Day ten was our last day in Egypt. We arrived to Cairo mid-morning after an all-night train ride. We rented a large taxi to take all our bags to Dustin's flat. Hany went with the bags. The rest of us took the subway. Interesting.
Dustin lives on the fifth floor...no elevator. Each of our bags weighed about 50 pounds...ahhhh! But we made it. I crashed on one of the beds, the rest of the group took some time to relax, order food from a nearby restaurant, and just hang out.
In the early evening we took a microbus to Mansheet Nasr (more commonly known as Garbage City). Garbage City is a part of Cairo where an immigrant group known as the Zabbaleen live and work. They collect the garbage from around the city, bring it back to their region and recycle as much as 80% of what they find. As a result the Garbage City is an extremely deprived and needy part of the city. We have a Free Methodist church right in the middle of Garbage City. Here's a pic of the church:
And here is a look at some of Garbage City...
We continued through Garbage City toward the top of the mountain. Once there we discovered the most amazing stone carvings and cave churches that seat thousands.
Which brings me to the primary reason for our visit to Garbage City...we were invited to a wedding!...and not just a wedding, an Egyptian wedding...and not just an Egyptian wedding, an Egyptian double wedding. Very cool.
The reception:
After the wedding we took a nighttime stroll through Garbage City (yes, we saw rats) to catch a cab (two cabs, actually). Here's what it looked like for four of our team:
I rode in a cab with Grant, Lissa, and Sharl. And the coolest thing happened...If you've ever been to Cairo, you know how insanely crazy the traffic is. It's just like, hey, whatever you can get away with, go for it. Lanes, laws, and lights mean nothing. The cars tend to be beat up as a result. Well...our cab got in an accident with a city bus! Very cool. Our cabbie tried to squeeze through an opening on the right side of the bus that probably wasn't big enough for the cab anyway...as he got beside the bus, the bus started to move and SCRAPE!.... Our cabbie stopped the car, got out and all I heard was a bunch of Arabic flyin' around for about 45 seconds. Then the cab driver got back in and we just kept going. Amazing. We were on our way to do some midnight shopping at Khan el-Khalili. Khan el-Khalili is crazy. And fun. We shopped, ate, and then headed back to Dustin's flat to gather our bags and headed to the airport.
Day eleven (the wrap-up) coming soon.
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