RidingCamels in Egypt

As we docked there was an acrid smell in the air. Similar to the smell from childhood when we took trash to the "dump" -- As a child it fascinated me because there were always little fires burning or smoldering all around the perimeters. The smell was burning damp cardboard and other unidentified things. We had to present our passport and sea pass upon disembarking. We were met by our Egyptian guide, Bella. She teaches at Cairo University and is a tour guide once a week. She instructs other guides, and it is clear from the outset that the government and everyone else was intent on making us feel welcome, safe and appreciated. This seems to be something that most of these countries in the Southern Mediterranean do as well --- they train their guides to be experts on their history. Security is everywhere. On the bus with us was an armed guard. Our buses were escorted by police through Cairo traffic. Bella pointed out that even though it was slow going at times --- we were actually moving quite fast (100 K by the speedometer on the dash) compared to what it could have been without the escort. We did not stop for traffic lights, but often found that traffic backed up to a standstill.

There are 20 million people living in Cairo and Bella told us that there are 1 million babies added to the population of Egypt every eight months. This surely is a spectre on anything good happening here. There are three economic products --- tourism, gold, cotton and recently they have begun to export sand to the Greek islands. They also earn money from the Suez canal fees, but it is clear that Egypt is a poor country. Bella pointed out that Egypt is a bridge between Asia and Africa representing parts of both cultures. The entire population of Egypt is concentrated along the length of the Nile(6% of the land) That population totals around 80 million at present. The only source of water for the country is this river. Bella said that they may only have 3 cm a year in rainfall and that students are dismissed from school when it rains. There are celebrations everywhere during this time. The rain may last only an hour or two --- but people celebrate for the entire day!

As we left the harbor there was an area behind a wall which was like a landfill-- with children picking trash. It was an incredible shock to see the conditions along the highway. I find it difficult put feelings into words. There was trash everywhere, and buildings looked as though they were in various stages of decay or perhaps they were never finished to begin with. I hope the photos I snapped as we passed through these neighborhoods in Alexandria come out because they glimpse a level of poverty I had not seen before, even in Mexico.
Everything was covered with soot -- in Europe they are constantly cleaning this from the ancient buildings. Perhaps if they did not do this Europe would seem as dingy.

The air was like Los Angeles when I was a kid --- thick like a fog but clearly photo-chemical smog (identifiable also by odor). Soon we are out on the road between Alexandria and Cairo. There was a huge lake and we crossed the several small Nile tributaries as we speed along the highway. Bella says this lake is largely polluted because of the industries surrounding it. They appear to be mostly related to oil and gas. It is amazing to see the reeds growing in this lake which has little flat bottomed boats with men wearing traditional Egyptian garb pushing their poles along the bottom to keep moving. Here and there were what appeared to be duck blinds, but are more likely makeshift homes. These would make quaint photos --- but the bus sped along at a rate that made it difficult to capture this on film.

The traffic on the road is mostly industrial in nature, but there is an occasional car with a family in it. There are many vans which seem clearly to be some sort of public conveyance which are jam-packed with people. It takes nearly 3 hours to reach Cairo which like Alexandria is very dirty. The tour company provided us with a bag of treats - including guava nectar, crackers, banana and apple, and a candy bar. It was very considerate since we left at about 7:00 a.m.
Our first stop is the Alabaster Mosque or the Mosque of Mohammad Ali -- the "re-creator of Egypt" I think were the words that Bella used. At any rate he is the person responsible for the modern country of Egypt and while the chap was quite bloodthirsty -- he succeeded in creating a nation state because of this. While he kept the Muslim religion he jettisoned the role that women played. During the Muslim occupation women were allowed to leave there home on two occasions -- one of which was their wedding. He ditched that policy and went back to the Egyptian practice of equality between the sexes.

The mosque is an impressive structure at the south of Cairo. Again we came through some abysmal slums to get there -- Bella tells us that it is always in the south of a city that you find slums...still either we have been driving exclusively in the slums or else there are a lot of slums here. As we get to the Mosque we must take off our shoes and there are women stationed to put what look like surgical gowns on the women who do not have enough of their bodies covered -- I place the shawl I bought in Germany on my head as a matter of respect. It is the same reason I wore a long sleeved shirt and a long skirt today. I would like to honor the traditions of these people.

