The Land of Lapis Lazuli & Gold.
Part 1
After twenty years of performing and teaching Belly Dance, going to Egypt felt more like an obligatory pilgrimage than a vacation and she was ready to get started. As the plane’s wheels touched down on the Cairo International Airport’s runway Nia snatched off her seat belt and jumped up from her seat.
The flight attendant reminded her to remain seated until the ‘Fasten Your Seat Belt’ sign is turned off. With a reluctant glance toward the window she sat back down. She let out a long sigh. It had been 10 hours from San Francisco to Germany, 3 hours doing nothing at the Frankfurt Airport and then another 4 hours and 3 minutes to Egypt.
But, soon enough, Nia was maneuvering through a maze of Egyptian officials stamping passports, and the overall chaos of tourists grabbing luggage and glaring at airport maps. The sound of Arabic blasting out of loud speakers only added to the confusion. Outside the airport, she moved toward a long lines of taxi drivers yelling “Madam, Madam hina.” (here). The suffocating smell of smoke and exhaust fumes choked her but, Nia didn’t care. She’d made! Made it to the Mother Land.
القاهرة,
(Al-Qāhirah, Cairo)
It wouldn’t be Cairo without the smoke, dust, pollution, rickshaws, and piles of trash hauled by donkeys. Where else can you see an entire family balanced on one motorcycle or hear the perpetual blaring of car horns?
And, you can’t ignore the constant chatter from the hordes of humans crowded into thousands of old, dilapidated apartments with heaps of abandoned furniture on rooftops.
A Feeling of Belonging.
Africa
Contrary to what many think, Egypt is one of the 54 sovereign countries on the African continent with two disputed areas: Somaliland and Western Sahara. Nia knew she could easily blend in. So long as she kept her mouth shut and didn’t betray that she was American, that is. Imagine being in a place where the assumption was that you were either from some other African country or Jamaica or some island or another.
Nia spoke just enough Arabic to let a taxi driver know where she wanted to go. “Men fadlak. al InterContinental Cairo Semiramis Hotel? Sukran,” she can’t said. She already had exchanged money before she left the U.S. and knew how much to pay for the ride, plus a good tip from the airport to the hotel.
During the ride, she marveled at how her Driver maneuvered through the congested traffic, his constant beeping at every corner, and pedestrians weaving in and out of the traffic around him. It was better than a well-choreographed performance. Yep, she’d made it.
InterContinental Cairo Semiramis
The hotel bragged that it was one of the best 5-star hotels in Cairo.
This Cairo hotel features a 26 m2 rooftop pool and fine dining with exquisite cuisine for every taste. A selection of twelve restaurants and bars reflect contemporary design, with the Nile Terrace offering stunning views of the sunset over the Nile. …offers complimentary WiFi and is located next to the Egyptian Museum and bazaars of old Cairo.”
It was a steal at $60 a night but, the dollar was 3.14 Egyptian pounds to one dollar. Once she arrived at the hotel and was escorted to her room, Nia settled in, took a long hot shower, careful not to swallow too much water. You never knew how polluted it was; she’d been told. After drying her long dreadlocks and too exhausted to order food, she dropped onto the bed and instantly fell into a deep sleep.
Wake-Up Call To Prayer.
But, it wasn’t long before the deafening and stereophonic sound of voices blasted her awake at 4:55 AM. Egypt is a Muslim country, and that was the first of the five daily calls to prayers she’d hear every day.
Cairo is the largest city in the Arab world, home to over 22 million people and 114,000 mosques. It’s reported that over the years, hundreds and hundreds of mosques have been built on any street in Cairo and at the prayer times, you’ll hear the call for prayer from everywhere.
Time Travel
The Heart of the City.
There was no going back to sleep, so after a breakfast of falafel, freshly baked bread, and hummus, Nia walked across Tahrir Square to the famous “Museum of Egyptian Antiquities.
