We arrived in Cairo, fresh off about one hour of sleep. After hearing horror stories about Egypt Air we were just glad we made it at all. I watched out the window as we flew over miles and miles of sand. A pyramid here, and 100,000 year old ruin there. My mind sizzling like a frying pan. "Where the hell am I?" My brain couldn't compute. "It looks a little like Vegas." "No it looks like the moon" "I'd say Burning Man" "You expect me to get off this plane?" "Wow I'm in fucking Egypt."
Wiping the sleep from our eyes we were warmly greeted by Sabrina's Egyptian family. Right away I knew this was going to be a good trip. They snapped photos as we walked into baggage claim, and welcomed us with handshakes and smiles. Off to our apartment. Yup. As our Irish friends say, were a couple of little cats, always landing on our feet. Turns out the family has several apartments throughout the city, and some of them are empty. So here we are again, in a foreign country with an apartment all to ourselves (thanks to the kindness of others).
I've been looking forward to arriving in Egypt for almost the entire length of the trip. I think it's the extreme contrast cultures (american/middle east) that's most interesting to me. I couldn't wait to see for myself what the middle east was all about. The real Middle East. The real people. The real ideas. Not just what Fox News wants us to think. I'll stop before I go into a whole diatribe about the misperceptions of American media on the Middle East and the damage it does, and just move on to the rest of the day.
We get picked up for dinner around 9 and head into a market area to grab something to eat. I instaneously overload on visual stimulation. Everything is cool. Colors. Metals. People. I want to buy everything. I want to meet everyone. I want to take pictures of every square inch of every street we walk down. The architecture is amazing. The mosques, beyond words. Lights blink everywhere. The colors of spices, scarfs, head dresses, and hooka pipes all swirl together into one making me dizzy. The smell of meat grilling makes my mouth water. I love this city.
Beyond the colors. Beyond the lights. Are the people. Already I can tell I like them. From the customs guards in the airport to the guys trying to sell me minature statues of the sphinx, everyone has a smile on their face. Everyone has the most infectious laugh. Everyone just seems cool. Sabrina's cousin, her husband and their son are our instant best friends. We laugh and chat, share a meal, a hooka pipe, some tea and a lot of questions. They are so warm. So friendly. So accomidating that we feel like locals instantly. As we walk around the market people ask us where were from. We say "the US", they say "welcome to our country". I hear people as I pass say "my brother you are a lucky man." I think to myself, they have no idea just how lucky.
I can't put into words my first 10 hours in Egypt. I felt like I was dreaming for most of it. I also can't explain the desire I have inside of me, begging to learn everything about this culutre, to see every mosque, to meet every person. I hope today was just the beginning of an amazing month in this city. I really hope.
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