There are ornate and ancient carpets on the floor of the central prayer room. There are three small or semi-domes that support the enormous stone dome which Bella says is the largest stone dome in the world. In the courtyard where men perform their ritualistic ablutions there is an incongruant clock tower. Turns out this tower was sent by King Louis Phillipe of France. Unfortunately it has never worked, and when they tried to fix it they discovered it never had the clockworks in it. For this clock Luis Philippe received one of the obelisks from Luxor for the Concorde in Paris. When he requested the other obelisk -- Mohammad Ali thought it was payback time. Knowing full well what he wanted Mohammad agreed and received the spectacular chandelier that graces the interior of the mosque --- in return he sent the French King a golden box filled with sand and inside a letter saying he was sending something even more ancient and valuable than the obelisk. He was sending the sand on which the Egyptian people built the obelisk.

Their were workmen repainting the inscription above the fountain -- but much of this mosque needs the kind of cleaning that the Sistine chapel received and now much of the art of European masterpieces is cleaned every decade to wash away the grime of the tourists and the smoke of air pollution. As we descend the steep stairway to our bus -- it is clear how many pilgrims have passed this way. The stones are worn down. I wonder though if this is ever used as a functional Mosque --- since so many infidels visit it daily. Everywhere there are the independent vendors trying to sell their wares. We have been warned against them -- we are not even to acknowledge them. Bella warns us that a no thank you is only an invitation to keep trying!

Once back on the bus, I was aware of just how hot it felt. The bus was air conditioned which was a gift indeed. At mid-day (which is when we arrived at the Pyramids) the heat was overwhelming. It took about 30 minutes to arrive at the great pyramids of Giza. The pictures I took may be spoiled by the air pollution, but I am certain I can find some on the internet when the day was clear. We climbed to the highest spot where there are camel rides, and Matt and I took the ride of a lifetime. As I approached a young boy who was to lead my camel around, the mother gestured to a different camel -- one that I am sure was very old and very tired and very tame-- The view from atop one of these beasts is strikingly different than the view from astride a horse. They are much wider and the saddle horn is at both ends --- so even getting up was a bit of a challenge -- getting my leg up over the horn at the rear presented a set of problems --- since Muslim males couldn't touch a female --- even one that is old --- I had to manage to do this while the camel was moving under me --- but once I was in place -- the boy said, "lean back mam." I thought I was --- but apparently the signal to the camel to stand up is leaning far back -- once the beast began to rise it was a bit unnerving - I felt as though I might topple off at any moment! I did manage to take a couple of pictures from on top of the camel -- but I never really felt comfortable without both hands hanging on!! When the boy returned to put the camel down -- he said ---"Lean forward, Mam" I did -- nothing happened. "Lean forward, Mam." He repeated. I tried again --- NO----MORE mam -- I felt as though I would go headlong over the camel as it was, but suddenly the camel knelt down and then I really was headlong at a most precarious angle. His brother rushed to his aide --- fearing this Mam would land on her head....but I managed to regain some semblance of balance and with no dignity whatever get off the beast! It was a moment I was glad to look at in retrospect! I got the boys photo together. Then they wanted to take my picture with the camel --- but the guide had told us never to give our camera to anyone --- even the children working the camels -- so I said no thank you! It made me sad to think that I couldn't trust them. I should have tried to interview them for this kids at school about their experience and school- --- but I would have needed translation help.

We next drove down to the Sphinx -- which struck me as being smaller than I expected. The Sphinx had a beard and face until Napoleon's army used it for target practice. The sand and heart were too much -- and I headed back for the comfort of the bus. There were opportunities to go into the great pyramid -- and if it had not been so hot --- I would like to have done that -- of course you don't actually see anything --- it has all been removed, but you would be standing in the place where the Pharaoh's body had once been borne to his final resting place (well that is until tomb robbers removed him destroyed his body to destroy his spirit . Bella advised against this excursion because of the time constraint we were on and of course also because of the extreme heat --- and as she said," the lack of oxygen and the fact that you have to enter through a corridor quite stooped over."

