Hotel Cairo/Chez Henrik: The Anti-blog

[delay in posting because of blog site/connection problems]

This is a different sort of blog entry: instead of describing fascinating
new horizons and unusual sights, it describes a return to a place
(Henrik’s apartment) that has felt like a slice of home away from home,
about finding local fun with new friends, bureaucratic snarls and a time
for repose and taking a vacation from our vacation. Instead of in an
internet café, this blog entry is being typed in our friend Henrik’s
apartment. Because his phone line hasn’t been working for approximately
the past month, this entry is being posted at one of two neighborhood
branches of the western, English-oriented café Cilantro (where we first
went to meet a friend because it was one of the few available options open
during the day during Ramadan, and now go on almost a daily basis to spend
time online). In addition to their fondness for Mariah Carey (the album
Butterfly was on continuous loop for the over 3 hours we spent there one
day), the song “Hotel California” is also appears frequently on their
playlist, and expresses something about how feel unable to check out of
Cairo.

The first period of our time back in Cairo was expected: we arrived from
our trip to the Siwa Oasis the evening of October 23, hoping to be able to
get our Ghana visa (which we’d mistakenly assumed we could get at the
airport) in time to fly to Dubai on October 28, and then on to Ghana on
November 1. To keep the visa debacle story as concise as possible, here’s
the summary of 4 trips to the Ghana embassy (during which our taxi stopped
to ask directions from the same corner policeman, who would greet us with
a smile, 3 of those times):
1) Oct 24, the first day of Eid, the feast after Ramadan. The embassy is
closed until Oct 29.
2) Oct 29: we go and unsuccessfully argue to allow us to apply for the
visa, which they say is only possible on Tuesdays and Thursday.
3) Oct 31: we apply for the visa and unsuccessfully ask them to give it to
us that day. 4) Nov 2: we pick up our visas.
Between getting the visa, making the necessary flight changes, and buying
our second round of plane tickets for the trip, we are ready to stop
dealing with travel logistics for awhile. Needless to say, we will be
making advance inquiries for all remaining visas.

In those first days back in Cairo, we spent a lot of time with Henrik and
his Danish friends, at more upscale places mostly in the wealthier
neighborhood of Zamalek. We went to the open air restaurant Sequoia,
situated on the Nile across the river from the World Trade Center, which
also has a two-tower design (although they’re currently constructing a
third building in the middle—I don’t know if 9-11 had any influence on
changing the appearance). From there we went to a concert at the El Sawy
Cultural Center, a very cool use of space with a stage area constructed
underneath a Nile bridge, accommodating several hundred people. The band
was Wust El Balad, apparently a popular Egyptian rock/pop band, which
someone told us differs from most other pop groups in that their lyrics
are not religious. During the show, someone told us the songs were about
“Che Guevara, the war in Iraq, and marijuana”; the music was a little
reminiscent of Manu Chao, with an eclectic world-beat sound. To cap off
the evening, we followed the group to the dance club Latex, located
underneath the Hilton, which proved to be a typically snobbish and sterile
club environment playing poorly remixed hip-hop. Another evening we went
out with the same group to the bar at La Bodega, a trendy place that we
returned to another night for dinner with an American friend where the
food was good and there was even a decent bottle of Egyptian wine (the
maker imports the grapes from France).  We felt more comfortable in Cairo,
more familiar with the city. With Ramadan being over, most people seemed
happier as well, and although it’s still warm during the day, the weather
is much cooler now than when we first arrived (although the air pollution,
at levels up to 100 times what’s considered safe by the World Health
Organization, unfortunately hasn’t changed).

Aside from one tour of Coptic Cairo that a friend of Henrik’s invited us
on, we haven’t really done any sight-seeing since we’ve been back in
Cairo. Instead, we’ve been doing some of the things we haven’t done for
several months: listening to music, cooking, watching movies, and reading
Henrik’s books. In addition to a Danish cartoon movie called Terkel in
Trouble, we’ve watched 3 Danish movies: Adam’s Apples, a dark comedy about
a neo-nazi’s time after release from prison with a priest who refuses see
anything disproving the goodness of God; and the first two movies in Lars
von Trier’s American trilogy set during the Depression: Dogville, where a
woman on the run seeks shelter in a small town in the Rockies,  and
Manderlay, where the same woman attempts to set right life on an Alabama
plantation where slavery still exists. In these two movies, the picture of
America is very bleak indeed.

Currently, Henrik is attending a conference at Alexandria, so we’re all
alone in his apartment. We joked that when he gets back, he should change
the locks so that we can’t stay any longer, and he replied that maybe we
would change them by the time he returns. Henrik, showing his sense of
humor, also suggested that we just stay with him for the rest of the year,
and write fictional blog entries based on information we find online.
While respectfully declining his offer, in addition to planning a future
trip to Denmark, we have made Henrik and others promise to visit us in New
York so that we can repay some of the wonderful hospitality. It’s been
great to stay here, but when November 7 comes, we’ll be ready to not just
check out but to finally leave and get back in the pace of traveling.