If you enlarge the photo from a nearby drugstore, you will see not only that Viagra is the world's #1 something but also that you can get it without a prescription. You could actually get many if not all drugs without a prescription here.The trick is to know what you are actually getting. There have been some scandals about fake pills being sold. Imagine you buy Viagra and it doesn't work because it is really baking soda in a capsule or something. How do you complain?
I got a supply of 20 certirizine (aka Zyrtec), which at home is an OTC anti-histamine, from a pharmacy to assure my cold would abate. The pills cost about $1.50, which is much less than the equivalent number of the generic brand would cost at home. My cold has abated and I am well-supplied fo the next time.
I am also very happy to report that my sunglasses are repaired at no charge in time to go to Congo! I highly recommend the Blue Eyes Optical Shop on Brazil Street should you have similar needs.
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| Garden fountain at Opera House |
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| Entrance to Cairo Opera House |
Cairo's opera house sits in a beautiful garden that houses art galleries and a museum as well as walkways and fountains. It is artistically lighted in the early evening. Inside, much to my surprise, I found the decor plain and uninspired. I think my expectations ran to the "Egyptian style" theaters in the U.S. from the 1920s. The audience was a pretty good age mix and the house was virtually full. Our seats were dead center at stage level, so we had perfect views. The audience appeared to be quite appreciative but there was no standing ovation. Despite requests to "avoid" texting, too many people were unable to give up their electronics for a whole performance, though no one near us was actually in a phone conversation during the performance (as happened in Yerevan). The cast was a mix of Egyptians and Eastern European singers, with the best voice in a substitute baritone Alfredo, Cristian Balasescu from Romania.
Garbage City
Today I had a very special half-day adventure to Manshiyat Naser, commonly known as Garbage City. It was created in the 1960s when President Nasser relocated a colony of garbage collectors who kept pigs away from the edge of the Nile to the outskirts of the city. The new place was basically sand and sandstone cliffs. At that time there were 5000 in the community. Today there are 80,000, almost all of them Christians. In the 50 years in the new location, they discovered and cleared out enormous caves and made places of worship from them. They have also built housing and work spaces. A full life with markets and schools exists amid a gigantic trash collection, sorting, and recycling effort. Here are some photos from Garbage City. A NYT articl can be found here https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/world/middleeast/cairo-mural-garbage.html?_r=0
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| Preschoolers singing outdoors. |
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| School-age girl selling produce from a moving truck |
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| Unsorted trash being stored in an incomplete building |
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| Church in a cave seats 15,000 |
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| Giant graffiti project that says: “If one wants to see the light of the sun, he must wipe his eyes.” |
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| Rood screen in the cave church (altar is behind this). |
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| Sheep on the roof. |
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| Bag of trash being lifted into a 5th story storage space. |
Prior to seeing the Tent Makers' Souk, we visited the Egyptian Textile Museum, located near the original wall of the city of Cairo, part of which was reconstructed to show the grand gates. The Museum suffers from the common practice of low lighting, so it is not especially easy to see some of the items on display without using your phone flaashlight. Starting with the ancient times, they exhibit pieces of linen that were used for sheets, clothing, diapers (yes), towels. For hundreds of years this was the only cloth in use. Then came cotton, which of course became a major raw material for industry both here and in Britain. Travelers and merchants on the Silk Road traded Egyptian cotton cloth in the east and introduced silks and wools. Each major segment of Egyptian history has a display of items from that period. The influence of Iran and the Ottomans shows up in the floral designs in later pieces.
To get to the Tent Makers, who don't really make or offer tents anymore, we had to throw ourselves into the fine Egyptian game of dodging traffic, including crossing a very heavily-trafficked street. The trick, I observed, is to watch for a group of women who want to cross together. Go when they go. Cars stop. Today the tent makers actually specialize in appliqué quilting--pillow covers, hangings, bed covers, runners, etc. I saw one man sitting and sewing in his shop so I went in to try to talk to him. With help from my guide I learned he started this work at age 8 and has been doing it 30 years. He was very cheerful, claimed he loves his work, and showed me a piece that he just finished after two weeks' work. I asked him about two table runners but his price, about $20 each, was more than I had in Egyptian pounds in my purse. Saved by not taking enough cash with me for once. Some of the appliqué patterns reminded me of Pennsylvania Dutch designs, but the colors were often in combinations that most westerners would not like and would definitely not be easily incorporated at my house.
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| In one of the old city gates entering the souk. Note the screens on porches, a la Naguib Mafouz stories. |
We had to walk through a big part of the souk to get to the tent makers, including a jewelry section, brass, belly dancing outfits, and lingerie that I am sure brought a blush to my face. Bras were readily available in many sizes, all with very heavily padded cups in bright colors and designs. Virtually all of the items in the souk these days come from China--including highly beribboned and ruffled "just married" satin bedspreads. In the meantime, the majority of women in the market were covered head to toe.
Our car was left with a man who runs a sort of valet service for people who know about him. He not only watches the car for a fee, you actually give him your keys. When we were finished we waited while he retrieved the car from who-knows-where. We were home by 1:30--a 3.5 hr. excursion that felt like two days in terms of inputs to my overloaded psyche. I do feel better prepared for Kinshasa traffic thanks to my days with Nadir. It will seem like old hat to have cars coming the wrong way down the street or wandering all over the road creating new lanes. Maybe I won't spend my whole month there looking at my feet when we go somewhere in the car.
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