DAY 30 - GOOD BYE, EGYPT
SYNOPSIS: From Cairo to Istanbul- a travel day. A reflection on Egypt, its climate, and its people; the good and the bad. The images are a variety of daily life scenes from Egypt including the environmental damage.
One last time I opened the computer and dusted away the fine layer of sand that had accumulated since the last time I closed it – dust in Egypt is omnipotent and omnipresent. I wonder how it will affect the life span of my computer and my camera… I also wonder how it affects the overall health of the Egyptians who live with it all their lives. My one month cough was a clear indication that all is not well.
I am in route to Istanbul via plane. Once before, coming from Luxor, had I passed through this thick layer of yellow as the plane ascended and flew into the blue sky. Was I just not tuned into this 15 years ago when I was here before, or where things different then? I remember vivid sun-rises and sun-sets in Luxor then. In fact, it made so much sense to me how the ancient Egyptians could not help but worship the sun god that was so ever-present to them. Where I live in rural Michigan, I only become aware of the sun after it is way up, and I hardly ever see it set unless I am near a lake or an ocean. But in Egypt, if you were up on a roof-top terrace or any other elevation you could watch the sun rise from its first rays to its last; but no longer.
We had a few blue-sky days, but most of the time a thick layer of smog was hovering above the cities from Cairo to Aswan, even in the country-side. The sun hardly broke through as the day progressed. What I will remember from this trip is haze. If you wonder about some of the blue sky in my pictures – don’t be fooled. There is Photoshop or LIghtroom, which I use. The contrast scale does wonders…
15 years ago there was trash, but what I observed this time was filth beyond belief and to a degree that I cannot fathom how people survive this. There are water channels crisscrossing the countryside for irrigation. These channels are universally used as garbage dumps. On our way to the pyramids garbage piled up along a channel’s bank so high that it had formed a mountain next to it. The loose garbage then falls into the river and accumulates until at the next bridge or obstacle, it piles up slowing down the water to a trickle. The water is slimy and thick and visibility is a few inches deep at best. At one spot a rotten donkey carcass floated in the channel and a few yards down a young girl was doing her laundry!
Yesterday morning at Pension Roma, a very distressed young girl came in for breakfast talking hysterically to the receptionist who in vain tried to calm her down. When she finally slowed down sufficiently, we got her to tell us her story: Yesterday evening, just as night fell around 6 PM, she was walking with a young Egyptian guy near the City of the Dead – a huge cemetery a few kilometers from the hotel. The road is a four lane thoroughfare with lots of traffic but few if any pedestrian. They stopped at a street corner when a Mitsubishi pulled up and two guys jumped out. Within seconds, they both had a knife held to their throats and had to surrender her hand bag which contained her money, passport, camera and a few other items. Likely within less than a minute, the two guys were back in their car speeding off. A taxi driver witnessed the scene, took them in, and tried to follow the car – in vain.
After she related her story, the three other people in the room for breakfast also had stories to share: Two of us, including me, lost cameras. One other person had $200 swindled out of her. But in each case, we had to agree, we had provided opportunities, we had let our guards down, and we were not following the strict security measures we all knew: Passport goes into a body bag; money goes into a money belt, cash will never be left unlocked, or handed over to a stranger (no matter how much sweet talk there is!) and cameras or valuables will never be let out of sight in public and crowded areas! These are things all travelers know. None of us was a novice tourist. Yet, all of us had been zapped. This was distressing.
Compared to cities like New York or other cities of millions of inhabitants elsewhere in the world, I still think that Egypt has much fewer theft incidents and acts of violence. What is more common and annoying on a daily basis is the haggling, the idea to quote low prices and then guilt-talk you at the end of the day into paying twice as much as agreed. I wonder if this is something that can be changed in the “New Egypt”. If government corruption will be tackled and eliminated, if living wages can be instigated, perhaps, this attitude can over time be eliminated as well? It has come top down. It will have to be tackled top down. There is so much of the tribal honor system still in place. But it simply does not apply to foreigners.
But enough of the bad! There are people everywhere who will seize opportunities and will not shy away from dishonest or even violent behavior. As a whole, Egypt is a safe country especially if you observe basic security rules. Egyptians are hospitable, outgoing, friendly, and proud. There is a lot of respect towards women and people are ever ready to help. The “Welcome to Egypt” calls from total strangers extended to me repeatedly will ring in my ear for a long time!
I have gained a lot of respect for the intellectuals in this county, particularly the few whom I met at Tahrir Square. One man attached himself to me last night on my way home from the Metro. “You should try one of these” - was a voice behind me as I passed a sweet potato roasting oven. “Shukran-la”, I answered, no thanks. I did not even look back. I did not want company. But a minute later the same voice was right next to me handing me a sweet potato. “Here, try it!” OK then, I sighed. The middle-aged man next to me asked what I thought about the New Egypt. I congratulated him and his country to this revolution and he started to tell me about himself. He was a medical doctor, spoke several languages and used to live in New York. When the revolution started, he came to Egypt to join and now he will stay because according to him, these young people need guidance. “They are ignorant”, he said. “My son went to university, but does not know the capital of Cuba”. He was full of enthusiasm and in obvious love for his country. “The ex-pats need to come back!” he exclaimed. “Egypt needs them now”. I could only agree.
A few blocks down, he apologetically parted. He would have loved to talk more, but was on his way to an appointment. He wanted nothing from me. He just reached out with a welcome gesture of a sweet potato and a desire to talk to an obvious foreigner about his country. Finally, Egyptians can breathe. He said that and I have heard it before. They are proud of this revolution and want recognition of that. He gave me his card should I ever want to continue our conversation. I am sorry I had to leave today. I would have loved to talk to him more.
Egypt, as so many other places in the world, is a country much more complex than we hear about in the West. Depending on our own political and social views we can twist and turn isolated incidents and portray them as general and universal truths. For every truth out there, there is at least one “counter-truth”. To do Egypt and its people justice we have to stop thinking of it in single-track terms.
I did not fall in love with Egypt as I have fallen in love with other places I visited. But I deeply appreciate the unique opportunities I had during this trip. I lost a week of travel time and my plan to visit Coptic monuments and Sinai completely fell by the wayside. I saw nothing of Cairo except Tahrir Square. But I lost nothing. I got a glimpse into history as it unfolded. I had the monuments of the Pharaohs to myself. I know that I will never be able to go back to them as I have been spoiled for life! Someday I would like to return and see Coptic and Islamic Egypt. And I would like to see what the Egyptians will make of this incredible chance. It will take a generation to tell. I am sure.
I will leave the goddess Maat behind. She did well. But she belongs to Egypt and much work is ahead of her and her people!
Good bye, Egypt.