Brothers Unite: Egypt we are coming.

We were planning on going on vacation for a long time. It’s a big year for our family—Dad is turning 70, Mom is turning 35, I am graduating from college and Ray is still living at home.

When I heard vacation I started imagining far away and exotic places—Italy, Argentina, Denmark. Maybe even Costa Rica. While off at school I didn’t really pay much attention to the process of figuring out where to go. When Mom said we had decided I was excited to hear—which beach? What mountains?

Dave we’ve figured out where we’re going for vacation. It’s all decided. Great Mom, where to? The Caribbean? Argentina? No, even better. We’re going to Egypt!

Last I checked an angry Egyptian mob was storming the Presidential Palace. Egypt…? Isn’t Egypt like… on fire?

It didn’t really hit me until we left that we were about to be in Egypt. Neither Ray nor I had ever been to the Middle East. Then, suddenly, three days after Christmas, we were on the plane. We had picked Egypt because, shockingly, no one was going there right now. Airfare was cheap, lodging was cheap. I was sure no one was going there because it was terribly dangerous and if we had our wits about us we wouldn’t be going either. And then we arrived.

Cairo on the morning of our first day

Suddenly our whole world was in Arabic

It didn’t take long for us to realize how wrong the portrayal of Cairo in the American media was. This is not a place at war. This is not a place where social systems are collapsing, where foreigners are constantly in danger. We stopped saying we were from Toronto by the second day. Cairo is a city—a huge city, a poor city, but a city nonetheless. People here are focused on their lives. Work, futbol, tea and now politics. People are excited to see us, happy that tourists are coming back. We quickly rediscovered the thrill of a communication that transcends words—body language, tone, motions... God is good.

Ray quickly found work scooping nuts and candy.

We were fortunate to find this statement early in our time in Cairo.

Mom fits right in.

Noah joins the gang.

Any trepidation about this new place and new culture vanished quickly when we were joined by Noah, a climbing friend of Ray’s from Brooklyn. Noah came to Cairo alone on a whim and has spent the last 9 months living here. It was fantastic meeting Noah and seeing Cairo through his eyes.

We have the pleasure of traveling with friends our parents have known for a very long time. Karl lived as an exchange student with my dad in 1982. The idea to go to Egypt at all was hatched over our dinner table in Brooklyn when Karl was back for a visit. Along with him are his wife Monica and daughter Sophia. Sophiaaaaaaa.

What a crew!

Breakfast in our apartment: dates, mangoes and spicy eggplant.

The old friends.

The new ones.

I had been distracted by the hyperbole of danger. I had forgotten about the permeability of difference. Cairo recaptured my imagination. It reminded me of the majesty of history and made me optimistic about the possibility of finding common ground.

Standing in the market near our apartment

New Years Eve with our new friends, Noah from Brooklyn, Ibrahim from Sudan and Ahmad from Cairo.

If I didn’t know any better I would think these lovely ladies were Egyptian.

Cairo is a time capsule. It is a tapestry of histories and cultures. Once a town of hundreds on the east bank of the Nile the city’s population now exceeds 20 million. There are only a handful of traffic lights in the whole city. No one pays attention to them.

Cairo at night

And then there are the pyramids. With heights exceeding 130 meters, the great pyramids are evidence of timeless human ingenuity. We climbed inside them and walked around. The entire time I was awestruck. They are truly magnificent. The great irony of the great pyramids is that they were constructed by a people compelled by a fervent belief in afterlife. Pyramids are tombs for pharaohs, built so that these god-kings could live forever. Yet the majesty of the creations drew the attention of the rest of the world, from the treasure looters of old to the anthropologist thieves of recent times. I don’t think the pharaoh’s image of immortality had him displayed under the florescent lights of the Egyptian Museum, his treasures lost to black markets or foreign exhibits.

Still, Egypt’s place in our collective cultural history remains immortal. Seeing these constructions and visualizing the people who made them over 4,000 years ago an experience of the community of human greatness.

Men may have built the pyramids but this strong woman planned our trip to see them.

Wear Brooklyn at?

Brothers Unite!

I wonder if ancient Egyptians had this much fun…

How much for the camel, sir?

Our guide told us whatever we do don’t get on a camel. They won’t late you down until you fork over some money. Sometimes they may even ride you out into the desert in micro kidnappings and demand large sums of money for your release. We asked this man simply for a photo by his camel. We didn’t want to get on it.

But sometimes you just can’t help it…

Oh well...when in Egypt, right?

Right Ray? Uh… Ray?

So here we are, on the start of our great journey. I’m writing this post as we travel on a 15 hour overnight train from Cairo due south up the Nile to Aswan. We’ve been in Egypt for three days—in Cairo for three days. I feel like a month in the city and I would still be exploring.