Codiwompler

All through the night, there was a cacophony of train car noises whether it was conversations, loud phone calls, robust snoring, passengers boarding or disembarking, doors opening and then slamming, apologies, attendants selling food, trains honking, trains brakes entering the station, the Islamic call to prayer, ….  Of course, I didn’t notice any of this – not!  I tried headphones, and then earplugs, different headphones, questioning my sanity in not looking harder for my own cabin, etc.  In the end, while it wasn’t peaceful, I did get some sleep and woke up in time to watch the sunrise as the train trundled on and on.  Considering we paid $12/person for this night’s accommodation, which relocated us 550 miles south while we sort of slept, it wasn’t too bad.  I would do it again actually. In case anyone asks, I was masked up (really – this is how I looked for most of the trip).

We arrived in Aswan just before noon and disembarked.  Repeatedly declining assistance and a driver, we walked a mile or so to the KFC that identified the ferry boat to carry us across to Elephant Island in the middle of the Nile.  Once across, we then walked back downriver to the Nubian guest house to drop off our bags and greet our host. 

Our host was a wonderful woman of about 65 years.  She was short in stature but full of spunk and vigor in her manor. She greeted us in a traditional black hijab and spoke broken but quite adequate English. That evening we sat overlooking the Nile and talked with here about here life.  She married a Nubian man from a much poorer Nubian village. Her mother didn’t approve of the marriage, but her dad didn’t think he had much choice, so he went along with it.  Unfortunately, the marriage was abusive, and she separated after having a son.  After some time, the community persuaded them to give marriage a second try but while pregnant with her second child, the abuse continued, and she return to her parent’s home, never to marry again. While she didn’t say anything explicitly, I imagine it was incredibly brave especially given the Islamic stigma regarding divorce and a woman’s place – in the 1970’s none the less. On a different topic, she also talked about how she likes the current government as they provide safety rather than the threat of war, even at the expense of freedom and democracy.  I suspect the view is relatively common among those 60 and older.

In the afternoon, our host setup a driver to take us to the Aswan High and Low dams, the Unfinished Obelisk, and the (relocated) Temple of Philae. The Obelisk was unfinished because it cracked down the middle before it was even extracted. I say relocated in regards to the Temple of Philae because it would have been buried when building the Aswan High Dam but the UNICEF relocated it to another before the dam was complete.

At the Obelisk we were ushered in to watch a free 15-minute National Geographic movie and then promptly asked for tips.  As we walked around the Obelisk, the security guard proceeded to demonstrate to us what we already knew from the movie and then he too cajoled us for money – and then money for his friend.  It’s non-stop.  You can’t even go to the bathroom without someone asking for money or, at a minimum, to buy a few squares of toilet paper – even if you are a guy and just went pee.

The temple required a boat ride and I confess that I was exhausted when they started haggling with us so we paid too much but oh well.  I don’t actually mind paying, even slightly more, but I have no clue how much a boat ride is worth here.  And asking me how long I am going to be at a temple whose name I can’t even correctly pronounce, doesn’t help.  Furthermore, preventing me from going on the same boat as some Egyptians when we are going to the same place, now that’s just silly.

Similarly, I shouldn’t have to pay when I don’t actually want your help.  Ask me if you must, but if I decline, leave me to get lost on my own, laugh at me if you like, but wait until I come back with my tail between my legs rather than constantly hound me or walk in front of me as though you are leading me to where I was already going.

Of course, there is the alternate perspective that tourism is all but absent here and they are desperate for some income.  What’s another $3.34 USD to me (a €50 EGP note). If you were trying to feed your family and the economy collapsed, wouldn’t you be doing the same when presented with no other options? But, still, when they provide a service you want – sure, but not when they just annoy you and want you to pay them for it. And so the internal battle rages over and over again while you are out and about.

We finished up our tour and headed back to the ferry, crossed back to Elephant Island and had a fantastic Nubian meal cooked by our host.  It was a great way to end the day.  After dinner looking over the Nile, we hung out with a couple (progressive?) Egyptian women who had hooked up with an American man that was holding out in Egypt as a cheaper option until post COVID-19 in the United States. His manner was a little off, but we tolerated him. In contrast, we had great discussions with the Egyptian women about whether it was possible to enter Jordan, or take a ferry across the Red Sea to the Sanai Peninsula.  Our host, however, didn’t agree, and took me aside to warn me that these women were lacking discretion, free loading and possibly engaging in less than proper Islamic behavior.

Garbage city is truly remarkable. It covers 5.54 square kilometers, was home to 262,050 people in the 2006 census (up 100,000 people 10 years prior). It has the highest population of Zabbaleen (garbage collectors) whose livelihood is based around collecting the resident’s garbage on trucks and donkey carts, hauling it back to their home, sorting it based on what is useful and then selling it back to middlemen or feeding the organic scraps to pigs and goats that live alongside them. As we passed by, we could look in on large rooms with people sitting on concrete slabs sorting through garbage. Everywhere you turn – in the buildings, on the streets, even on the rooftops, there are bags of garbage and the people here going through the bags and sorting it out.