It’s the site of 100,000 ancient Egyptian artifacts and the greatest treasures on the planet including the massive gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian, obsidian, turquoise and the glass mask of Tutankhamun the boy Pharoah.
After hours wandering through the museum, Nia had a flashback of the times she’d spent with her Mother in the Egyptian room at the Boston Museum. It was on the basement level and always cold and damp.
She’d sit on those polished stone benches staring at the ancient coffins’ for hours. On a trip to France, she visited the Louve and couldn’t believe how many Egyptian artifacts filled entire rooms.
Other People’s Stuff
Nia was aware that the battle to have Western countries return all African artifact to their respective countries has been going on since the 1960’s. So far the best arguments, especially from the French has been paternalistic (they don’t know how to care for them) to “Many Western museums, including the Boston Museum where she’d spent hours and elsewhere, say they fear their walls and exhibitions will be empty if they return items.”
As she meandered from one exhibit to the other with all the rest of the tourists to one glass case to the next it was as sad as it was spectacular. When she finally rested up against a wall in the the” Royal Mummy Room Nia was exhausted both physically and emotionally as she wiped tears off her checks. Was it right to remove bodies of the dead from their resting places just so we could stare at them? Photos: Traveler photo submitted by MyrellaCt_USA (Apr 2019)
Belly Dance Heaven
Nia’s next stop was: Khan Al-Khalili. The huge marketplace was alive with loud scratchy music blasting from old cassette players, merchants calling on potential customers to come and look, tourists clutching purses, and frantic bartering.
Stalls were loaded with spices, sweets and traditional Egyptian soft cotton dresses. Nia stopped to buy a couple of them and wrangled for a good price by adding a few bangles, earrings and a pair of sagats (finger cymbals), to sweeten the deal. It was worth it.
The dresses would make perfect “cover-ups.” Belly Dancers put these long embroiled dresses over their glitzy costumes between sets. Nia continued through Khan el Khalili and admired fake Pharaonic alabaster statutes, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and sweets. The market is indeed the Belly Dance mecca of the world, with hundreds of coin belts, colorful veils, and dusty costumes swinging from hooks.
Seductive Scent of Frankincense.
Nia was lured through a labyrinth of dark alleyways by the savory smells of incense. They led to softly lit underground shops. A old man She waved into one of the shops. She saw some of the most gorgeous costume she’d ever seen.
After looking over an array of breath stopping outfits she picked one. “Be Kam (How much)?” she asked. The owner gave her the price. Once she calculated the exchange rate, Nia bought it. The intricately hand-beaded Bellydance costume came with matching hand-sewn gloves.
Years later, the shaking and swirling beads are still mesmerizing. Whenever she looked at that dress, she thought back to the shop where she was measured, returned for the final fitting and took it into her possession.
Operation Cross the Street.
Nia hadn’t yet figure out how to cross Cairo streets without traffic lights and was too petrified to try. Eventually, she decided it would be best to hail a taxi instead.
Luckily, she made it just in time to catch a sunset and a glimpse of the Pyramids shrouded in a haze of orange dust in Giza.
Meanwhile, when the last call to prayer faded to silence, the city released a collective sigh of relief. Finally, back at the hotel in a small coffee shop, surrounded by smoke from Shisha pipes, Nia sipped the last of her mint tea and reviewed the details of her upcoming felucca ride down the Nile to the Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt.
First, Hatshepsut reigned between 1473 and 1458 B.C. One of the villagers I met told me how to pronounce her name. “Chick-en-soup,” he said. Nia smiled and repeated, “Het-shep-sut,” and he grinned back. Egyptian men, old and young, love to flirt.
Second, The Queen’s temple is a marvel. Out of all the temples she’d wandered through, Hatshepsut’s was the most stunning.
Part II:
Not too fond of lizards.
As it turned out, Nia ended up staying in a small village just across the way. The village of “Sheikh And el-Qurna (Luxor).
