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March 12, 2007
Egypt Revisited
My husband Shane and I visited Cairo and Giza in Egypt on our trip around the world last fall. You might remember that I posted a couple photos from our trip back in September, including a visit to The Saladin Citadel and The Great Pyramids.
Shane is now reliving his experiences on his blog, and talking about the lasting impressions of the trip. His candor often makes me chuckle, as I am reminded of his worldliness from before I met him (he had never left the time zone).
Within the Citadel, I happened across the filthiest restroom I'd ever seen. It was also probably the oldest. Scary, too, was the fact that locals were filling up their water bottles. From the looks of it, it would have been safer to fill up a water bottle from a puddle in an overcrowded cow pasture.
...
The last impression was the absolute chaos at the airport on the way out. I wrote about that before, so I won't go in to much detail now. Suffice it to say, if there had been a panic from real or a false threat, people would have died.
Read More At Shane's Blog: Egypt: In Retrospect
Reading his post on Egypt has reminded me of my own experiences in Cairo. As Americans, we were very much not welcomed, as we learned when we first arrived. We had, perhaps stupidly, not arranged for transport from the airport to Giza in advance, wanting to do things on our own. The chaos that greeted us made us very uncomfortable and we kept being followed around (get used to it). We eventually brokered a not-terribly-overpriced taxi ride to our hotel by vetting it with a third party, a woman at one of the hotel desks, who vouched for the individual offering us a ride.
Arriving at our hotel with a view of the pyramids (about a 15 minute walk if you don't believe the directions of the camel riders) we had our car bomb sweeped. Like seriously sweeped. We stopped at those moveable bomb blocking cyliders and talked to guys with guns vaguely pointed in our direction. They had dogs, they checked the trunk, they had mirrors and checked under the car. They questioned the driver, and us. Then they let us through and we went to the entryway. We didn't want to leave our bags outside, so Shane checked us in while I watched our bags (1 suitcase plus two carry-ons). The hotel staff kept saying I could go, but I just laughed and stayed. You might think we were being overly cautious. Perhaps, but we never insulted anyone and we tended to make friends instead. Also, we made it through a trip around the world and didn't lose a single thing to slippery fingers, even in some of the most common places for thievery.
When white guests and women went into the hotel, the staff didn't make them go through the metal detectors, but when anyone else did, they made them. I admit, all the bomb stuff made it both interesting and a bit nerve-racking to eat at the cafe in the lobby since the State Department told us to avoid hotel lobbies and such places. We did, for the most part, but if we had totally hid in our rooms, it would have defeated the purpose of the visit, right? Besides, the food there was awesome and we got to see an Egyptian wedding that was held there and do a lot of people watching without having a single person hit us up for something. The day we arrived in Giza, bird flu broke out there. Great! Poultry, one of the staple safe foods when properly cooked is now rather off the menu. Still, the food we had in Egypt was actually really good. Lamb became our primary meat course.
Having a working GPS was a must for us in Cairo. Whenever we got in a taxi, we were able to see whether or not we were headed in generally, the right direction. It was especially useful for the return trips, which were often hailed ourselves. We could see that the driver was following a similar route back to our hotel. We had our concierge write us little notes like "Please take us to the ABC Hotel in Giza" so we didn't have to worry about the language barrier, or even speak English in front of anyone, just work out fees on a calculator and smile and chuckle.
The Khan el-Khalili shopkeepers didn't know what to make of us. We didn't respond to English, so they'd switch to French, Spanish, German... Perhaps I should have covered my hair but I had read that only certain women did so and I did not want to misrepresent myself. Despite attaching myself to Shane in the crowds, I got the worst groping of my life there and while I can safely say the guy regretted it (I elbowed him hard in the gut), it was a bit upsetting. We left the market and went into Old Cairo where people still have careers making brass lamps and baskets. The roads are very narrow and filled with all sorts of vehicles. Here the locals are shopping, and no one bothers us, although we are almost run over on several occasions. I'll never forget the giant rotary where we finally hail a cab home - it's a swirling vortex of buses belching black smoke, honking taxi cabs, people on bikes holding the corners of cars and overloaded donkey carts.
The Citadel was fantastic, a beautiful historical monument with a view the city for miles around it. Pyramids vaguely visible through the heavy haze. We happened to be there for the afternoon prayer call which we got on video. As the sun set, a guard showed us some of the closed-off areas like the prison. We had to stay hydrated and so Shane visited the restroom. As a girl in visiting the third world, you quickly learn to pee standing up. Luckily, backpacking teaches you that, too. Still, after a very brief visit to the airport bathroom early on in the trip (frightening, I think I saw lepers) I decided I would avoid public restrooms in Egypt whenever possible. Going in meant being disconnected from Shane, which was dangerous, and was disgusting in almost all cases anyway.
