Now in Egypt

I am going to try to keep up this blog while I am the Middle East this time.

I arrived this morning at 3 am, which seems to be the de rigueur time to arrive in Cairo. Seems uncivilized to me but who am I to say? After the rush of customs and all, my uncle met me. I ran back in at his request to buy some beer from the duty free shop. We were back at his very nice apartment in central Cairo by 4. I had not seen it before as he and I are not usually in Cairo at the same time.

We had a beer--a first for me in Egypt!- and then heard the morning call for prayer. I love the call to prayer in the Middle East. Some of the men are better than others, but it is beautiful and evocative to me. It is a call to remember there is more to life than work and traffic and it soars across the city 5 times a day in an ancient rhythm.

Ah the cacophony that is Cairo. Sitting in my room I hear a constant stream of car horns. I will take some pictures of traffic later for those of you unfamiliar with Cairo traffic...it's a treat, I promise.