He finally showed up to the house with a friend who lived out in the country (maybe now he won't get lost!). We chuckled when we that they were dressed to the nines to bring us to the farm. We think its a pride thing, showing that if they have the means they will dress well, no matter what the situation. On the way there we stopped for some delicious Egyptian tea by the Nile. It was nice to see such a peaceful place so close to hectic Cairo. We got to the farm and walked around looking at how they irrigated the fields and where they kept the cows and goats. It was really cool. Despite the fact that we waltzed onto this farm without an invitation (although Karam and Ahmed assured us it was ok), the farmer was very friendly and proud that these two Americans took interest in his work. Surprisingly, the animals (including the dogs) were very shy. Maybe we looked funny. All the while Karam they was complaining about how his shoes were getting dirty. Oh no! We all got a good laugh.
By the time we made it back to the house we were starving for the delicious koshary that Hayem had been working on all day. She's amazing! I think we ate too fast though.
Still itching to see more of Cairo, we went to the souq (market) again. It was in a part of the city called Khan al-Khalili. We wanted to go to this very old coffee shop called Fishawi's. It was a beautiful place and smelled wonderful. While we were walking around we picked up a scarf for Hayem. She had been just wonderful with us.
Our next goal before we got back to Noha's was to get her some flowers. We found out that she had to make a last minute trip to Alexandria and thought it might be nice to come home to some fresh flowers. We were very sad that we werent able to say goodbye but we look forward to seeing her when we are all back in the States.
After flowers, we went to a concert in Zamalek. There was a band and an Arabic singer who looked tearful and emotional while he belted his tunes out. It was interesting to see yet another side of Cairo. We then walked home hungry for some more koshary.
We packed our final belongings and drove to the airport (it took an hour less than coming from the airport). We were very sad to leave, and remarked how quickly our stay in Egypt had gone by. It seems to have gone by faster than even more so than the other countries. I guess we really had a blast!
We started to say our goodbyes to Karam and his sister's husband, Said (he came to help with directions). Then we had a slight security debocle when we went through a preliminary screening and didn't realize we couldn't go back out. We'd left some stuff with them and had to convince the guard that we had to go back to get it. Alicia was left as collateral, along with my passport, and I went back for our stuff. It was a close call. Thank goodness there were two of us!
Soon, we were on the road again. And waiting for our 230 am flight. We can't wait to get to Tanzania.
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2 comments:
For those who didn't know (like me!), "koshary is a traditional Egyptian meal that consists of a strange combination of macaroni, spaghetti, rice, black lentils, chick peas, garlic sauce and a spicy tomato chili sauce, all topped with fried onions. It is sold from carts by street vendors, in restaurants or even made at home and each is considered a different taste experience."
I don't know how you girls manage to do so much in a day....I think Karam had a hard time keeping up with you two.
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