Today we went to the Pyramids. Not your normal blog post. Not an every day ordeal. Not something that you normally do or I might do again for quite awhile. What was really surprising to me, even though I knew that they were close to the city, was how they just appeared. It's not like they're small and can sneak up on you. They're something like 146 meters tall. But as you're driving along you forget where you are and you're looking at the city around you when all of the sudden, there they are. They just pop out from behind an apartment building. Not the most dramatic and impressive first view. I'd actually like to go back and have a do over.
What it says, though, is that urban sprawl is a bit of an issue here. Yea tell me about it. All together, in good traffic, the drive from the airport to the pyramids, on highways mind you, is about half an hour. It's a huge city. It's as big as NYC. Which raises quite a few questions for me because in geography we like to study cities. Okay, so then here they are. Where do you put all of those people? And how do you provide them with even basic services? How do you get them clean water, how do you allow them to move around, how do you employ them all, and how do you make it happen? Last one is key, how do you do it with no money? I mean Cairo isn't NY, the money differences are a little different, so how do you collect enough revenue from the locals to be able to do everything that needs to be done? Well. You don't. No one has the money that is needed. So like any city in this sort of situation certain things get overlooked. Water isn't very good, trash is everywhere, streets aren't too clean, buildings are in disrepair, some parts of the city are dangerous, and I could keep going for probably an hour. But what is really interesting, is that it works itself out. Despite all of this, people make it work. They find jobs, they help each other, and in the end they get by. Wonderful huh? I'm ready to get out into the city tomorrow for some exploring, I can't wait to see all there is to see. Granted, I'll be getting mostly the tourist perspective, and be studying tourist sites (most of them are at least) but at least we will eventually get a more realistic idea of the country than most of the holidayers who fly in for three days, see the Pyramids, and fly back out.
We have locals with us, we have Arabic speakers, Egyptians, teachers, more than the average tourist gets. Today was a great example, we got a decent history of the Pyramids on the way to them from everyone with us. We wandered around, we took a million pictures, we climbed around inside them, and then we left. But our trip isn't over. We come home at night to reflect and analyze what we've seen. So what did we see? I saw a country that is possibly the definition of place promotion and cultural commodification. People are getting by like I said, but they're doing so by selling their history. They sell little pyramids and masks, they sell headdresses, scarves, papyrus, and anything Pharaonic that you can imagine. So we indulged for a day. We're actually here to study Islamic Egypt, so the last 1300 hundred years. But for a day, we went to the Pyramids. You can't go to Egypt without seeing them, of course.
But now we need to look at reality instead of just the picture that is painted for tourists by a country that desperately needs them as a source of revenue. What is depressing, is that our presence is encouraging it. Every one of us who goes to see the Pyramids reinforces the notion that tourists come to see ancient Egypt and not present day Egypt. It encourages people to ignore the present and everything in between. The last 1300 years actually happened, Egypt wasn't put on hold until the British showed up in the 1800s. So what else did I see? Egyptians being forced into professions they probably don't enjoy. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't imagine that the old men sitting out in the dirt and heat were really enjoying selling bottles of water to tourists. I mean seriously, it was 101 degrees this afternoon according to the weather. Were the police having fun? Were they happy to watch tourist gawk for the millionth time? I can only imagine that they weren't and that given the choice they would have chosen something different. But history decides all. Geography too I guess. France and Britain won. Colonialism took hold. The Arab empires fell apart. Africa became forgotten. And suddenly, a bottle of water is 50 cents. We have the money, they have the Pyramids, and we get what we want. What a sad situation.
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