A Polluted and Desperate Air

**Note: Post date is August 2, 2009**

“I don’t feel so good,” Says Bo as he greets me in the morning. And by morning I mean afternoon for it was a group consensus to sleep in. Bo wasn’t able to for he was in the bathroom for about 3 hours before I even awoke. He unfortunately caught a case of Traveler’s Diarrhea which is now being commonly noted as TD. I, myself have had unfortunate trips to the bathroom, but not to this degree. He was in pain and both ends were effected. I felt so bad. Getting ready was quite the challenged as me and Bo traded off  using the bathroom periodically. This unfortunate sickness is of course due to the foreign food that our body is just not use to consuming. And is inevitable, I think. Well after another two hours Bo was still in immense pain so a call to the doctor seemed appropriate. He was drugged two hours later and when we returned from our day, he was so out of it and so sick that he wasn’t even amused by our normal joking manner. Kevin and I knew this was serious! A whole day in Egypt was gone as Bo slept in for the entire day to try and ease his case of TD.

Our day continued on. Erik, Lauren and I, took a late afternoon trip back to Carrefoure. Our taxi driver was not as gracious as our first. He offered a higher price which we had to refute and he kept stopping at places and encouraging us to shop. We knew they were nothing more than his buddies establishments and besides we just had no interest  Along the way he showed us a video on his phone and who do we find but other SASers. He was proud of his American encounters and not afraid to boast them to us. Nevertheless we made it safely to the huge shopping center. Erik and Lauren have been comparing McDonalds from each country and had yet to try Egypt’s part of the franchise so I too indulged in their experiment. It was NOT good. Geez, they couldn’t even get French fries right! I have officially given up on food in Egypt.

Morales were down as we dragged around the mall. We were in a state of depression for we missed the mystical days that now lay behind us. To bring up our spirits we decided to see the Pyramids in another realm. The movies. I saw Transformers 2 again! And I loved it just the same, if not more! All the excitement, all the laughing and of course those world wonders brought up my spirits just a tad. Just as before, our taxi driver waited for us and wisped us back to the Port. Again he asked for more money when we had already agreed on a fixed price.

It was then that I began to see and feel the desperation in these people. The fact that they need money so much they are willing to barter, harass and even plead for the measly dollar shows much vulnerability and dependency on our currency. Kids work late hours, some workers never sleep, they will take a price no matter how low just to see the sight of money and they won’t give up. I call in to work when I just don’t feel like going, but these poor people don’t have the choice in the matter. They must work to survive in the most literal sense and it scares me. As I ask the young boy working at the shop why he isn’t sleeping he says, “I sleep all morning,”. Which is probably true but what kind of childhood is that? They certainly demonstrate knowledge and perseverance as well as have joy and laughter in their hearts but the amount of need that lay in their hands weighs so much more than any amount of contentment.

Again we feel this despair as we lounge around the port to shop. This port, as I said, is the nicest and most grand of any port we’ve visited thus far. Even more than Halifax. It has just been finished after a five year construction period and it still isn’t complete due to the corrupt government and the financial crisis. Nevertheless it is secluded from the chaotic streets of Alexandria and its citizens, except for the special taxis that are stationed inside, along with the several souvenir shops that have been installed for our benefit as well as theirs. But even amongst these privileged shops you can still smell the hunger and disparity. I don’t think many cruises come into the Alexandria port causing quite a frenzy here in these last several days. The security is overly “secure” as they check our passports as least four times before we can even leave the grand fortress. I’ve never been through so many metal detectors in my life. But in these last days we have come to know the people quite well actually and have even grown to be on a first name basis.  The tourist police, the taxi drivers and the vendor workers all are friendly and welcoming. The Egyptian people are a nice group.

So we spent much time lounging around the spacious and glorified port as we shopped, chatted and made plans for the evening. At first I was going to explore the Egyptian culture further and deeper along with Erik and Lauren, but as the night progressed and they hurried off Kate, Lindsay, Erika, Scott and I decided to live in luxury once more atop the Four Seasons hotel looking out at the Mediterranean Sea. We took the slowest taxi ever to get to this lovely place but the ride was amusing and an appreciative experience as once more we observed the Egyptian culture and its people. I’m sorry if I sound to be of a higher being. I am in no way superior to anyone. I have enjoyed my time immensely and a lot is due to the warm greeting from the Egyptians. It’s just their culture is so different, so impoverished that you tend remove yourself at times and look at the culture from the outside rather than to immerse yourself in it. I probably should have joined Erik and Lauren as they had a nightly adventure with a an Egyptian family. They befriended a young Egyptian man, crammed inside one of those vans I’ve mentioned and made their way to his house where they had dinner and chatted until 4:00 in the morning. It sounded risky but full of life and adventure. I have no regrets for I had a wonderful and simple last night in Egypt. I even tried Hooka for the first time. I wavered on my strong morals to not smoke anything and buckled under the extreme circumstances of having yet another new experience. It tasted great but again I’m not a fan of anti-oxygen. But I can say I did it! Hooray! As we paid off our extremely cheap bill we headed back across town, slowly I mind you, back to the port. We paid our taxi driver but as we paid him he looked up at us with his blank stare and just stood there. We slowly walked away cautiously. We turned around periodically and there he’d be still standing there, money in hand, just staring. We laughed the whole walk back in disbelief of this strange and odd behavior.

The night was young. 2:00am. So Kate, Scott and I decided to hit up an Internet Café to talk o families, update blogs and just regain contact with the outside world. My time in Egypt is slowly but surely coming to an end. I have had a great time here across the board and even though I’m out of my comfort zone as I walk the crowded and polluted streets. I want to stay.

Today’s Expenses:

…………………….....Egyptian Pounds……Dollars

McDonalds………….....28.00.……………….5.00
Transformers 2.…….20.00.……………….3.57
Taxi………………….......50.00.……………….8.93
Dinner………………......72.80.………………13.00
Shopping…………….....140.00.……………25.00

Total…………………......310.80.……………55.50

Explore. Dream. Discover.

~Michael-Anthony

P.S. My eye hurts because of this pollution.