Parents and Protests

Fun Fact # 10
The ancient Egyptians prayed to Sobek, the crocodile god, because they were afraid of crocodiles. It is for this reason that  most of his temples are in places that used to have lots of crocodiles, particularly Fayoum and Kom Ombo. Now crocodiles only live upstream of the High Dam.

Crocodile!

So I realize that it's been a while since I've written a post with, uh, substance. So here it is! With LOTS of pictures too!

Hypostyle Hall at Karnak Temple

My parents were in Egypt last week and we spent a few days in Cairo before heading to Upper Egypt for some hardcore tourism. We saw all the major sites in Luxor and Aswan, and also went to Abydos and Dendera Temples. My favorite was Dendera because it's still in decent shape and has lots of colors. Plus it was in the first half of our trip, so I wasn't completely templed-out yet. By the end of our trip I was ready to avoid temples for a while, but I'm really glad I was able to see more of Egypt and some very cool ancient sites.

First Hypostyle Hall at Dendera Temple

Inside Abydos Temple

While my parents were in Cairo, we hit up PhotoCairo5 to see some contemporary art and I showed them around the downtown a bit. (Contemporary art sidenote: Everyone should look up Shirin Neshat because she's super interesting and some of her art films are cool. I saw her speak a week or two ago and I don't know that I would say that I like her, but I'm definitely interested in her.)  I ate quite well while my parents were here, so that was great! I was definitely reminded that Cairo can be quite overwhelming sometimes. Now I'm adjusted and used to living in this bustling and culturally challenging city, but it wasn't always that way. Helping my parents out was certainly a reminder of how much I've grown.

Egypt's youth forming itself out of stone

But Marc and Kay left Egypt just in time to miss all the excitement! Morsi announced that no one can challenge his presidential authority, and he's validated his new power by claiming it's so they can make a constitution (whoa simplification, but I'm not a newspaper so go look it up). People have started calling him a Pharoah. In addition to last week's protests remembering those who died  at the Mohamed Mahmoud clashes one year ago, there have been serious protests across the country since Morsi's announcement. The Muslim Brotherhood has rallied in support of Morsi and the necessity of this decree, but other more liberal and secular groups have come together to protest it.

People have camped out in Tahrir Square, and yesterday there was a very large protest in which groups marched together from all around Cairo. I went early in the day and left before it got dark, both because I was tired and because I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks. It ended up being mostly peaceful, but you never know. But I did go to the protest earlier (sorry Mom!) and I'm so glad I went. It was quite interesting. The murals on Mohamed Mahmoud street are constantly changing, and watching people protest and listening to them discuss their political views is endlessly interesting. I did feel a bit weird, and of course attracted a lot of attention since I'm so clearly not Egyptian, but even so it was pretty easy for people to ignore me in favor of their cause and I was perfectly fine with that.

I did take a look at some of the damage from Friday and last week. There are a few buildings with clear fire damage, as well as numerous broken windows. Most surprising to me though was the massive number of bricks in the street. I of course assumed there would be some rubble and trash and all that, but there really are tons and tons of bricks in the streets.
 

I check on Nefertiti every time I'm downtown.

I stuck around long enough to watch as the crowd grew significantly and to watch as some kid threw rocks from a building's roof and created a stampede. But I was tucked safely away around a corner, so I had no problems. I shot the video below with my sucky point and shoot camera (definitely one of the best pre-Egypt purchases I made) so it's a bit shaky, but you can definitely get the point. The crowd actually goes back much farther than you can tell just from my perspective.

I'm definitely interested to see what happens next. It's a really fascinating time to be in Egypt, and I'm so glad I get to experience it. But don't worry, I'll make good choices!