6. Cairo: Understanding the Egyptian Economy…Underground and Above Ground. 12/21/22

Greetings from Cairo — ending soon as we need to go to Alexandria tomorrow really early. 

We left the hotel and headed for the train station because every article we read said that it was best to purchase train tickets the day before your travels. And boy were they right. We took a taxi to the train station; stuck in traffic most of the time so it took about 45 minutes to go about 3 miles. Probably should have walked (not really since it’s difficult to walk distances because of all the chaos on the streets). Anyway, once we got to the station it was next to impossible to figure out where you go to buy a ticket. It’s a really large station (Ramses Station) with no signage in English and frankly I didn’t see many signs in Arabis either (not that that would have helped us). And I may have mentioned earlier that wherever you go you need to walk through metal detectors that have police or operators standing by. But these detection machines don’t seem to work. We often walk through with our phones and my purse and it doesn’t seem to matter. 

Anyway, we went through the supposed metal detector and then asked the guard about tickets; he pointed somewhere and we headed that way and then asked a policeman. He pointed that we should turn back and go through the detector again in the other direction (totally messing up the process). Then one other cop motioned us to follow him and then we wound up in a little room with the “tourist police.” The cop in that room knew some English so he became our designated “helper.” We explained that we needed round trip train tickets for tomorrow to go to Alexandria. He then looked at what I guess was a schedule (which is impossible to get hold of) and asked what time we wanted to leave; we responded by asking what time the trains go—what are our choices. We did know that there are many different kinds of trains and they each take a different amount of time to reach the location. Some take 2.5 hours; some take up to 6 hours! The “standard” train takes about 4 hours. The VIP train takes 2.5 hours; the express takes about 3 hours. I guess the comfort level of each differs as well as the price. We said we wanted the fastest one which is the VIP. We then said we wanted to leave “around” 9 am. But that is not the VIP train so we’d get there too late. Finally we all understood one another and we said the VIP train at 8 am!

OK.. he then says we must pay in US dollars; and the cost will be $30 per person each way; totaling $120 and it must be cash. We were a bit confused as to why the cop is selling us tickets. Then he says Mike should go with him and I should wait in this little police room. I said I’ll go with them to wherever… Then he calls for a guy who is standing around in the station. He suggests that instead of the train we should have this guy drive us tomorrow and it will be faster and cheaper. The guy will do it for 50% of what the train charges. We said we didn’t want to go by car (can’t even fathom what it would be like to deal with cars and traffic and crazy drivers for several hours); we wanted the train.

OK.. we make some progress and follow him upstairs into another little office which is supposedly the ticket office but the only ones buying tickets are Mike and me and an Indian guy who was shocked at the prices when he was told that the fares had gone up on December 15; he said he should have bought his ticket on December 14. Us too! Anyway, the cop stays with us and we talk with one of the three women who are the ticket sellers (I think this little room is for foreigners to buy tickets and the prices vary based on where you are from). The woman spoke fairly good English; turns out she had lived in the US as a child and her parents now live in Long Beach CA. She discussed the options and then we choose the first class car on the VIP train (roomier she says and better seats). The cop concurs. She tells us the price is $25 per person each way ($5 less per ticket than the cop told us and which the cop was ready to sell to us! Obviously pocketing $20) We agree to the $100 cost and then learn they don’t have any seats on that train! We are shocked; she says she will call her manager and then miraculously two seats appear. So next step is paying for the tickets. Fortunately, I had American money with me, since I figured we might have to pay cash. 

Then the fun began. They didn’t like the “condition” of our money. It was too old; they like crisp new bills, preferably unfolded, and definitely not having any kind of “marking.” One of my $20 bills had a pen mark. I dug deep and found two $10 bills that looked better than one of the 20s. She scrutinized the bills; then her manager scrutinized them and finally we had tickets (hand written). While they were inspecting our money, the cop tells us that we need to “tip” the ticket woman. He tells us to give her 20 EP which is about 80 cents. We didn’t exactly know how to do this.. so we gave him the money and then he gave it to her. She didn’t really want to take it but he said something and she took it. 

We then went back into the little police room with him so he could explain where to get the train tomorrow. I whispered to Mike that I suppose we need to “tip” him as well. Mike then said “I’m not sure this is appropriate, but you were very helpful…” And he took the money and said “That’s fine.” He got 50 EP (about $2). Unbelievable, but that’s how the economy rolls here in Egypt.

From the station, we took a taxi to head to Manshiyat Naser – commonly called the “Garbage City” – a predominantly Coptic Christian district in Cairo where a very large percent of all of the garbage in Cairo is dropped so that people who live there can sort the garbage and then sell it for new uses—metal scraps, rope, cardboard, plastic, etc. Not exactly a tourist destination, but we always visit “marginal communities” and informal settlements when traveling in developing nations. The driver thought we wanted to see the Cave Church, which is located in the area of the ‘garbage city’ which is inhabited by Zabbaleen who are descendants of farmers who migrated from Upper Egypt to Cairo in the 1940s. We did see the church, but our real destination was the actual community of the Zabbaleens. They came to Cairo looking for work and set-up makeshift settlements around the city. Initially, they continued raising pigs, goats, chickens, etc. within the city, like their ancestors, but eventually found collecting and sorting waste produced by the city residents was a more profitable enterprise. To this day, the Zabbaleen sort through household garbage, salvaging and selling things of value, and use the organic waste to feed their animals. 

For years, the Zabbaleen had moved around the city, living in makeshift tin huts, trying to avoid the authorities. Then a large group settled under the cliffs of the Mokattam quarries. The area has grown from a population of 8,000 in the early 1980s, into the largest garbage collector community in Cairo, with approximately 60,000 Zabbaleen inhabitants. While Egypt is a Muslim-majority country, the Zabbaleen are Coptic Christians. Because they are discriminated against, even those who can, today, afford to live elsewhere remain in Garbage City because of the tight community.

We “strolled” around the area while the taxi waited for us in a designated spot. People were very friendly, although probably curious as to why we were there. We didn’t find anyone who spoke even a word of English, but we smiled and they smiled and we took lots of photos. It was clear that the work was hard and very well organized. It appeared to me that huge bags of garbage were constantly being delivered and then hoisted to “apartments” in 4 or 5 story buildings. Families would sort the contents of the bag and re-bag the contents into different categories and then those new bags would get hoisted down to street level where they were picked up by trucks to go to designated areas.

The neighborhood had all the amenities of thypical neighborhoods: barbershop, café, a few shops, a grocery, etc. all amid piles of garbage and trucks moving about with the garbage. Lots more to say, but we have to get up at 5:00 am to be able to get to the train station to go to Alexandria tomorrow. It was Mike’s birthday today, so in addition to spending it at the local garbage dump, we also went to a very classy and wonderful restaurant called Sachi in a neighborhood called Heliopolis. More on that tomorrow.

And P.S. I’ll tell you our take on the ATMs here it Cairo next time we talk — Fern

Best –