Amrou and I have been talking about a trip to Egypt essentially since we met 8 years ago. Talking about how it was going to be a MADE reunion, or how I could tag along with his family sometime, and this year the opportunity finally arrived. He finishing his time in Cairo, and me being only a 3 hours flight away. While I have been in Doha Amrou and I have rarely had time to catch up or see each other so it truly was reuniting of the global force that is A&E.
The trip got off to a slow start, with a delayed flight leaving from Doha. I got into Cairo an hour later than planned which set us back a bit. Amrou and I were banking on rides from a few different friends to various beach areas around Egypt for the weekend and were incredibly lucky that his friend Aly was able to hang back and wait for us. Once I landed we took cabs to grab Amrou's stuff and straight to Aly's. We drove for about 4 hours to a sleepy beach town on the North Coast, about 60km from Alexandria. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen with Kristal clear waters, soft sand, and we had it to ourselves as the beach season has yet to open.
One of their friends gave us keys to his beach house for the weekend which was AWESOME minus one small detail. When they closed the house the last time they were there, several weeks ago, they turned off one of the refigerators that still had food in it. When we got there we were welcomed by a faint smell of bad seafood that only got stronger as we approached the fridge. When we get there (we being Amrou and Abys) there were screams of horror as one of the worst smells humanly possible wafted out of the fridgerator. The rotted food was crawling in maggots and it took us about 30 minutes to just clear the area. The kitchen had a terrible smell the rest of the weekend and was barely able to be used...After that rough start it was a smooth weekend all around.
On Sunday we headed back to Cairo and straight to the Pyramids at Giza. As one of the main attaractions I had to go while I was there, but I was prepared for the worst. Tough bargaining, people selling you useless replicas, and huge crowds. The day we went was President Sisi's innaguaration day, national holiday, so we were one of the only people there. It was incredible to have one of the world wonders all to ourselves. After the pyramids we went back into the main city and sat in various cafes, visited some of Amrou's favorite spots, and met up with the group for one last night. The city was buzzing with the celebration of Sisi but we found ourselves in some trouble at night coming back home. We had to cross through Tahrir Square around 1am on the day of the inauguration. The scene was something out of a movie. Fireworks. Sirens. Loud noises. Huge crowds, mostly men. We thought we saw someone getting beaten and a mob mentality was beginning to take place. We decided it was time to leave and at that moment a large group starts scurrying towards us. Not knowing what to do, we sprint to one of the side streets off the square and its blocked off. We look back and the group is running towards the same place. We quickly see a fence on the other side of the street that leads to the sidewalk. So we run to the fence, jump it, get to the sidewalk and jog down the street. Now we don't know exactly what happened back at the Square but a few minutes and we could have been caught in it. We were relieved to get back to Amrou's flat and ended the night chatting with his flatmate about the experience.
Our last day we took in some more major sites like the Hussein Mosque, Khan al Khalil Bazaar, the Citadel and Egyptian Museum. Although we didn't have much time this was one of my favorite parts because we got out of the city center areas into more historic neighborhoods. Cairo is a tough and run down city. I was very lucky to have Amrou there as a guide and translator, it would have been very difficult travel otherwise. Especially as someone who isn't huge on cities, I am not sure I will be back in Cairo in the near future. Egypt has so many other places to offer like Alexandria, Luxor, and Sharm el Sheikh. Future trips will likely be to those areas and not to the chaos that is Cairo.
Overall it was a great trip but I was happy returning back to Doha. Amrou was an amazing guide and it was refreshing to see him in his element having made Cairo his home. He is finishing his time there and job searching after finishing grad school in May. There's a chance Doha is on his list of places to move so I have my fingers crossed!!! Here in Doha I am winding down work before summer travel. The World Cup is calling my name but before I go I have to wrap up planning for August programs and Orientation. A week from today I fly to Rio to meet up with my friend Kevin to spend 2 weeks in Brazil before heading to Peru for two weeks on solo travel. Incredible adventure awaits! Talk soon.
