A connection with the past

I didn't know whether I've said this in a previous blog, but whether I have or not, it doesn't matter because what I'm about to say is true.

I've missed the intentional and oft invasive manner of the Egyptians. People that you meet on the street will take your hand and be your best friend for at least as long as it takes to make a sale. Like I told my friend, the cosmopolitan universe of Egypt has lasted long before there were steamships to take white people over there. Ever since the Romans were expanding their frontiers and coming home and made a detour before they arrived to their mothers and wives, they passed by the oldest city in the world to experience something older than they.

Because of this environment—this constant motion of strangers through their land—their behavior has been influenced to accept and accommodate the influx of tourists and people from far away entranced by the history. The resilience of those who live in its shadow, and the transient nature of its survival, is an energy in and of itself, generating the fascination from within.

They speak many languages in Egypt (although getting into a taxicab whose driver doesn't speak a word of English or Filipino except for 'Coca Cola' isn't rare at all, so check and double check your transportation's multiliguisticality applications) and hawkers and touts on the street will not stop at rattling off some Romance or Baltic tongue to wow you into buying something.

This is not ever to say that all Egyptians you meet are marrying you off to their sister, brother, goat, or date palm). I guess that depending on their social status and the nature of their business, some will befriend you because networking is as (or more) important to them than the fast buck that they may or may not make depending on how fast they are or gullible you are. For example, I befriended this bunch of gentlemen, Aly Baba and his son, Hussien, and nephew, who ran a restaurant in Luxor. A great and educated bunch, they welcomed me with the class and suave of international men of mystery. They are certainly into being your friends for the long haul. People like these, whom you can make a mental, emotional, and/or philosophical promise to hold dear and are likewise throwing themselves into your path, as a fellow tourist of Life itself, are the ones you should keep.

People who have 6,000 years of heritage have no misgiving about eternal life and the issuing religions that market this wondrously incongruous concept. More than anything, the transience that they see in the everyday is but a 24-hour cycle of their God, Ra. So fleeting, so predictable, so essential, but so insignificant. The mere occurrence of the sunrise and sunset can never live up to the presence of the life-giving spirit.

If you're unsure about people, and their intentions, maybe you should go to Egypt, and get the depth and breadth of sincerity, warmth, and love that has existed fall this time.


I traveled on the Nile for 2 days like this, just drifting with the ancient tide.


Thanks to GNU/Wikipedia for this image