Cairo is an extraordinary city. There are 20 million people in Cairo, which makes it the third largest city in the world (after Mexico City and Tokyo). Every day more than 4 million cars are moving through Cairo, so traffic is always congested. The very rich live here (with flats in downtown overlooking the Nile costing millions of dollars) and the very poor (there are some people literally living in family burial tombs or in makeshift huts alongside the highway). The country is predominately Muslim, but they have a rich history of many religions. Egypt is divided into lower Egypt (represented by the lotus) and upper Egypt (represented by the papyrus), and Cairo is the capital city.
Egypt is in a state of change since the uprising of January 2011, after which president Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down after a 30-year reign. This was considered a "leaderless revolution," primarily organized by the working people and youth of Egypt. Since then, the military chiefs have promised "free and honest" elections, and of course the citizens are hopeful that this will be true. We drove past Tahrir Square, the site of the protests and riots of January-February of 2011, where there are still gatherings. From the square you can see the burned out building of Mubarak's national party. Last night there was political rally across from our hotel, with hundred of people chanting and rallying for one of the presidential candidates. Elections will take place in May.
We have been very busy visiting schools, and they are enchanted with Superkids! As we navigate through the city with our trusty colleague Waleed, we are often stuck in traffic for a very long time, so we have a lot of time to observe our surroundings. One day, Laura tracked these interesting sites, all seen within one 15-minute span of time on the road:
- A truck with 2 buffalo in the back
- A BMW dealership
- A bicycle coffee cart
- People along the highway (literally just feet from traffic) selling anything from fruit to toys, to cooked food, to paper.
- A donkey cart piled high with garlic
- Makeshift huts alongside palacial new apartment buildings
- Hundreds and hundreds of buildings being built
- Roundabouts with dozens of people waiting for buses and vans
- Military posts with armed guards
- Women fully covered, women in western garb
- A waterpark next to a mosque
Your faithful correspondent,
Alf
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