Amazingly, I successfully ran the frequent flyer gauntlet - to get from Machu Picchu, Peru to Cairo Egypt, I travelled to Cuzco, then Lima, Peru, then to Mexico City, Atlanta, Boston, Paris, Prague (seen on T shirt "Czech Me Out"), and finally Cairo. I signed up for a tour here, so I was lucky to be escorted through customs by one of the local tour folks. When he found that I didn't have an Egyptian visa, the tour person discretely pulled out a pack of cigarettes, tore off the Egyptian tax stamp, licked it, and pasted into my passport. It was truly creative and it worked. It was 3 am by the time I was out of the airport and into the van, heading to the hotel. The early hours combined with jetlag may have added to the impression that I had truly taken a step back in time. For the first time in all my travels I felt like I had travelled into a different place and era. Egypt has over 2,500 Mosques and the entire route was lined with minerets, that were all beautifully highlighted with spotlights. All the roadsigns and advertising is in Arabic which adds to the sense of entering a different place. It's not just new words but now it's also a new alphabet. Much of this "difference" was dispelled yesterday on an all day private tour with Mohamed and Heersham of Gate One Travel. It was like getting together with old friends, who just happen to know everything about Egypt, past and present. We visited the oldest pyramids, the earliest Christian (Coptic) church and the oldest Synagogue in Egypt, both dating many years BC. In Egypt, becoming a tour guide takes years of study and a lifelong commitment to learning the history of the country. It was like being on a study tour and there was nothing I could ask that Mohamed didn't know.
One special visit that few tourists are allowed, was a visit to the City of the Dead. If you weren't wealthy enough to have a pyramid built for your grave, the ancient Egyptians would build a small house, with a small entryway which lead to your burial tomb in an enclosed back area. The main highway through downtown Cairo goes through the center of miles and miles of this cemetary. Graves were actually moved to make way for the highway to come through. Gradually the very poor started to move into the small one room entryways and make them their homes. The city tried unsuccessfully for decades to have them removed, but finally gave up, and had water and power supplied for this City of the Dead. Heersham drove us into the City of the Dead at my request and obtained permission for me to actually visit one of the homes. I was able to take pictures and hope to share them with you. Final highlights of my tour; driving through Cairo, and Mohamed telling me to look to my right. There in the middle of downtown Cairo was a strip of desert with the Pyramids and the Sphynx. For some reason I thought that we would have to drive miles into the desert to see them, but there they were, visible in the middle of all the Cairo rush hour traffic. The sight took my breath away. After years of seeing them in movies and books, they were in front of me. It was a moment that will always be frozen in time for me. The day ended with a trip to the Bizarre for Turkish coffee and a smoke of apple flavored tobacco in one of the hookahs (Turkish water pipes) that you find in all of the coffee shops everywhere you look in Cairo. Where the US has bars and clubs, Egypt has coffee shops, where time slows down and you can sit and smoke and watch the world walk by. It's hard to believe that the real tour that I signed on for starts tomorrow. It has already been an enchanting time here. Mohamed, Heersham, and I laughed all day as they helped me discover this beautiful city.*****
A last note, I am working on trying to get pictures published on this blog. The technology is well beyond my ability level, but I have several people trying to help with this. So that's all for now. Tonight I meet my fellow travelers at a dinner and off we go. Happy Trails to you, Marion in Wonderland
