The Fiat and Fatimeh of Arabia

On Thursday my cousins that I am staying with in Cairo, Egypt took their TOEFL exam and then were free in the afternoon. While they were gone we went out with another cousin to visit two aunts whom we have not had the opportunity to visit so far this week. I must say this has been my favorite day so  far, that must be why I blogged it. Unlike my usual sleep schedule in Kansas City, I am the first awake every day around 8 or 9 am. Generally my cousins leave for work at about this time. The rest of the house sleeps until the Adhan of Dhuhr (the call to noon prayer). 

Many who travel the world boast of a host's hospitality and generosity. My trip has exceeded expectations. Everyone is so generous with their time and efforts here. Every home that we have visited has offered for us to stay for a night or two. Everyone begs that we take our lunch with them, or dinner. Every aunt has presented to us the candy stash from the freezer and plethora of fruit on a platter. My brothers are extremely sick of Pepsi and Coke because everyone offers it and of course they drink it. I make excuses and drink water.

The point of this posting isn't necessarily the unending hospitality from our family and this host country. Rather I noticed something very interesting about these generous people yesterday when I was cruising Cairo with my cousin Leena. More than half of the cars I saw on the street were Fiats, like hers. And of those we guessed that almost all of them were built in the 1970s. The car I was crammed into, with two brothers, an aunt, Soha and Leena sported shag carpeting on the dash and a super keen aftermarket Sony stereo cassette player.

I spent the day thinking about how Egyptians were so generous. The Fiats were always jammed in traffic and crammed with people beyond their threshold. In Kansas City the average person seemed to drive a Chevy Yukon or Ford Explorer that would seat 10 Egyptians comfortably but usually only took one person to and from work.

Was it generosity to seat more people in a car that you barely keep running as it is? Somehow I went back and forth on this. At moments I felt so selfish.  Leena shouldn't have to make this car treck 6 people across the city in stop and go traffic. We could have easily hailed a taxi with more room. I pondered, everyone here seems to have a Fiat or similar and I can't imagine that they are all mechanics. So I concluded that it was perhaps the selfessness of  Leena and others that kept the old Fiats running. I'm sure there are more logical explanations, but I really like this one.

In the evening I took an hour and a half drive smashed in VW Beetle with 6 other family members to get to the pyramids. Poor planning made it impossible to go inside like we had on previous visits. However, this trip had to be the best as I didn't do something so touristy and investigate the graves of people long since deceased and removed. 

Instead we road Arabian horses in the old city and in the sand dunes that surround the pyramids. Aside from the random 4-wheeler who's headlights rudely broke our darkness, we road like explorers. I was Fatimeh of Arabia, with soar butt, back and hands I felt proud. Not only had I not forgotten how to ride a horse, I mastered my horse. I road fast into the darkness disturbing the sand. I had  illuminated pyramids at one side and sand as far as I could see at the other.

Perhaps other tourists have ridden the horses around the pyramids.  I saw locals riding near us and so it seemed as though I may have belonged. Then I had the epiphany of the day.

If I was in the right place at the right time and atop an Arabian stallion, I would discover something great.