Two friends recently traveled to Egypt. I’ve never been there. I think both friends told the truth about the Egypt they visited, although their stories couldn’t be more different.
Jane loved the place, except for the heat, and even that wasn’t unbearable, she said. The tombs were crowded, yes, but her small group had a wonderful guide who led them to the tombs less traveled by, and the experience was awesome. Even the crowded big tombs were filled with an indescribable atmosphere of antiquity.
Incomparable museums in Cairo, brilliant sunshine, incredible food, pleasant cruise along the Nile, etc., etc., etc.
Joan, on the other hand, said she never wants to go back and she wishes she hadn’t gone, her time in Egypt was so
stressful — the indescribable depth and breadth of Cairo’s poverty, entire villages encamped in cemeteries because they’re so much nicer than such alternatives as landfills and trash heaps. Squalor and illness and misery on every hand.
Her first-class cruise on the Nile was like a slow slog through trillions of discarded plastic bags and other trash. And the promised green pastures along the waterway were only narrow strips, beyond which lay the arid plain of desert stretching to the horizon. The heat was unbearable. For her, the fabled tombs were not worth the misery of getting there.
It’s not easy being a tourist.
Comments are closed or deactivated
I have had the pleasure of visiting Egypt several times. I always recommend it as a top tourist destination. As far as I am concerned there is no more spectacular edifice than the Temple of Karnak and I have seen six of the sites of the seven ancient wonders of the world (the only one still intact is the Great Pyramid of Giza) and six of the seven newly named wonders of the world as well as most of the runners up. The Cairo Museum is the Gran Dame of all museums with probably the richest “treasures.” The banks of the Nile have for over 4000 years been a narrow band of green backed by arid desert.
Yes, Cairo is a hectic, noisy city with lots of visible poverty. Yes, the small Christian community hunkers down behind walls with gates gruarded by armed men to protect them from periodic attacks by their Muslim neighbors. Yes, people live in the main cemetary. But then this is what the Peace Corps seeks to overcome.
Both Egypts are real – the Egypt that takes you back to the glory of bygone days and the Egypt of a devout people that struggle every day to overcome corruption and poverty while keeping a friendly smile to foreign visitors.
1 Pingback & Trackback