Cairo Intro

Last night, we walked around the streets of Cairo. We took the subway and rode in the "women only" car. We dodged traffic like chickens in most big cities. Had dinner in a dive and watched people stop everything, in the street, and kneel down to pray towards Mecca. I was thinking this town wasn't so crazy after all. Just a little bit different. But today, after visiting the stunning Egyptian Museum, we jumped in a taxi and headed to the old Islamic part of town. This is where the streets narrow turn into tiny alleyways full of fabric shops, chickens for sale, woodturners, vegetable carts and people. Lots and lots of people. We were the only westerners there, which stressed us out at first. But then we noticed we weren't being hassled so much, cause who were we to buy a live goat or raw wood planks anyway?! I got stopped by 2 stern looking police officers for having taken a picture near a prison. I was a bit nervous and showed them what I had taken and then they just started laughing. So I just smiled back and continued on my way. We walked around like this for a few hours and by the end, neither of us could formulate thoughts, let alone know where we were. We ducked into a little fruit drink stand and sat amongst the flies sipping a delicious banana/strawberry mush. This neighborhood seemed to wind around like a labyrinth, forever, and I felt like we were transported back in time about 500 years. Sometimes I didn't even feel like the locals could see us. We just wove around the horse and donkey pulled carts and the veiled women as if in a dream.
Now, we are back and trying to take it all in. Just starting to wake up from the day.