Things Seen On An Egyptian Highway*

1. Open-air truck full of cows
2. Open-air truck full of foam
3. Open-air truck full of Pepsi
4. Pedestrians
5. Open-air truck full of cloth
6. Open-air truck full of straws
7. Stacks of tires
8. Date farms (as seen from)
9. Donkey (on a pedestrian bridge)
10. Pyramids of Giza (in the distance)

*An anecdote: As mentioned, Egyptian taxis are super cheap and thus must be taken everywhere. Taxi drivers always have the most wonderful quirks, from insistence on taking the “fast route” that goes three miles out of your way to adorning their dashboards with faux fur and other in-car accoutrement (vehicle air fresheners are the snowflakes of Cairo: no two are alike). Anyway, the other night my unofficial host and I were zipping along the highway to a cafe in Downtown Cairo when our well-muscled driver missed the appropriate exit. So what does he do? Turn around and start over? Nah. He slows down, moves to the far-right lane and starts driving in reverse. For a half-mile. On a busy highway. At night. (Almost) full-speed. Still, the ride was less than $3! Value, people, value.