I looked out the window of the plane as the pilot announced that we were starting our descent into Cairo. All I could see was sand, then sand-colored building, a river, and more sand. I also saw 3 large pyramids and several smaller pyramids and the sphinx in the distance. When the plane finally landed, I felt the heat outside as I walked from the plane to the terminal. After some confusion on whether I should go through Customs or the transit counter, I purchased an Egyptian visa without showing any ID for $15 from a bank. I then walked through customs with my own escort. (Aside: As I walked around in a circle, I saw various airport personnel pull out their prayer mats at different times and pray in a corner or an open spot on the floor.) I went to Baggage Claim and saw that my bags were the last 2 to be collected from my flight. I walked over to the information counter and asked about tours around the city. I settled with a company that would take me to the
Egyptian Museum, outside the
pyramids at Giza, around the city, to dinner, and then take me back to the airport.
My guide, Tarek, was very helpful and knowledgeable about the city and country as a whole. My first impression of Cairo was that it was dirty, but not in the sense of piles of garbage and waste everywhere. Rather, there was a lot of sand and dust everywhere because it’s the desert. It is a city of ruins after all. There was lots of traffic on the way to the museum from the airport. The 2-lane road became 3.5 (.5 for motorcycles). Tarek pointed out different buildings, like the
Military Academy where Anwar Sadat, Muammar Gaddafi, and Saddam Hussein were trained. “Good things come out of that academy”, he said sarcastically. We passed President Moubarek’s gated estate, as well as palaces built by former kings. There was also a memorial dedicated to the October 1973 war with Israel, the last war between the 2 countries. It seemed like he uttered “mosque, mosque” every 5 minutes indicating that I should take pictures of yet another mosque. Egypt is a country comprised of 85% Muslims and 15% Christians, and “Everyone lives in harmony.”, according to him. At least that’s what THEY want us to believe.
The Egyptian Museum was amazing. The artifacts were either originals or replicas of pieces that were found in tombs and other excavated sites in the country. There was also a new exhibit on missing/stolen relics that should have been there and where the pieces were being held. The most prominent artifact was the Rosetta Stone, which is being held captive at the British Museum. (I know it’s there because I saw it with my own eyes.) In a small, almost hidden corner of the museum was a small collection of 10 or so Greek and Roman statues and busts. They looked so out of place relative to the rest of the collection. I took a few “unauthorized” pictures until someone yelled at me. I walked out of the museum at closing time to the sound of the call to prayer as the sun set. There was a mosque across the street. The rest of my tour would be in the dark.
We drove along the side of the
River Nile, and then over it and took a few pictures on the bridge. Tarek asked if I wanted to do a dinner cruise on the Nile, but I thought that was a bit too touristy (says the tourist) and expensive. I wanted to see more of the city. He took me to the obligatory shops where most tour guides take their customers and get commissions form the stores. The first store sold glass, jewelry, and body oils. The owner showed me how they make the oils and handed me a list of all the scents and their purpose. I was not interested. Next, we went to a papyrus show where the proprietor showed me how the paper was/is made. The stalk is first cut into pieces and trimmed. Then, flattened as much as possible and soaked in water to cure. The strips are thatched together until the paper is the desired size and for days to dry. I walked around the shop and found a ready-made papyrus that could be customized with my name. I received a 30% “discount” because I was the last customer of the night. I’m sure I was still overcharged because they had to pay Tarek’s commission, but I really liked my selection and did not have time nor energy to look for something cheaper somewhere else.
We went to Giza to view the pyramids and sphinx from outside. I arrived minutes before they closed and turned off the lights. I could only see the silhouettes, but that was good enough for me. One day I will go back & see more in the daylight. I went to dinner at a restaurant that served traditional food without a menu. The waiter asked if I wanted chicken, beef, or shrimp. A few minutes later, he brought out a huge basket of flatbread surrounded by eggplant, cabbage, white beans, chick peas, and 2 kinds of dipping sauces. My main course was chicken kebabs with white rice and fries followed b ice cream. From my seat in the restaurant, I could look down on the traffic below, and I could also see 2 pyramids in front of me on the other side of the road, It was amazing to me to be sitting in a city where people built these great monuments thousands of years ago.