As Shane described, the Cairo airport scene on our way out was beyond description. A mob scene in which we we initially thought something must be very wrong, and people were trying to leave the country en masse. Of the hundreds of people there, we were the only whites and stood out. Tour groups did not go through this but had a special other entrance. The chaos was balanced with very friendly guards. When we finally got into a line of sorts, we were surrounded by women with large groups of children and even more luggage (like contents of my first apartment). All of which stared at us openly, but wouldn't smile. The women eyed us suspiciously. At one point, a woman's cart had been pushed over by some men pushing to the front to argue with the counter staff (this happened a lot). She was older and had a baby in her arms, so I picked up her cart and righted it for her, fixing her luggage. After that, she nodded regally to me and others nearby murmured, and I felt I'd gotten a reprieve of sorts.
We were screened repeatedly for weapons. All the metal detectors everywhere were going off constantly, but no one was stopped. They just shoved through, sometimes three at a time. Same for the luggage. Finally, at the gate, we were screened again by two guards. Shane and I were wearing the EXACT same gear - our REI hiking boots, light-weight cargo pants and shirts. Yet Shane went through fine and I kept beeping. It must have been underwire. I tried emptying pockets, offered to take off my shoes. They wouldn't wand me, even though I would have been ok with it. I felt bad for making trouble for them. Finally, the guard just decided to ask me if I was carrying weapons and take my word for it.
"Are you carrying any weapons?" the guard looks amused.
"No," I smile.
"Are you carrying any bombs?" the guard laughs.
"No," I chuckle, feeling rather ridiculous.
"Ok, go on through."
And so we were off to Kenya.
Posted by sorsha at March 12, 2007 8:04 PM
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Comments
Hey, I don't recall any previous mention of lepers?!
I did miss in my post the overall feeling of not really being welcome there. It was this feeling of always being watched, but not in a good way.
With so many people out to get our money, too, the feeling was backed up by somewhat bad behavior. On the flip side, though, the guards and other truly official looking folks never did bother us. Regardless, I never felt comfortable walking near them with their automatic weapons and blast shields.
Posted by: Shane Conder | March 12, 2007 11:26 PM
I really like the term "blast shields". It reminds me of Voltron.
Posted by: Lauren Darcey | March 12, 2007 11:27 PM
"As Americans, we were very much not welcomed, as we learned when we first arrived."
If you weren't welcomed then why the hell did they bomb sweep your car, surely they wouldn't have shown that level of concern. They allowed you to enter the hotel without being searched every time- favourable treatment, no? I have lived in Egypt and I know for a fact that americans are welcomed with open arms because the egyptian people are good enough to differentiate between [bad] foreign policy of a country and the its individuals.
Write something that makes sense next time. Here's hoping you are secure enough to handle criticism and post this.
Posted by: observer | March 13, 2007 4:05 AM
Observer makes a few good points.
We did receive preferential treatment at a primarily western hotel and generally were well treated by anyone in an official capacity.
Other places, though, all bets were off.
We were hissed at, spit at, yelled at, groped and generally watched with very unfriendly and suspicious expressions even after attempts at being friendly.
We are familiar with bartering and creativity used to get a sale (aka outright lying) and so the obscene starting prices for things did not upset us as they do many newbie tourists. We certainly aren't going to begrudge someone trying to make a living.
This was not our first time out of the country by any means and we've gotten flack before for our foreign policy, which we happen to not agree with at all. This normally involves some lively discussion on both sides and eventual grudgingly-given respect where we all come out knowing something new.
This was not our first time in the third world. This was our first time in an Arab country and it did feel markedly different. The US State Department website, which basically recommended keeping your national identity a secret, seemed to be overstating things to us, but we rather quickly saw that the message currently being sent is not one of welcoming Americans, any Americans, with open arms.
The locals we spoke to told us that very few Americans visited Egypt anymore. They were upset that tours were not coming because they didn't get the tourism revenue, but followed up with the fact that they didn't particularly like Americans anyway. Can't blame them there, either, having seen your average American in a foreign country, but it didn't really give us the warm fuzzies.
I never said I wouldn't go back, but throughout the world trip we took, we encountered how badly the Bush administration has made things, even for low-key trekkers like ourselves, who generally mind their own business and do their best not to offend anyone.
Sorry if I offended you.
Posted by: Lauren Darcey | March 13, 2007 8:41 AM
As an American living in Cairo for the past 8 months, I have to completely disagree with the "As Americans, we were very much not welcomed" comment.
In my entire time here, I have never once felt not welcome. I've been welcomed into people's homes and eaten dinner with complete strangers, been invited to someone's wedding and given the guest of honor seat, been helped get to my destination by people going well out of their way to help me, had an entire street of people chase a cab to stop it when we forgot a phone in it - and then the cabbie apologized to *us* because the phone fell out of our pocket.
I was born and raised in the States, I'm white as a sheet of paper, and I barely speak pigeon Arabic.
Egypt is home to some of the friendliest, most welcoming, most inviting people we've ever come across. I can't explain why you felt like you were not welcome. Perhaps it was something in your approach or your expectations. Perhaps it was the little notes that you had people write to speak for you. Or the "are we going the right way" GPS. Or perhaps it's the "I'm an American" attitude.
My time here unfortunately grows short, but I certainly will miss it and all the people that I know here. Yes, I will absolutely miss the pollution and the dust storms. I won't miss the attitudes towards women - but I will miss it here.
