Today's Egypt, which news people write about and what we see on TV, is vastly differely from the Cairo, Egypt, I experienced. When my husband Dave was flying the NYC to Cairo route for TWA in the 90's , we brought the family along on one of his trips to Egypt. We saw a land of pyramids, traffic jams, statues of ancient gods, little kids weaving silk rugs, spitting camels and Arabian horsemen in flowing robes dashing through the desert. It was a land of romance and smiling people who couldn't do enough for us!
Mohammed was our tour guide. He'd been befriended by airline crews and enjoyed showing off his city's sites. After taking us to a bazaar which had existed from times before Christ, to papyrus factories, rug weaving shops, The City of the Dead where squatters had claimed tombs of the rich as their homes, we rode camels past the pyramids and a flooka sailboat ride on the Nile, he invited us to his home for dinner. Thank goodness we knew NOT to use our LEFT hand when we ate. The left hand is dirty, used for wiping only...hummmm Though we never knew what we were eating, it was tasty and we never felt ill.
Egypt remains a delightful memory of an exotic desert land filled with pyramids, spitting camels, colorful tents of Ramadan, and smiling, helpful people. I hope their new government will be peaceful, successful, prosperous and a friend to the United States of America.
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