Cairo. I’m not even sure how to begin describing the city of Cairo. Nearly 8 million people live within the city and over 17 million live in the greater Cairo area – it is Egypt’s largest city and the most populated city on the continent of Africa. It’s hard to wrap your head around those numbers when you’re from a town with, approximately, 10,000 (Leesville) or 20,000 (Natchitoches) people in it.
Traffic. People in Egypt drive like no place I have ever been (I thought Italy was bad, they have nothing on Egypt). Traffic lanes mean nothing, speed limits are arbitrary, turn signals are voluntary, and people and animals share the road with the vehicular traffic. A couple of us were coming back from a jewelry store and our driver took the wrong road off the traffic circle near our hotel (Alexandria’s (Louisiana, that is) traffic circle has nothing on these things – they were huge!). So, instead of just continuing down the road and turning around, he just backed up – on a one way street, INTO the traffic circle. He wasn’t the only one, this turned out to be pretty standard practice (I – I’m sure we all did – still feared for my life every time it happened). They also use a honking system to warn other drivers of their intent – 1 honk: I’m approaching, 2 honks: I’m passing, and 3 honks: I’m approaching quickly and passing. I also never wanted to be involved in an emergency situation while we were there because people just ignored the sirens of emergency vehicles.
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Trash. When we got to Cairo, the first thing we noticed was the trash and dirt. There was trash everywhere, in addition to the dirt that blew in from the desert constantly. We found our later that the trash issue was because the government of Egypt had sub-contracted the trash collection and now only people who could afford it go their trash collected.
Pollution. The city was really polluted. You’ll notice in most of the pictures that the pollution just hangs over the city. The day we went to the pyramids, you could barely see all three of them when we were standing by the sphinx (a pretty short distance). Vehicle emissions are not regulated, the city grew unbelievably quickly, and unregulated lead and copper smelting all contribute to the problem (in addition to industry and trash burning).
Architecture. The city has some amazing architecture. We spent an afternoon at the bazaar and it was located inside the medieval walls of medieval Cairo. It was pretty awesome. Many of the structures in this area date from the 1100 and 1200s.
It was amazing. Despite all the things mentioned previously, I was fascinated by this city. At first, all the “city noise” was grating, but once I got used to it it was almost comforting. The sheer volume of people in one place was amazing to me and the fact that crime was so low was surprising. Most of the Egyptians we met were extremely nice and more than willing to help the silly Americas find their way to or from a location. It was also amazing to learn how many of them not only spoke English (and very well), but also spoke French or Spanish. One of our drivers told us that he spoke 8 languages (EIGHT!!) and that it only took him six months to learn each one. Our tour guide spoke 3.5 (as he told me) languages: Arabic, French, English, and some German.
Traffic. People in Egypt drive like no place I have ever been (I thought Italy was bad, they have nothing on Egypt). Traffic lanes mean nothing, speed limits are arbitrary, turn signals are voluntary, and people and animals share the road with the vehicular traffic. A couple of us were coming back from a jewelry store and our driver took the wrong road off the traffic circle near our hotel (Alexandria’s (Louisiana, that is) traffic circle has nothing on these things – they were huge!). So, instead of just continuing down the road and turning around, he just backed up – on a one way street, INTO the traffic circle. He wasn’t the only one, this turned out to be pretty standard practice (I – I’m sure we all did – still feared for my life every time it happened). They also use a honking system to warn other drivers of their intent – 1 honk: I’m approaching, 2 honks: I’m passing, and 3 honks: I’m approaching quickly and passing. I also never wanted to be involved in an emergency situation while we were there because people just ignored the sirens of emergency vehicles.
Trash. When we got to Cairo, the first thing we noticed was the trash and dirt. There was trash everywhere, in addition to the dirt that blew in from the desert constantly. We found our later that the trash issue was because the government of Egypt had sub-contracted the trash collection and now only people who could afford it go their trash collected.Pollution. The city was really polluted. You’ll notice in most of the pictures that the pollution just hangs over the city. The day we went to the pyramids, you could barely see all three of them when we were standing by the sphinx (a pretty short distance). Vehicle emissions are not regulated, the city grew unbelievably quickly, and unregulated lead and copper smelting all contribute to the problem (in addition to industry and trash burning).Architecture. The city has some amazing architecture. We spent an afternoon at the bazaar and it was located inside the medieval walls of medieval Cairo. It was pretty awesome. Many of the structures in this area date from the 1100 and 1200s. It was amazing. Despite all the things mentioned previously, I was fascinated by this city. At first, all the “city noise” was grating, but once I got used to it it was almost comforting. The sheer volume of people in one place was amazing to me and the fact that crime was so low was surprising. Most of the Egyptians we met were extremely nice and more than willing to help the silly Americas find their way to or from a location. It was also amazing to learn how many of them not only spoke English (and very well), but also spoke French or Spanish. One of our drivers told us that he spoke 8 languages (EIGHT!!) and that it only took him six months to learn each one. Our tour guide spoke 3.5 (as he told me) languages: Arabic, French, English, and some German. Belinda
You guys really know how to end graduate school! Very nice trip. Did you eat Egyptian food, or KFC and Pizza Hut? Does Coke in Arabic taste the same as Coke in English? Pepsi? Did the crawfish have any trouble with airport security?
ReplyDeleteLindie's uncle Grove