Check out my blog, I put the address in the url box above. There's lots of stories from our experiences. Perhaps you'll see what it's like here.
Posted by: Tim | March 14, 2007 1:28 AM
Observer,
It's true that they bomb swept our taxi on our way in to the hotel. But they bomb swept them all. That didn't make us feel any more welcome. Why would they be bomb sweeping if there weren't problems? And where else would there be problems than at a western hotel? We didn't see full sized barricades and bomb sweepings at the other places we went to.
I'm sure it's true that it is only a small percent of the population really don't want us there. However, we really didn't feel welcome there. It was an unfortunate fact. Also unfortunate appears to be the fact that many recent American travelers to Egpyt have felt the same way.
We wouldn't stop someone from going there (like our own state department site tries to), but we would give some warnings and advice to better prepare the person.
And, eventually, we will go back. There are still many historical sites that we'd like to see.
It is good to hear that at least someone had a good experience there. How recent did you go (and live) there?
Posted by: Shane Conder | March 14, 2007 8:50 AM
Well, it's nice to see a somewhat healthy discussion here, anyway. Although I do feel like I'm being gently flamed when people make comments about how it must have been my fault we were spit on.
We were not obnoxious tourists, we did not wave our flag around, take pictures of people without asking, use the GPS to anyone else's knowledge but we were admittedly very cautious, very polite, and on our guard as we had been told not to go at all, especially right before Ramadan.
I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised to find that some of our unease may have rubbed off sometimes. However, it was generally people we would walk by in markets and other larger venues that made us feel it, and they hadn't had the opportunity to note us for more than 30 seconds. Not a single person bothered us at the Citadel and or even really at the Pyramids (aside from the persistent camel rider offers, that are part of the experience).
The rest of Africa welcomed us with a lot of warmth and friendly faces, but things didn't work out that way for us in Egypt and it was disappointing.
So you can say that you don't agree with our assessment, and that's cool. I'm very glad to hear that your travels there worked out for you, but that's how WE felt and this is MY story.
That said, I felt that if we had stayed longer, we probably would have had a more favorable experience. We were only there a few days, it could barely be called a vacation there. The posters who have had favorable experiences have all stayed longer, often living there and even working for some time.
Posted by: Lauren Darcey | March 14, 2007 10:45 AM
It's possible that our timing was also not the best. You've got to remember what was on the news at that time:
The entire world was being reminded of Sept 11th. Airports were all at high alert because it was the 5th anniversary.
However, we have also stated that there were a number of people that were polite, nice, and helpful to us. Within the entire mess that was the airport, the security guards were always helpful, even to the point of ushering us through when they'd see we were having some trouble.
I'd also like to thank the people who have posted that they have had a good time. It does bring promise for our next trip out there.
Tim, you pointed out the attitude towards women. It's entirely possibly that the political climate of that time in Sept and the fact that Lauren is, in fact, a women, could have added to our perception of the situations.
Posted by: Shane Conder | March 14, 2007 4:25 PM
I am very interested in any more comments from the individuals who have actually lived in Cairo. I can see how taking a trip through Cairo could be a far different experience than living in Cairo and it has been interesting to read very different views, both from Americans.
I myself am interested in teaching in Egypt at the Nermien Ismail American School in Cairo. It looks like it would quite the experience. I have a friend who is Egyptian himself, and even he thinks I'm out of my mind to want to do this, however, I interest does not wane in the face of negative comments.
Anyway, if the individual who has lived there has any more comments to make about an American's daily life experience in Cairo, I would love to hear more.
Thanks for all the pro and con--certainly is more real that way.
Posted by: Christina Marent | June 6, 2008 7:34 AM
Dear Christina,
I agree that living and visiting are totally different. Any short stint in a foreign palce can be hit or miss, just like a visit somewhere local.
If there's anything traveling around the world has taught me, it's that when opportunities to experience something new come up, you should think long and hard before turning them down, because you could be missing out on something amazing and life changing.
Now reality dictates that some of those amazing experiences are going to be not-so-pleasant. But that's part of what makes you grow as a person.
My husband and I certainly haven't written off Egypt or anything of the sort. We had a less than spectacular initial visit, but we would return. There are just so many other places we need to try out first...
I think your possible teaching position sounds like a great opportunity, but only you can know if it's right for you. My parents carted me off to Switzerland when I was just over a year old not knowing a word of Swiss-German, but it was a life changing experience for them and helped shape me as a person.
I say go for it, but be prepared for a substantially different world, a totally different perspective, both the good and the bad.
Cairo is, in many ways, like any big city. Dusty, crowded, dirty, polluted. To the extreme because it's also very third-world outside of the city center. If you haven't experienced that before, you're going to see and learn a lot. I think everyone needs to spend some time outside of the US, and not just in Europe. Immersion is the most potent way to do so.
And like with any travel experience, especially if you go alone, be careful and make sure you have a support system of some sort while you're there. The school will help with that. Research in advance will, too.
Best of luck and keep in touch!
Laurie
Posted by: Laurie Darcey | June 6, 2008 12:11 PM