My First Night

So…. a few blocks of broken sidewalk later, Rami and I and my two suitcases come to a very crowded market area. Vendors line the streets and a large building to our right houses about eight stores.
Rami heads up the stairs leading to a bakery.

“This is us,” he says. The bakery??

We walk through a wide building corridor with more storefronts on either side. He makes a sharp left into a vestibule with a concierge desk. The attendant smiles as Rami rings for the elevator.

Yes, we are staying right above – literally – a market, both inside and outside our building. It’s a deliciously noisy strip of street where you can buy yummy fruits, veggies, meats, breads, condiments, chesses, apparel, accessories and more knick-knacks than a paddy can whack.

I’m tired and hungry and want to nap, but Rami has bought some pizza – a thick-breaded square topped with chunky fresh sauce and olives. And Raquy is just about to head off to teach her Thursday tabla class at a nearby university and asks if I’d like to join her.

Can I possibly resist??

Nope.

We skip a short three blocks to a salmon colored building where the guard asks for my passport. Then it’s up the slow, slow elevator to a dumbek-filled ante-room. We follow the DUMs to a gaggle of students cheefully whacking away.

They are all beginners, but surprisingly good – and they will perform with her at her concert next week! One student plays his homework composition as I accompany with a steady malfuf.

Ah… then it’s naptime. (Back at the apartment, not at the college – though I was ready to hit the tiles anytime!)

I doze for a few hours and wake to find two new people in the apartment: Dave, a guitarist Brit now living in Cairo, and fellow musician Fred who is visiting from Sweden.

We are planning to go to The Blue Nile restaurant, which is a swank hot spot on a fixed boat, so I dress up. But when we call for reservations, we are out of luck.

At 11pm, we manage to get a table at a nearby Lebanese place that serves a bowl of unsliced raw veggies – tomatoes, cukes, peppers (red, green and hot!) – which we devour. “Most people just leave the salad as a centerpiece,” Raquy remarks, “I think we’re the only ones who actually eat it!”

I tried out my few Arabic phrases on the waiter, but ultimately Rami ordered mixed meats, hummus, breads and other tasty staples.

“The best food in Cairo is Lebanese,” Dave noted as we strolled back. “Most of the Egyptian stuff is heavy and greasy.”

Finally back at 1am, we drop our bags and jackets at the apartment and head downstairs to our Nubian neighbors’ weekly Thursday party.

We descend a flight to a spartan lounge – linoleum, flourescent lights and about twenty Nubian men chatting, smoking, drinking tea, playing pool and ping-pong. I watch the pool game and am quickly asked if I want to take a shot.

I try. I miss.

I join Raquy in a sideroom where she has set up her kamanche, with Rami, Dave, Fred and several frame-drum-toting partygoers holding down the rhythm. I join on zills.

She plays her own compositions and a few Arabic numbers, then the Nubian men begin to gleefully sing traditional songs. They bring us tea and cigarettes. I’m in heaven.

Finally. Bed at 3am.

My First Day

Feeling mellow. Oh so mellow and looking forward to a quiet cozy sleep – for as long as it will last.

I’m in Raquy’s apartment now, which faces a hugemarket, where people are constantly screaming about their unequalled carrots, bananas, melons, you name it, as cars trundle by carelessly…but let me backtrack to…

9am -- Egypt time!

I got through three or four episodes of House before finally packing it in around midnight…. In the air for about five hours by then, and probably nearing Britain. Our seats were right next to the throbbing engine, so I had to crank the phones, which eventually gave me a headache even my boredom couldn’t dispute.

I unplugged, downed half-an-Ambien and was gone, baby, gone instantly.

What a sight I must have been, curled up in trench coat, three scarves wrapped around my head, two pillows and an exra blanket.

Ranya, my seatmate, must have thought I looked like a giant slug!!

Happily, I slept well and woke up less than an hour to landing. Here is the view from my wing. Notice the green little villa -- well, somebody's mansion -- complete with swimming pool!!

We landed smoothly and I headed towards immigration. A quick visa purchase later ($15), I searched for a cab.

There were tons of guys offering a ride to my destination in a district called Mounira, which is in Downtown Cairo -- it should be less than a half-hour ride from the airport, and costs less than 40 Egyptian pounds when cabbing it from nearby neighborhoods.

But, as you'd expect, the limo drivers were demanding over 85 EGP!! I turned them all down and flagged down a rinky-dink car, asking for a 40EGP ride. He asked for 60, and I agreed to 50.

And then we were immediately stopped by the police who asked me to sign a ledger (which I did illegibly). The driver gave the cop 20 EGP and promptly blamed me for the fine and said I would have to pay more! (Turned out he was driving without a license).

He also made me pay the 5EGP fee to exit the airport.

And he took the long, LONG way around, going way south and then crawling up a traffic-packed main drag. I called Rami, and asked for help. He asked to speak to the driver, so I handed over the phone saying "my boyfriend would like to talk to you."

Rami gave directions, but the driver continued to circle within just a few blocks of the address, increasing his fare every few minutes. He careened down tiny traffic- and pedestrian-packed streets, at one point whacking his passenger-side mirror so it hung by its rubber tubing.

I called Rami again, and a third time. Finally he told the driver to stop where we were and he came to meet us.

I told the driver that Rami would pay him when he arrived.

I handed Rami a 50-pound note and he valiantly persuaded the driver to let it be.

And so we were off...

Next entry: My First Night!!!


[Note: I will try to update this post with more photos, but in the meantime, please go to flickr.com and search the tag CairoCarol]