Cairo 7

As a tourist, you want a “real” taste of Cairo. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t make a difference if you covered your hair or spoke a fluent Arabic. You are not Egyptian and the Egyptians know it. I wanted to write that the smells of trash mixed with the scent of fried food and flavored sheesha define Cairo or that sounds of horns honking, men hissing and the call to prayer can sum up the city. I would be wrong in writing that. Cairo’s personality isn’t one thing. It is the filth, the bad food, the noise, the cab drivers, the security guards, the Nile, homeless, the elite, the expats, the mosques, the smiles, the winks, the occasional friendly, “welcome,” the occasional unfriendly, “welcome,” the modern buildings, the ruins, (and the fact that as we speak, my power keeps going on and off).that give Cairo character. Khan al-Khalili holds all of these traits in one huge bazaar.

Last Thursday, I was taken to Khan al-Khalili with a local and Emily. There is a whole section of the market whose existence I was completely unaware of as an American. It is off to the side and is where locals shop. Above it are all the workshops where the jewelry, the backgammon boards, the leather bags and the glass lamps are physically made. I bought a beautiful backgammon board (which will live in my parents house until I have my own very nice house) made of wood with camel bone, buffalo horns and mother of pearl outlining and design. Walking around, I bought a sweet potato from a man walking around selling them on a cart where they were being made. It was delicious (last week’s vocab word: latdhidh) to say the least.

The following morning, I was off by five after 7 on my first field trip for my Egyptology class. Though most of it was spent on the bus, it was a worthwhile trip. We get taken to sites I would never be able to go to on my own. The first stop we made was at a ruin of an ancient city called Butra. It is on the way from Cairo to Alexandria. To get there, it is necessary to (min illaazim an) drive through a small town. Though the ruin was fascinating and built on a turtleback (basically a big heap of land with a great view), I may have been more intrigued by the city. The streets were crowded with people; women carrying baskets on their heads, men walking with purpose or just sitting smoking sheesha and carts selling and trading vegetables. I felt like I was in a different century. I believe I may have seen more animals than cars being used as a mode of transportation and block after block, there were piles of trash no pavement. It was a place where people work to survive. After Butra, we were off to Rashid (formerly Rosetta). As you can guess, Rosetta is the city where the Rosetta stone was found. It is right on the Nile and though today is a small town, it still holds the fort where the Rosetta stone was found. While not the most exciting place I’ve ever been, I can say I’ve been to the place they found the Rosetta stone. We then headed off to the place where the Nile meets the Mediterranean. Again, I’ve seen cooler things, but I can say I’ve been there. We did a quick drive though and lunch break in Alexandria and made one stop on the way out of the city at a temple and lighthouse. Ptolemy, when ruling Egypt, ordered a series of lighthouses to be built so the city could be seen. The great lighthouse of Alexandria that was destroyed by an earthquake was only one of many lighthouses. The remains of one still exist just outside of modern-day Alexandria. On the home, the bus broke down. My professor could not have said it better when he pointed out that such a thing is to be expected in Egypt.

Saturday we made a trip out to Saqqara and Dahshur. Being there, I became very puzzled as to why the pyramids of Giza have become known as the “Great Pyramids.” These seemed just as cool to me. Saqqara is the remains of a city. It is clear where the city center once stood and the pyramid there is the oldest step-pyramid still standing. Dahshur has three pyramids. The first one is the third largest pyramid (aside from two in Giza). We went inside of it…I almost felt like I was in a spy movie. It is a very long, very cramped, very smelly tunnel to the bottom where it then opens up into a big space. You can then climb up another set of stairs (made much more recently) to where the tomb is. There is nothing there anymore but a pile of rock. My legs were sore for two days afterwards, it made me slightly claustrophobic, the smell was awful, but it was worth it. The second pyramid there is I guess you could say, bent. They started building it and upon realizing that it was at a bad angle, the changed the angle. The third is called the black pyramid (I think) and wasn’t worth it for us to see. It’s kind of falling apart.

Sunday was the Citadel with Jordan. The Citadel costs twenty pounds to get in, has three mosques, a whole mess of museums and some gardens. Lonely Planet (our guide and savior, literally) says, “Though this is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Cairo (particularly for Egyptians), it is relatively unimpressive and decidedly overpriced.” I wouldn’t say it is a place you must go when coming to Cairo, but if you have time, it is worth it. The mosque of Muhammad Ali is there. It is a beautiful mosque and can be seen from anywhere in Islamic Cairo and even other parts of the city. Walking out onto a porch area, you can see as far as the pyramids on a clear day, which we were lucky enough to witness. The most boring, but also funniest part of the Citadel was the military museum. Why funny you ask? One would think that in a museum as such, things would be proofread before being carved into stone. Things were labeled as, “broduced in…”, “in tered service…”, “cuptured tanks…”, etc.

Monday it was back to class and has been a fairly normal week since then (I suppose depending on how one would define normal). The sink in our apartment doesn’t drain well and it leaks, our shower still doesn’t and in fact never did work (aka there is practically no water that comes out of it when you try making it hot), I still have to hold the washing machine shut with my foot, our toilet that was supposedly fixed is in fact not fixed (don’t worry, we have two) and I am sure a plethora more of broken items that are not currently at the top of my head.

Oh, and surprise! I’m going to Israel tonight with Jordan. We have a number of names for Israel here. Among them: the North, the forbidden land, Disneyworld…I am in desperate need of meat, Ariella (one of my closest friends from home) is going to meet us there, I need a break from Cairo and it’s Purim. Seemed to make sense to me. And, I’m off…