After we left the Pyramids we headed to our Nile excursion. This was a very clean boat (a 5 star hotel sponsors) so we could feel confident about what we ate there. They arranged a beautiful buffet of typical Egyptian food including the honey-drenched sweets at the end. Some of these delicacies I had experienced thanks to my friend Inas Alameldin -- at home, but some were completely new to me. For the main course there were choices of lamb, chicken or fish-- many choices of rice and a variety of salads and vegetables with which I was unfamiliar. Their was traditional Egyptian folk music and a belly dancer who performed five or six numbers. The last of which was almost a dance with one of the old drummers and was quite entertaining -- as she moved her body in response to his drumming. Kathy went outside and photographed the Nile and the shore from the boat. returning just in time to head back to the bus. To come to the feast was she had to navigate 100 steps total --- She has more gumption than most folks I know.

Once we were back on the bus -- there was the final stop at the Papyrus Institute and the Bazaar. At the Papyrus institute young Muslim girls demonstrate the making of papyrus (and warned against buying it in the street -- where it is likely made from banana peels and potato -- and apparently disintegrates rather quickly.. She first showed the papyrus stock with the shock of feathery plant at the top. The stalk represents the Nile and the feathery part the delta with its many tributaries. The stock itself is in the form of a pyramid--many symbols for the Egyptian. It is made by stripping away the green and then dividing it into long strips -- soaking it until the starch of the plant becomes evident and then pressing it together after weaving it and placing it between carpet until it dries. I selected a small bit from the Koran. Most of the people are buying ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and pictures of a Pharaoh ---or Nefertiti. I wanted to be sure I had the one I wanted --- I thought it said there is but one God and his name is Allah. I took the papyrus request to the cashier --- the young man looked at me and said, "Are you a Muslim?" I replied no --"You are aware this is from the Koran?" Yes, I said --- telling him what I thought it said. Surprised he filled the order and I wished him "Salaam Aleichem" and left with my beautiful illuminated papyrus manuscript. We were next in the Bazaar where the kartoush orders were picked up --- and finally back on the bus for the return to port in Alexandria. As we exited the city I saw some of the most beautiful trees. The leaves were like mimosa trees at home, but the flowers were much more pronounced and the colors were bold unlike the pastel pink of home.

There were bougainvilleas, something that looked like morning glories as well, and other beautiful flowers in the midst of squalor. Then we passed into an obviously upscale section of the city. Though it was also dirty, there were nicer buildings and cars. Bella also said we were provided cokes and bottled water --- from the tour company. They also provided us with an Egyptian Newspaper printed in English, a postcard stamped which they will mail for us, a place to review the experience. It is really clear that these people need and want American tourism. They are friendly and did everything that they could to ensure that we had a great experience in Egypt.

We drove back over the same route, but this time it was time for people to be heading home from work so our traveling companions were different. There appeared to be many vehicles with lots of workers headed home to the suburbs. There are huge tracts of land that are just dunes in the desert --- but right next door may be a nice looking villa and several small houses. The guide explained that where there is something obviously growing in the ground the government is subsidizing this. Bella explained that the government was giving away land to people and if they could produce a crop in three years the land was theirs. I asked her about how they pay for the water -and she said they don't have to pay anything for water, but for pumping it out of the ground. The small houses that looked like housing developments were in fact the homes of the workers in the fields. They get to live in the nice little houses in exchange for their labor and must work there for months at a time. Each of these compounds appear to have a mosque at the entrance to the land. Many of these fields are clearly abandoned --- it would be terribly difficult to grow things in this sand, and also -- it is a terrible idea to take water from an underground aquifer to water these fields too. There are also at least three maybe four sites that we thought were either prisons or military bases --- when we asked--we learned that they were jails.

As we approach the end of our trip together Bella reminds us that no matter how bad we think our jobs are --- or how tired we are of something at home --- it could always be much worse--it makes me very sad to recognize this. We arrived back to the ship about around 8:30 -- watched the sun set and watched as the tugs maneuvered us toward the opening in the bay and into the night....