Tarek told me he was going to take me to “Old Cairo”. I thought I was already in old Cairo. The city has been there for over 5000 years. (It reminded me of when I was a little girl and asked my mother how new was the New Testament. She told me it was very old, and I asked her if it was older than my grandmother. I thought it was just written recently. Why else would they call it “new”?) Old Cairo was very crowded even at night, and most of the people out were male. That is the only area where I saw garbage piles and smelled unpleasant odors. There were many stray cats in the street. I noticed lots of stray cats around the museum too. I only saw a couple of stray dogs while there.
By that time, I was really tired. I kept yawning as he pointed out more and more mosques. I finally said I wanted to go back to the airport around 10:30pm. He was willing to drive me around all night, but I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. I did not want to fall asleep in the car with a strange man in a strange city at night by myself. I camped out in a 24-hour restaurant in the airport. The manager told me it was okay for me to stay there until 6am when it was time for me to pick up my boarding pass for my 8:15 flight to Lagos. There was a long booth along the wall where I slept, read, ate, slept, and talked to the workers. There was also a restroom in the restaurant for me to freshen up. Later in the night, a man had the same idea as me and slept on the opposite end of the wall. Later, I saw him on my flight.
Six o’clock finally arrived and I bid farewell to the restaurant manager who checked on me off and on during the night. He even told me that he would wake me up so I wouldn’t oversleep, but I was already awake. He along with most of the other airport workers and people I met in the city were very nice and seemed to read from the same script. They would ask where I was from and then say, “Welcome to Egypt” or “Welcome to my country”. I picked up my boarding pass, checked my bags, and waited for my flight to start boarding. I had a little time left, so I walked around the terminal. There were a couple of shops and eateries grouped together. As I passed a bar, I saw Michael Jackson’s “
Remember the Time” video. I stopped to watch thinking how ironic it was that I was watching that particular video in Egypt.
A short time later, I went to my gate to board a bus that took us to the plane in the middle of the tarmac. I was no longer in 1st class. I sat in my usual window seat and thought I might have the row to myself. A few stragglers came on and a young man sat next to me in a row of 3. I thought he would move to the aisle seat when no one else came to our row, but he stayed in that middle seat. He seemed to have no awareness of personal space. I know that is a “Western” concept, and I am even more conscientious of personal space than most others, but I couldn’t understand why he thought it was okay for his newspaper to spread to my area or his arm to push my elbow off the armrest. His friend had a whole row to himself right behind us. This guy obviously was not going to move. I stood to go to the restroom and saw that there were several empty rows. On the way back to my seat, I moved my bag from the overhead bin and sat on one of those empty rows. I could finally relax. The flight attendant made an announcement as we started our descent to tell us she would be spraying the cabin with a required non-toxic spray to kill all the parasites we might be bringing into the country I assume. As the plane landed, my former neighbor and his friend stood up and walked to the back of the plane. The flight attendant told them to sit down, but they kept walking. He (flight attendant) yelled at them, they finally sat, then stood up again to look in a bag. The other passengers looked at them and shook their heads. I gave the “space invader” the side eye. When we arrived at the gate and everyone could safely stand to collect their items, those guys walked to the back of the plane again to the annoyance of all the passengers standing in the aisles waiting to deplane. I don’t know if it was their first time flying, or maybe they were unaware of the additional scrutiny placed on Nigerians since the “attempted bombing” in December that made people very wary of their actions.
Thank God I made it to Naija safe and sound where Onome was waiting for me at the airport. Renny and the girls were waiting in the car and drove up after Onome told them he found me. I was so happy to see them all, because our last time together was in 2008. Let the Nigerian adventures began.
