14 Hours in Cairo

I flew Egypt Air from Harare to New York via a 14-hour layover in Cairo, where I stayed at the Moevenpick Hotel, provided by the airline.

I met a Zimbabwean woman during the layover and we ended up sharing the hotel room and traded our life stories for the remainder of the journey to the U.S. We would stay in touch only shortly after our U.S. arrival. I will call her Noma to protect her privacy. She was heading to Syracuse, New York. I was heading to the deep southern U.S. state of Louisiana.

Cairo sits on the banks of the Nile River. It is humid and densely populated. Ancient mosques are everywhere. On impulse Noma and I went on a guided tour of the Pyramids of Giza, on the west bank of the Nile River. In my mind it would have been foolish not to take the tour having come so close.

When we arrived in Giza, Kneph, our tour guide cited dates and various statistics but I was too absorbed into the massive structures to notate the facts. We toured the Great Pyramid of Khufu and went into the king and queen’s chambers. Then we rode on camelback and visited the perfume palace. I gazed at the Great Sphinx. Breath taking.

I did not have a camera. I promised myself I’d return to Cairo. That was almost eleven years ago. I will return to Cairo.