| Exploring an enclosed area of the Egyptian desert by camel, I am accompanied by a guide and three other Canadians. In the blistering sun, a turbaned man dressed in rags leaves his three-sided shack no bigger than a water closet to hang two pieces of laundry from his roof. The scene becomes surreal as an ear-piercing cellular phone rings — his.
There is something mystical about witnessing the evolution of a place so ancient and so full of history. Later, I visit the heart of Cairo. Walking the streets of Africa’s most populated city is like traversing a fantastical land like Oz. Past the peaks of the pyramids of Giza, where the gatekeepers of the seventh wonder of the world take refuge, sits this bustling city of old and new. While Egyptologists spend their days digging in the sand in search of buried clues to our past, the city of Cairo holds just as many treasures.
Here, rich and poor live right next door to each other. Amid the skyscrapers of the international business district, the poor hunch over taxis and push Chiclets or Kleenex through the windows while tapping their mouths and holding out their hands for money or baksheesh (tips).
A small boy riding a donkey turns and smiles as he slowly meanders amidst vehicles, pedestrians and animals. A shiny, black Mercedes honks its horn twice before accelerating to pass a sea of staggered taxis. Traffic is like a stampede of misfits. I look on with the reflective curiosity one has when viewing a double-exposed photo for the first time.
Suddenly, I was serenaded by the most enchanting and beautiful sound. Adhan, or the call to prayer. This song is played throughout the city five times a day corresponding with the five prayer times of Islam. Literally everything comes to a screeching halt while businessmen and villagers alike sprint to the nearest mosque or kneel on their sacred tapestries in spaces they’ve set aside for prayer.
Further down the yellow-brick road are artisans and their workshops, stables, sugar cane fields, restaurants, shopping malls, hotels, universities and museums. A mismatch of the biblical and the modern-day becomes the backdrop for prosperity and poverty, consumerism and spirituality. Coca-cola has its name in lights, and busy corners house fast-food joints like McDonalds and KFC. Whether people are trading camels and chickens or stocks and bonds, in Cairo, business is definitely booming.
Friendly Egyptian entrepreneurs will help you cross the never-ending flow of traffic, after which they invite you to drink tea and become friends – this tactic has been labelled Egyptian hospitality. Within their shops or papyrus museums, unsuspectingly sipping a deliciously sweetened hibiscus or mint tea, chatting with the locals, you are shopping before you know it. Some are sincere in their aspirations to get to know tourists and be hospitable. Buyers beware, others, utilizing slick sales pitches, set up for the metaphoric kill. Divide the special Egyptian price by five and start negotiating from there. Remember, however, the Canadian dollar goes far here, and food and lodging costs next to nothing. One can thus search the markets for authentic trinkets, spices, water pipes, flavoured tobacco and Egyptian cotton sheets without overspending.
In the middle of the desert just before sunset, with the darkening silhouette of the Giza pyramids in peripheral view, I finally felt connected with Queen Egypt’s majesty. It was like a page ripped from Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist – with the wake of the wind leaving behind its footprints in the sand, and miles upon miles of seemingly untouched open space pointing the way to peace. I could finally breathe.
Atop an Arabian horse, I gripped the saddle with fear. This was my first horse ride ever. As my teacher Ishmael and I set out we galloped at speeds I have never imagined; I thought I would fall, I thought I was flying. The feeling of fear dissipated as he chanted, "loose yourself, loose yourself, loose yourself." I found myself giving up the control I never had over this animal and surrendering to something indescribably exhilarating.
In the labyrinth of Cairo, each turn leads to a new adventure, be it experiencing beauty treatments a la Cleopatra, admiring ancient Egyptian artifacts, crawling inside the pyramids or riding a camel into the desert. Choose your own adventure – camp in the desert or stay at the Hilton, each path will lead to the unexpected. |
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