Holidays and absences [2]

Okay, I'm going to divide this into two parts: tonight is Cairo and the Pyramids, then Kilimanjaro tomorrow.

I found a cheap hotel in Cairo: for about $25/day I was walking distance from the Egyptian museum and the Nile.  It was cheap because it had Arab style plumbing: the shower squirts directly on the bathroom floor next to the toilet, with a drain.  But I got a balcony!


Up the street I found a coffeehouse redolent of what old time Cairo must have felt like around 1920, with metalwork chandeliers, and a nice assortment of pastries.  This made me feel comfortable right away, I had discovered the image in my head.


Much of Cairo's life goes on in both indoor and outdoor cafes.  Many of the back allyways are festooned with lights and come alive at night.


But beware of setting food inside a shop - the other pillar of Cairo society is business, which means doing your best to swindle anyone who is not your family or friends.  They will lie like you wouldn't believe, and once the tea comes out (also part of the culture) you know you're in trouble.  It's a friendly gesture, but also a means to pin you down so they can work on you.  I found one honest shop keeper, and mean to promote him anyway I can.

That being said, I went to visit the market, but confined myself to the Arab rather than the tourist market.  This is where real business as opposed to swindling takes place.


My main goal of course was to visit the pyramids.  I was advised to take a camel tour, as the bedouins would protect me from the swarms of hawkers.  paid a small fortune, only to discover other tourist walking around largely unmolested, and that the person who recommended it got a kickback, and the guides were unpaid and depended on tips above the small fortune I had paid.

And yet it was worth it, for if you are facing away from Cairo they have managed to preserve the feeling of being in the desert, and the camel helps give you this feeling.


Before leaving I was directed to see the Sufi dancers, also known as the whirling dervishes.  From video I had seen I thought they were completely doing meditation type of whirling around, but instead were quite playful and seemed to have rather broadway like choreography at times.  In the image below you can see that one dancer with two skirts has raised one up above his head to produce a toadstool type effect.


And so I ended Cairo, happy to have gotten away from shopkeepers and endless glasses of tea, but glad to have seen the confusion that is one of the oldest cities on earth (the cab drivers regularly stop to ask directions several times on each trip).  At 25 million it makes New York look like a pipsqueak.

And they are deliriously happy over the ascent of Al-Sissi, who they feel to be the first honest leader they can remember.  Mubarak was corrupt, Morsi catered to the Muslim Brotherhood who most Cairenes seem to detest; now they have hope and optimism.  It was good to see.

The shopkeepers can converse in any language under the sun, it seems. And many others speak English as well. But trying to navigate with nothing but a map and street signs is hopeless: there are maybe a half dozen right angles in the city, and even knowing what you are looking for, the western mind cannot easily decipher arabic squiggles. A few roads have english labels, but your best bet is just to ask locals the way to a landmark near where you are going.

Guidebooks warn you that Cairenes don't fathom maps, and I can see why: even if all streets were labelled in english it's too much a maze to find your way around. They see the city as a network with routes between landmarks, then you ask from there.

David H wrote:

Halfwise wrote:That being said, I went to visit the market, but confined myself to the Arab rather than the tourist market.  This is where real business as opposed to swindling takes place
.....

And they are deliriously happy over the ascent of Al-Sissi, who they feel to be the first honest leader they can remember.  Mubarak was corrupt, Morsi catered to the Muslim Brotherhood who most Cairenes seem to detest; now they have hope and optimism.  It was good to see.

Beautiful pictures, Halfy! It sounds like you're getting out and meeting some real people. How are the communications and language issues working for you? Do you find you're at the mercy of the cab drivers for navigation, or is it possible to decipher the signs and maps?

I should mention that they are extremely charming swindlers.  If you keep a tight grip on your wallet and accept the game for what it is it's kinda fun.

