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Journal of African trips

African trip [I]

Agelasto
2004-05-20 20:57:33

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of Islamic Art (which I recommend), I was reading
the map as I walked down a street. A man came up to me. We got to talking and went for
coffee. He held two jobs, tailor and barber and had managed to put his 5 children through
university. He had taught himself English; so conversation with him was generally possible. He
insisted on showing me his mosque. I was late for the museum, but I thought a guided tour of the
mosque was an opportunity I could not pass up. We toured the mosque and as we were about to
leave he insisted we visit the grave of the mosque?s benefactor. He instructed me that it was
customary for me to leave a donation, sliding it through the bars of the crypt. I put in the
equivalent of US $2 but he thought that was not enough. I ended up putting in Egyptian pounds
to the tune of US $7. He then said something about charity, and his sick mother, and foreign
exchange, hospital bills, tuition costs and other things; at his request I handed him five U.S. dollar
bills, and I still can?t recall how exactly it happened. From then on I decided not to take much
cash (especially not greenbacks) with me since I have a knack of being talked out of it.

For various reasons, including in order to protect tourists from terrorists (or to make tourists feel
they are protected from this unseen threat), Egypt has created a Tourist Police. These officers
wear special uniforms. They are not difficult to locate; a covey stand in front of every (EVERY)
legitimate tourist accommodation, as well as museums, embassies, etc. The main office of the
Tourist Police is in Cairo; I had occasion to visit when I filed my complaint against Amigo Tours,
an outfit that is certainly not friendly to tourists. I used Amigo Tours in order to take a felucca
down the Nile from Aswan in the direction of Luxor. The felucca is a traditional single-sail boat
that has not ...