A funerary temple was used for the religious ceremony immediately after the king's death. A stone causeway was built to move the sarcophagus from the funerary temple to the pyramid. Pits were constructed to store the solar boats used for transportation after death. The highlight of the pyramid visit was crawling into one of them. It was very hot and claustrophobic, but fascinating to think that 4600 years ago the mummified body of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh traversed the same passage.

(Lea) Roaming around the streets of Cairo we experienced a unique culture, a blend of modern and old. Though extremely hot (about 105 degrees) and crowded (over 16 million) we found walking the streets quite interesting, and were quite surprised to find the city fairly easy to explore. There was less pollution and touts than we expected so we could concentrate on the city's sights and sounds.

What I found most interesting was watching the people. We often walked past many men playing dominos, sipping tea and smoking from hookahs in ahwas (cafes). Smoking a hookah is basically smoking tobacco soaked in molasses which is filtered through the water pipe's glass bowl of water. It's a pretty nifty looking contraption - it is about 2 feet tall and a curved glass tube like structure with a pot holding the tobacco. There were few women at the awhas, but we did see many women shopping and working in the city. Their outfits ranged from fully veiled and all in black to jeans and a T-shirt. In addition to people, Cairo's streets were lined with stores; often a modern shop selling Nike and Guess would stand next to a street stall selling items such as fruit, shammies (pitas) and even shoes.

Our exploring took us to modern areas with shopping arcades, hotels like the Hilton and expensive restaurants with taxis whizzing by, to areas like Coptic Cairo where many of the streets are dirt roads and the neighborhoods filled with churches and mosques dating back to the early AD centuries. All areas, modern and old, were filled with tamia and fuul takeaway joints and kushari cafes. We sampled at all of these places and discovered we really enjoyed the food, especially when accompanied by a Stella (the local brewed beer).

Enduring the heat and crowds of Cairo was well worth it to experience its amazing culture and history.

Check out our Cairo Photos.

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