We’re all mad here…
So yesterday, I stop a taxi in front of the Garden City Four Seasons Nile Plaza hotel. The driver was giving me majestic waves from afar. I couldn’t cross, the street was full of racing cars. He bellowed accrosss the street: "Hurry up! come in quickly I am not allowed to stop here". Indeed a security guard came and reprimanded him for stopping, I managed to cross and clamber in, barely escaping death and we sped off.
The following conversation ensued:
-I'm very sorry you got yelled at, I didn't know you couldn't stop there.
-Noooooo Docotra, noooo don't worry, they are CRAZY ! Just like this country is CRAZY! One day you can stop, one day you can't ! One day you can eat meat, the next you go hungry ! It all depends on who is there and what they feel like.
We drive on and reach the Cairo University bridge. It was a very hot day and the sun was slicing through us like a knife. The dense traffic had bought the bridge to a standstill. My driver pointed to a taxi to our right. The driver looked absolutely miserable and was obviously suffering in the heat. He was repeatedly rubbing his face with a filthy washcloth. This seemed to intrigue my taxi driver to no end:
-See little Doctora, the country is NUTS ! Look at that man wiping his face with that disgusting towel. It’s black! it’s dirty! But but but, it’s a bit wet ! Would a sane man do that ? Noooooooooooooooooooooo! I know why he is doing that though. It’s only because of the heat! He is actually trying to hide from Cairo in the dirty towel ! Hahhahhaa! You can't hide ! You can’t hide! This city is everywhere even if you can’t see it!
We continue our bumper to bumper rout. A little, later he points towards a tall building by the Nile:
-Look there Doctora, see that tall building? A man jumped off there and WOOOOOOW, fell way down to the bottom. He was crazy too, just like me and you, and all of us who live here! He went down and down and down, into the Nile.
Basically the whole ride continued this way but he was driving responsibly-ish, he turned on the meter and didn't play loud music so I considered it an ok ride.