So I decided that instead of flying into the airport near Kilimanjaro, I'd save money by flying into Nairobi and take a 6 hour bus ride into Tanzania.  Problem was, for some dumbass reason I assumed there was no time change between Nairobi and Cairo, so missed the bus by half an hour when I showed up a half hour early.   The security guard who asked if I needed help had the number of the young man who was in charge of this end of the bus line, and he was the consumate professional, laying out the different scenarios and what it would cost me.  Me and him ended up piling into a taxi and chasing the bus to catch it when it stopped for visas at the border.  His comment was "my duty is to get you on that bus!"  I'm actually glad it happened because between him and the taxi driver I got all kinds of information about Kenya and Tanzania I don't think I would have gotten otherwise.  I'm very impressed with the can-do attitude of Kenyans, and the very apparent lack of corruption.  Mix that with an absolutely charming soft-spoken british accent, and I had to fall in love with Kenya.

Caught up with the bus (imagine us scampering across the border with my luggage) and several hours later I was at the lodge used by the Kilimanjaro expedition.  It's a match made in heaven, for the lodge is attached to an orphanage, and proceeds from from the lodge directly fund the kids.  For this reason alone I'd recommend Ultimate Kilimanjaro, but they were a class outfit all around.  One nice thing is that by law all Kilimanjaro expeditions must be staffed entirely by Tanzanians, giving the country an international stage to show what they can do.  This must have made a strong impression on key people from around the world.  But on to pictures.

Kilimanjaro doesn't show herself often; often wreathed in clouds.  It wasn't until the next evening during our pre expredition briefing that we first saw the mountain - calling the meeting to a sudden halt:


For the first time we could believe the whole thing was real.  But backing up a bit, the day before we left many of us did an optional hike to a waterfall, which introduced us to the rainforest on the highlands surrounding the mountain.


It was also nice to see the small scale irrigation projects, with one canal running inside the trail along the side of a ridge:


After that nice intro, the next day we were off!


Unfortunately we had rain for the first few hours, and with other delays we didn't arrive to our rather dank camp until dark.

But the food was good, and the next morning we could see how our tents were crammed in among the trees.


The next day was dryer, and we climbed out of the rain forest into the moorlands.


The following days there was more moorland, then climbed into what can only be described as a Dr Seuss type of landscape.


eventually we made up into base camp, which is essentially a boulder field that some idiot decided would be a good place to pitch tents.  I took pictures but nothing can really convey how ridiculous it is.  We got a few hours of sleep, then it was time for the overnight ascent.  They gave every reason for the timing except what I believe is the real one: rain is unlikely at night, and the clouds are less likely in the morning when you arrive at the top.

Here is where I have to give a heartfelt shout out to the unique professionalism of the guides.  Altitude sickness is somewhat random, it's not clear who will get it.  We started out together as a group, then as various members got sick they were assigned individual guides.  First they'd take your pack, then as the sickness progressed, you lost all will to do anything.  No matter how much money you spent or how long you had been planning to climb the mountain, the main symptom of altitude sickness is you just ceased to give a shit, and wanted to plop down, give up, and head back down.  The guides knew this, and would not let you quit.  I actually was affected perhaps the most, and progressed from physical weakness with multiple rest stops to vomiting.  But Isaac, the guide who took me under his wing, recognized my regression into a childlike state, and would not let me give up.  He cajoled, he offered ceaseless praise, it was obvious he was bullshitting me, but it worked; I could not let myself quit under his constant prodding.

I got up to Stella point, which is connected to Uhura peak by a 2 km long gently sloping ridge.  Halfway along the ridge I had again sat down and quietly vomited.  I could see a glacier from here and once again had decided I had no need to see more.


But a young Brit coming the opposite direction spotted me: "Hey, I was in the same place as you, man; but it's all psychological!  once you make it to the peak and your body realizes there's nothing more, suddenly it all goes away!  It's like magic, man!"  So I struggled along, and sure enough, as soon as I reached the peak my body stopped complaining.  I took my pack back and never threw up again.


So then we went down through the endless gravel of the return path, picking up guides as we went.  Sallied through base camp and late that afternoon made it into our final camp.  The next day it was back through the rain forest


and we had a final glimpse of the mountain about an hour before reaching the gate of the park:


So that was it.


We all have sworn off mountains, but the indomitable guides and porters will go back again and again.  We who go for a visit deserve basically no credit for climbing Kilimanjaro, it all goes to them.

For some reason the images aren't coming out. Maybe too many.

Testing to see if a single image will come through:

Nope. maybe I have too many on servimg?

Oh, my first half has no pics now. I think servimg is down. Or perhaps I overloaded it?