A Guy in Cairo!

Patrick and I safely landed in Cairo, Egypt today! We got in at about 1pm local time, and had an awesome, adventurous experience navigating our way from the airport to our hostel. We had the option of taking a cab for 90 Egyptian pounds or taking a city bus for 1 pound and then a short 10 pound taxi ride from where the bus would drop us off to the hostel (1 pound equals about 18 U.S. cents). Being the frugal folks we are (read: cheapskates), we opted for the bus. And let me tell you, that option was like opting to dive head first into Egypt's culture instead of taking the baby steps into the shallow end if we had taken one of the nice air conditioned "official" Cairo airport taxis. So glad we took the head-first dive!

To explain - first, a picture:

We consulted with a tour guide person in the airport who told us of our differing travel options, and after we chose the head-first dive option, he helped us out by writing directions on this piece of paper. First we were to take the free airport shuttle to the bus station, and then get on either the 400, 27, or 356 bus to go to Tahrir Square, where we would then hail a cab to take a short ride to our hostel, located in Zamalek, which is an awesome little island in the middle of the Nile River.

So we took the shuttle bus to the bus station. Simple. From there on, there's no way we would have made it without the kindness of some awesome strangers. The bus numbers were all in Arabic, so we couldn't tell which bus was which. After some confusing dialogue with some people at the bus station who barely spoke English, we were able to get them to find us the right bus to go on. Once we got on, I still made sure to check with the driver that the bus was in fact going to Tahrir Square.

Next dilemma - this bus isn't like a city bus in New York City or Chicago or something, where there's an LCD screen showing you what stop is next....in fact there's no announcement of what the stops are, and even if there were, there's no way we could have understood what they meant. And to add on to it, the bus just kept on getting more and more crowded...to the point where I couldn't move my body because I was trapped by other bodies and my luggage on all sides of me. I just had to stand there and hang on to the pole above me as my arm continued to lose blood circulation due to gravity pushing it down. Patrick and I had also become separated on the bus by a decent distance, and could no longer see each other because of all the people in between us. We were the only Westerners on it.

So I was essentially riding by myself, separated from Patrick at this point. After realizing this and that there was absolutely no way for me to figure out when I needed to get off the bus, I tapped my neighbor on the shoulder and said, "How much longer until Tahrir Square?" About 30 minutes, I was informed. "How do I know when I get there?" He smiled, and then said something aloud in Arabic to the others in our general vicinity. Seconds later, another man nearby raised his hand and smiled at me. The first man pointed at him and said, "Follow him. He's getting off at Tahrir Square."

So I introduced myself to this second man. His name was Ayman, and he was an incredibly friendly guy. We were both standing for the longest time, but when a seat finally became available, he immediately pushed me towards it, saying "Please, take a seat..." He kept on giving me updates on how close we were getting, despite the fact that he couldn't speak English very well at all.

The picture below should give you an idea of what the bus looked like, although keep in mind that it was much more crowded at its peak. I was only able to take this picture after it cleared out and Ayman forced me to take a seat. 

Eventually, we finally made it to Tahrir Square, where I prepared to say goodbye to him and thank him for his help - me and Patrick's next step, of course was to hail a taxi, which I felt confident we could do on our own. But before I could thank him and say goodbye, he had picked up my 56 pound bag and was leading me out to the street. Me and Patrick hurried to catch up to him - he was moving so quickly and the streets and sidewalk were so crowded. He was insistent on hailing a cab for us, as if it was his mission, his big responsibility for the day. To get a cab though, we needed to cross the street to get to the other side. Without much warning, he said "This way," and jumped out into the street with my bag over his head (I was just carrying my laptop bag, Patrick was still carrying his heavy and awkward luggage). We were seriously playing "Frogger" in the middle of this packed street in Cairo to get to the other side. It was crazy....cars honking, etc. But we made it to the other side and in short order, Ayman had hailed us a cab and we presented the driver, who spoke absolutely no English, the note above, on which the airport tour guide worker had scribbled the name of our hostel and the address in Arabic...what a life-saver! Patrick and I gave many thank yous to Ayman for his incredible kindness and willingness to help us. As we drove off in the taxi, I waved goodbye to him and he kept his eyes locked on mine with his hand held on his heart. Within ten minutes, we were at the hostel, and checked in. Incredible.

A shot of my view from the passenger side of the taxi:

After we chilled in our room for a little bit, me and Patrick hit the town, and took a really long walk all around! And man, let me tell you, Cairo is so COOL! It has a ridiculous amount of trash everywhere all over the ground, but other than that....it's super sweet.

Here's a video I shot today showing a 360 degree view of the Nile River and surroundings from a bridge Patrick and I were walking over:



Also, a couple of shots for Joe Ballard:

MOTOR






CYCLES









BABY!!!!!





More shots in this slideshow:



That's all for today! SO MUCH FUN...so pumped! Ryan Ubuntu gets in tonight. More adventure tomorrow.