African Diversity - Egypt

Lagos living with Cape Town convenience...that's what I thought when we first arrived in Cairo. The city itself had more than hints of Lagos. Dirty, crowded, and bustling to name just a few. Though a mere 8 millions residents compared with Lagos' 13 million, the streets were packed with pedestrians, street vendors, and traffic that puts New York City to shame.

One of our first stops while in Cairo was Egypt's national museum. From the outside, the regal building seems to announce the true value of what it holds inside. But once you enter, thousands of 4,000-year-old artifacts sit in aisles, un-encased and unprotected. Similar to many of Nigeria's museums, there seems to be a severe lack of priority (or perhaps a lack of funds) when it comes to artifact preservation and presentation. Glass panes held together by cracked wood formed the display boxes we peered into. Half the time the artifacts were unlabeled, and those that were displayed type-writer descriptions on yellowing paper. Up until recently, the mummies of Egypt's most famous pharaohs were not protected adequately from temperature, air, or other elements giving new meaning to the phrase "oldie moldie." But regardless of a general paucity and priority for preservation, the sites of the city, their historical significance, and the sheer number of ancient artifacts you can see is a tourists dream.

As an added bonus, the city's infrastructure makes it all easy to see. Cairo boasts the only subway on the African continent. A safe, new, and clean transportation option, the subway is easy to navigate and cheap (about 20 cents per ride). Currently it doesn't go as far as the airport in the northeast or the Pyramids out west, but taxis are numerous and the highway system decent. Just make sure your hotel writes your destination (and your hotel address!) in Arabic for the non-English speaking cabbies.

Despite just a few language barriers, overall we were surprised by how much English we saw and heard in this primarily Arabic speaking city. And once we traveled to Luxor, us mono-glots were in heaven! As a general rule, you can assume anyone in Luxor speaks your language...Spanish, German, even Japanese. At one point during our trip, a vendor approached us trying to sell some papyrus. Not receiving an immediate response from us in English, he subsequently switched to Spanish, then Italian, then German. No joke!

Despite traces of third-worldness (a gentle reminder that we had not left Africa), Cairo and Luxor were easy to navigate, tourist friendly, and cosmopolitan to say the least.