To make matters worse there is limited availability of sewer, electricity, and water. It is hard to fathom. As we walked through we were greeted and followed by the kids who wanted to know our name and then smile and greet us. Remarkably, unlike in the bazaar yesterday, they weren’t begging us to buy anything. They were just friendly and excited when we greeted them back. After about 1-1.5 hours zig-zagging our way through Manshiyat Naser we ended up against the hillside where the road merchants disappeared as did the garbage associated with the commerce there. We walked through a gate and suddenly found ourselves in a quite clean area of sanctuary from the hustle and bustle that preceded. We continued our walk and ended up at St Simon (the Tanner) Monastery. It was surreal to walk into such tranquility after the “slum” area. Here there were numerous Christian rock carvings and two churches hidden in the overhanging rock. The acoustics were incredible and there was certainly a calm. I would love to attend a service. There is also significant school and accompanying children’s programming here as evidenced by the zip line and a small turf soccer field with a youth practice in session. I was impressed with what it offered and fascinated to know more – both about the church and the favela type living around it. I would love to spend time here and see how I could serve.

To start the day yesterday, we visited the Grand Egyptian Museum – GEM and saw the King Tut mask along with various other sundry artifacts from 0 to 1,400 BC. I’m not much of a museum person, but the dates on these artifacts were hard to fathom. On our walk from there, we were absconded twice by locals wanting to just show us stores with great deals. It was harmless and we went along for the short walks, but since we have little to no desire to purchase anything, we politely excused ourselves. (The lack of tourists here is clearly devastating the economy. I’m considering what we can do in place of not fulfilling the roll of spendy tourists.) Next, we headed for the Cave Church, but it was completely miss marked (by many miles) on Google Maps. We abandoned the search and instead headed to the Abdeen Palace Museum. Unfortunately, it turned out to be another museum – and the one seemingly gilded room I had wanted to see was closed. Oh well! Next on our list was a quick trip to the Mohammed Ali Palace.

We decided to get back on track with our search for the Cave Church via an Uber, but our driver repeatedly missed turns and drove way off course. Once we entered Manshiyat Naser, “Garbage City” in English, because of the people’s work, we ended our ride and proceeded on foot.

See my next post: Traveling to Egypt: Day 3.5 – Garbage City

To navigate our way back to the main road after visiting the Cave Church we took a tuk-tuk. From the main road, we hailed a taxi (intentionally trying an alternative to Uber) and got parked in gridlock. We decided to travel the rest of the way on foot. Unfortunately, the taxi driver insisted on charging us more than double what the Uber ride would have cost (the gridlock was irrelevant as Uber had accounted for that already). Grr!! We returned to our luxury hotel (feel free to gag in disgust here), hung out in the lobby until it was time to head to dinner. For dinner, we headed to a local Italian affair before walking the rest of the way to our train. At the train station, one of the station attendants called to us just as we were trying to determine our platform. He then proceeded to take us to the correct platform (which was actually helpful this time). When our train finally arrived, the same attendant then helped us board the correct carriage and find our seats. (We tipped him.) The train was moderately full and very old – what I would affectionately call 3rd world first class.

We set an alarm for 7:30 AM (Egypt) and headed to a wonderful hotel breakfast. Following that we headed to Giza to see the Great Pyramids of Giza and Sphinx (obviously). We ended up walking around all 9 pyramids and had fantastic views. Aside from the camel (desert) taxis, there were relatively few people around – and none of them Caucasian. After about 3 hours and almost 4 miles of walking, we decided to be done and head back into Cairo. We took an Uber back to Cairo, specifically the Khan el-Khalili bazaar. Miles (well km actually) and miles of mini-stores seemingly randomly ordered into topics – clothes, perfumes, watches, jewelry, fruits, shoes, washing machine repair, fish, chickens, bread, pigeons, and on, and on, and on. And throughout the market was dotted with feral dogs and cats. We covered about 3 miles before heading towards the Zwuwala Gate. The cornucopia of smells was amazing: cumin, licorice, urine, manure, perfume, putrid mud, incense, fresh bread, burning car exhaust, ….Next we headed up to the Citadel where we walked around the Salah Al-Din Al-Ayoubi Castle and Mosque of Mohammed Ali. The views over Cairo from here are spectacular Much to the chagrin of the local taxi drivers, we continued on foot, walking to the Al azhar Park and perusing that for a while. (In combination of here and the Citadel, we must have seen the photographing of at least ten wedding parties.)Our next stop was the Ramses Railway Station. On the way we reentered the bazaar and I purchased a cheaper than cheap-quality ball cap next to nothing. At the station it took a while to figure out what and where to buy the train tickets, but we eventually had two tickets to Aswan for tomorrow night. We paid $11 for a 13 hour train ride in first class (2nd class was $3 cheaper).After a brief stop at our hotel, we then headed to dinner at a superb Turkish restaurant.’

In total we walked 20 miles for the day and covered most of our priority items in Cairo.