There's something captivating about Egypt that goes beyond its ancient pyramids, temples, tombs and archaeological wonders. As an urbanist, I found myself drawn to the complex layers of Cairo, existing between chaos, noise and dust, and the stark contrast with the serene towns along the Nile.
Cairo: Survival and Sand
Sometimes cities have colors, Cairo is of different hues of sand and dust, with a perpetual cloud hanging over it that is hard to escape. It’s a large, dusty metropolis where the cacophony of car horns creates an endless symphony – sometimes born of unbearable traffic knots, other times seemingly just for the sake of it. Cairo is large, dusty and loud due to cars honking, sometimes due to the unbearable traffic knots, sometimes just for fun.
Cairo is hard to decipher. Not sure if the city is trying to emerge from the ruins or decaying into them. It is chaotic in unpredictable ways. Chaos forms culture and culture forms chaos, two mutually reinforcing processes. People have grown up in a chaotic city and have learned to live, or rather have learned to survive, in it in un-civic ways, with total disregard to pedestrians and their right to exist in public space. It is an obstacle course to walk around. This is a city completely dominated by cars and by the spirit of survival against the urban chaos. Honking and flash lighting are car-to-car communication methods, aggressive modes of moving in space that encourage, almost demand, competition and individualism in order to survive, to not get run over and just be able to exist in the city. There is a constant battle between human bodies of soft and vulnerable flesh constantly being exposed to metal, heavy, fast moving engine machines.
Tahrir Square (Midan el-Tahrir) is a heavy politically charged public space, with a history of discontent. Its very name means «Liberation Square». In 2011, it was the epicenter of Egypt’s Arab Spring revolution when millions of Egyptians gathered there for 18 days of peaceful protests, ultimately leading to the resignation of then-President Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power. People from all walks of life – students, professionals, workers, and activists – camped out, shared meals, and demanded political change. This vast urban space, has witnessed multiple waves of protests since then, including the demonstrations of 2013.
The urban planning challenges are particularly evident in West Cairo, which was once agricultural land. Today, entire neighborhoods of high-rise buildings dilapidated/in-construction (?) stand separated by mere 5-meter gaps, following the old agricultural field patterns. These minimal space between building, not allowing natural light into the bottom floor apartments, must be having detrimental effects for the physical and mental health of residents.
I had been looking for a new watch so I ventured into a local shop. It was weird and at the same time interesting getting asked what my religion was while inspecting various options, I was not sure if that influenced the price.
I also ventured into the Metro in Cairo. It is relatively clean and well-functioning, what I found strange was that 90% of passengers were men. I didn’t notice at first, but then I realized there is one wagon just for women, for safety, they said, which is not tackling the root of the problem of harassment. The solution is not to segregate genders or segregate the aggressors from potential victims, but to avoid the culture of aggression all together. It felt bizarre, like living in a world of just men. Also, in various other instances, I experienced an unnecessary separation between men and women.
Luxor, Aswan and the Nile
In contrast to Cairo, the Nile and towns around it are peaceful and beautiful. The Nile is really the heart of the country, providing not only an oasis in the middle of the arid desert, but also an oasis of peace from the noise and chaos in Cairo. When in the Nile, I was impressed by the contrast between the green around it and the rest, just pure and arid dessert to both east and west of the Nile.
Anywhere and everywhere, in every potentially touristic spot in Egypt one encounters persistent vendors who have developed impressive techniques to follow tourists and try to close a sale.
I took a cruise in the Nile, and while in the boat I started to hear indistinctive shouting from my room, at the point when the boat went through the locks to go to the upper Nile which is at a different water level. I finally located the shouting with a seller walking on top of the cement blocks on the side of the locks, as the cruise was going through them, and trying to get the attention of anyone in my cruise interested in purchasing his mantles or tablecloths. As the cruise approached the end of the locks, I was surprised to see the seller quickly went down some stairs and jumped in a small row boat piloted by his friend. This was a planned operation that required a team: one person in charge of maneuvering the small row boat and the other one in charge of maneuvering the sale. They, in the small boat, managed to pegged to the cruise. I couldn’t hear very well the conversation or shouting rather, but it seemed the seller had managed to engage some people in the cruise through their window, and some type of negotiation was going on.
I got worried as the cruise approached the second set of locks. There was no space for any other smaller boat next to it. The vendor in the smaller boat kept the potential customer engaged and kept negotiating, as we approached the locks, I was surprised to see the smaller boat temporarily parking in a side of the lock, the vendor rapidly got off the boat, and quickly jumped on the locks to continue on foot following the cruise and continuing the negotiation. I thought about his safety but he seemed to have no problem risking it in exchange of the potential sale. To my surprise, after all that effort, all that distance, teamwork and ingenuity, it seemed the seller’s bottom price was still too high for the tourists in the cruise two windows down who were interested, and at the end desisted. In the second set of locks, as the cruise kept going, the persistent seller full of tenacity, finally gave up and let the cruise sadly go without having exchanged his merchandise. He tried desperately to make ends meet.
Kids at Valley of the Kings
It is worth to observe the landscape of the Valley of the Kings from above in a hot air balloon. I will let these photos describe the scene, as one photo is worth a thousand words. I will rather write a story that cannot be told with photos:
Being in the hot air balloon, we have had an amazing time up in the air. When preparing to land, among the recommendations of the pilot on how to position ourselves, what to expect and what to do, it was also the warning that when we land we’ll get approached by several kids asking for food or money. He advised us to not give them anything, because “Egyptians try to encourage their kids to learn and work for their money, not to get it from tourists”. I was a sensible reasoning, with surely a lot of complex social, cultural, political and economic reasons behind it.
Sure enough that’s exactly what happened. Several kids came running towards the hot air balloon as we landed in the middle of a dusty field. As we had been told, we tried to follow the instructions while trying not to be dis-hearted when saying ‘no’, I tried to give smiles and hand gestures instead to not feel so bad as ignoring them.
As we approached our van to go, with more people from other hot air balloons, it became evident that their pilot had not given them that advice/warning about the kids, and one lady, with the best intention, opened her bag to give some bread to a kid asking for it. Looking back, it was indeed a mistake, on the moment the kids saw an indication that they could get any food from her (or us in the group), various dozens of kids came running in an avalanche and started to fight between themselves for the three pieces of bread that the lady gave one of them. It was a very painful scene to watch. The big kids (10-13-year-old more or less) didn’t realize their actions and in the middle of the excitement had pushed away a little kid, perhaps only 5 or 6 years old who ended up crying on the floor as a result of the altercation. It broke my heart to see his face and the tears, one: because between all the people in our group we didn’t have enough food to feed them, two: because even if we did it will only create a bigger problem and will reinforce the very one thing the pilot told us they don’t want to encourage, three: because it was a weekday during the day when all these kids should be at school, four: because I was wondering where are their parents and what are their doing, five: because I was also wondering where is society and the value for education and for providing for and ensuring their kids, their future society, has the tools and the means to thrive. I left wondering with so many questions, a broken heart, and sharing the tears.
Some final thoughts on governance and repression
A leader that needs repression, and who exercises fear on others, to stay in power is not a leader. A leader should inspire, should be kind and lead by example, not incite fear on others if they think, say or do otherwise. At its core: repression is fear to lose power, it is the surfacing of insecurity and of incapacity to lead a country and to have its millions of people genuinely happy with the way the country is governed. Then at lack of no better tool there is a necessity to recur to fear, terror, and repression. Such governance is poor in spirit, in leadership, and in true power, at the expense of its people’s livelihoods and potential.
