One Obama Dollar

7/30/2009

The sunset over Alexandria was a pretty one, and after sunrise, breakfast, and waiting to clear customs, it was time to explore Egypt.  It was surreal walking down the gangway, stepping on to solid land, and realizing that not only was I in Egypt, but I was in Africa!  I set out with Amanda, Athena, Kara and Jack, and after we got through the intense security of the port – especially in contrast to Bulgaria where there was frequently no one manning the port building – we set out into the city.  After exiting the port building, there was a long walk to the gate of the port, and the entire area was very well manicured, green lawns, fountains, flowers and the likes.  At the gate, we were again asked for passports, and required to sign out and get a slip of paper in order to sign back in when we returned.  We finally made it outside the gate, and were bombarded with the true Egypt.  It is not all nicely manicured lawns and ornate fountains, but it is a bustling city where horn honking makes up a language of its own, and the buildings are old, and mostly unfinished.  There is garbage and unpleasant smells everywhere, and it is crowded.  We were not only struck by the different world that is Egypt upon exiting, but we were also mobbed by cab drivers and vendors.  We started walking, saying we didn’t want a taxi, we didn’t want to buy anything, we wanted them to leave us alone, but that meant nothing, they followed us down the street, with more and more latching on until they outnumbered us at least two to one.  We decided they were not going to leave us alone, and we did need to take a taxi to get to our destination, so we agreed to take a taxi, and then even more yelling commenced.  They all started yelling out prices, “one Obama dollar each!” “five pounds!”, and tried to usher us to their cab, and then they were yelling at each other, because they all wanted our business.  Port security had to come over and break up the fight, turning to us and saying “walk, go”.  We hadn’t even made it a block away when one of the cab drivers pulled up, and because all the others had left and we wouldn’t cause another fight, all five of us piled in to the cab and set off.
I don’t think I will ever complain about bad drivers in America again after this trip.  The cab set off, and we were weaving through traffic and swerving to avoid pedestrians and the horn was honking every few seconds and other cars were veering toward us it was crazy.  By some miracle, we made it to the Alexandria Library, our destination, in one piece, and tumbled out of the cab.  We got tickets to the library (it is a newer building, but is set on the sight of the oldest library) checked in our bags, and entered.  The air conditioning of the library was a welcome change to the heat, and the library itself was gorgeous.  It was huge, and after walking around for a while, we went down to the antiquities museum and saw artifacts and statues.
We left the library, and after the peacefulness of the cool inside, we were again struck by the heat, noise and smells of Alexandria.  We decided to walk along the water for a while, and just take in the city.  The only problem was that to get to the water, we had to cross the street.  We waited for a while, watching some of the locals step fearlessly in front of the traffic, and cross one car at a time.  It wasn’t even possible to cross one lane at a time, because the concept of traffic lanes hasn’t seemed to reach Alexandria yet.  Eventually, we found a group of locals crossing, and used them as shelter between us and the cars, following their lead to get across.
Walking along the water, it was really possible to take in Alexandria.  It was a jungle of tall buildings, many of which were under construction, none of which looked up to building standards in the US.  The streets and sidewalks were covered with garbage, and the smell changed every few blocks, rarely to something pleasant.  The water had large clumps of garbage floating in it, and there were a few fishermen along the litter ridden banks.
We eventually made it to one of the big mosques, where we stopped to take some pictures.  We just happened to show up right as a tour bus full of SAS kids did.  We said “hi” to them, and I saw Audrey and managed to make plans with her for the next few days in Egypt.  The bus left then, it had only been a five minute photo stop for them, and we continued to the mosque to take closer pictures.  We were planning on continuing to the catacombs, but the cab driver we hailed told us they were closed, instead, we settled on heading to the where the lighthouse used to be.  It was one of the wonders of the ancient world, until in the 14th century, and earthquake brought it crashing down.  Now it rests underwater, and there is talk of making an underwater museum to see it.  We got there, and stayed for a while looking at some of the stands selling things and people watching.  There was an aquarium, and we decided to check it out, but upon entering and seeing a line up of small fish bowls along the wall, decided it wasn’t worth it.  After a while, we began our trek back to the ship.
We walked through some windy streets that were mainly residential, although it is hard to tell.  Because of the population problem, almost everyone lives in apartment buildings, and so it is hard to tell the difference between residential and industrial.  We walked past an alley where three little kids were flying kites, and it reminded me of Lindsay’s descriptions of the Philippines.  One of the kites was simply a plastic bag tied to a string, and the other was a rolled up sheet of paper.  They were so happy too, and were very fascinated by the group of us walking by.  Sometimes, I felt like a novelty item because people would stop and stare.  The children were especially interested, as they had not yet learned to hide their curiosity.  The little boys flying kites stopped to wave and smile at us as we passed, and then we continued on.  Another two little boys riding bikes accompanied us for a while before riding off, and a third little boy smiled when we passed.  He followed for a little ways, and at the encouragement of an older boy, called out “what’s your name?!”  I replied, and he giggled and hid behind a parked car in embarrassment.  There was a woman pulling a bucket on a rope up to her window on the upper floor of one of the buildings, and as we passed, the bucket she was pulling hit an overhang on one of the windows and sent a chunk of cement crashing four stories down to the ground below.  It nearly hit a young girl walking by, and we all stared in shock at what had happened.  Everyone else carried on as if it were nothing.  We made it back to the port after our adventure, and it was amazing at how quickly we all lowered our guard after we were inside the gates.  The discrepancy between the well cared for and pristine pier area and the surrounding city of Alexandria was extreme.  At the same time, it was all of the things that were so different from what I have experienced before that made me love Egypt so much.