Cairo, Egypt

You are a tough crowd to please!

I spent all day yesterday (Saturday) at the pyramids of Saqqara, Dahshur, and Giza. I spent this morning at the Egyptian Museum and this afternoon at the American University in Cairo (in their bookstore and library, and with Brad Clough, their one and only Professor of Comparative Religion). But let me not squander my internet time on such trivialities.

Regarding my itchy armpit:

At some point in Spain I developed an itchy left armpit. The itch grew and grew until I finally went to a pharmacist in Fez who prescribed a white cream. The cream made things worse, but the pharmacist refused to change the prescription until I finished the tube. By the time I arrived in Casablanca, the situation had not improved (nor had it worsened, and I must admit that I had not finished the tube of cream). In Casablanca I visited another pharmacy, where a small army of extremely concerned pharmacists debated at length about the proper course of action to take for my (unseen) itchy-armpit-disease. They prescribed antibiotics and a black paste. I have been taking the antibiotics for 3 or 4 days now and applying the paste twice daily. Although I really don't think the antibiotics are working, the paste does seem to be clearing things up. I will finish my course of antibiotics and keep you posted on the condition of my pit.

Regarding food:

Let's take yesterday as an example of an average day of food:

For breakfast I had the standard breakfast-included hotel breakfast of coffee, toast, and jam. The jam came in a little plastic package, the toast was pre-sliced white bread, and the coffee was lukewarm. The milk, however, was fresh and warm and it made the coffee taste delicious.

For lunch I had fresh, hot pita bread baked in a brick oven over a wood fire with excellent baba ganoush and slightly salty hummus. My main course was the very typical french-fries and chicken kebab. (I was a little surprised by the omnipresence of french fries in Moroccan cuisine, and they have reared their greasy heads again in Egypt.) Dessert consisted of a fresh orange.

For dinner I went to my favorite Cairo restaurant, Akher Sa'a, where I had a delicious falafel sandwich. So delicious was the sandwich, in fact, that I ordered a second one. And the total bill came to a whopping 20 cents US. (Which is a big part of why it's my favorite restaurant in Cairo.)

Regarding photographs:

I have a digital camera with two one-gigabyte memory cards. In theory, when I fill one memory card with images, I will have those images downloaded onto a CD, and then I will upload those images onto a photosharing website (like www.kodakgallery.com) and post some of the better ones on my blog. In reality, several of the images downloaded onto my CD were damaged in the process and are now unreadable, uploading the images from my CD onto the photosharing website will take over 10 hours, and most computers I've seen in Morocco and Egypt (like the one I'm on right now) don't even have functioning CD drives.

I do have a CD full of images beginning with Madrid and ending in Marrakesh (where I switched memory cards). Many of the images on the first CD are unreadable, so I will try to download them onto another CD here in Cairo and hope for better results. If I can find a computer with a functioning CD drive, I can continue my uploading process onto www.kodakgallery.com (I've already uploaded about 100 photos) and I can go back and add some photos to the Spain section of this blog. Looking around this internet place (supposedly the best inernet place in Cairo) I see two computers with CD drives -- whether or not they actually work is another question. Perhaps when I get to Jordan or Israel the internet connections and computer technology will improve.

Regarding my bowels:

Why hasn't anyone asked about my bowels? They're so sensitive....

They've been doing surprisingly well! I had one night of diarreah in Meknes, but that was easily cured with just one Imodium. Then I had another burst of diarreah here in Cairo, but that seemed to be a one-shot deal, and it was over.

Say a little prayer for my bowels.

Regarding Sunni Islam:

I have been asked to briefly explain the historical split between Sunni and Shia Islam. At the time of the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD, he was not only the messenger of God, but also the emperor of a fledgling Islamic Empire. Upon his death there were serious questions surrounding the issue of succession -- who should succeed Muhammad and in exactly what capacity?

Two main groups emerged from this debate over succession. The majority group (85%) will come to be known as Sunni Muslims, and they will follow the political leadership of men called Caliphs who will effectively function as the emperors of the Islamic Empire right up until 1924 when the Caliph of the Ottoman Empire was dethroned (a major event in Muslim history, cf. the speeches of Osama bin Laden and many others). The minority group (15%) will come to be known as Shia Muslims, and they will follow the spiritual guidance of men called Imams who are direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and his son-in-law Ali. Of course, Shia Muslims would have liked to have seen their Imams politically in charge of the Islamic Empire, but such was not the case.

Every Muslim country I am visiting on this trip has an overwhelming Sunni majority. The only countries with Shia majorities are Iran, Iraq, and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan -- now there's a country I would love to visit! What in the world do they eat for breakfast in Azerbaijan and how would it affect my bowels?

(Photo by Eric: King Zoser, Step Pyramid of Saqqara, Egypt)