Egyt: From Cairo to Sinai

Ahhh, Egypt. We have a love /hate relationship with you. We love the felucca (sail boat) rides on the Nile and walking along it at sunset. We love the pyramids, the Citadel and the history represented in the Egyptian museum. We love Coptic Cairo. We love the food, especially koshary, a rice, lentil and macaroni dish that is an Egyptian favorite. We love Zamalek, the area in Cairo where we are staying, which is full of beautiful old buildings and huge trees, offering shade from the hot summer sun. We love St. Catherine’s Monastery and Guest house and the beautiful setting in the shadow of Mt Sinai (we even walked up . . . at night, no less, and down the mountain and can still move). We love the Metro with its very low price. We love the old mosques and the Islamic architecture present everywhere. We love the cool breeze that somehow always seems available to cool one off. We love worshiping, as we did tonight, with many Egyptian believers and seeing many come to know Christ in a huge Evangelical church. We love the beauty and kindness of the Egyptian people and the vibrancy that they bring to life and their sense of community, so lost in western culture.
Unfortunately, we are less than thrilled with your idea of baksheesh, or what we would call a tip or begging, for any information requested or offered without request. Because we are not used to being constantly hassled, this makes life difficult, especially in tourist areas. We have lived in a country where being conned was common, but it pales compared to your brand. You have it down to a science.
We are disappointed with your lack of tourist-friendly sites, considering you make a huge amount of money from tourism . . . a map of the site might be included in the entry price. Of course, all of this does provide jobs for the many seeking to be guides.
We have added your drivers to the millions of drivers worldwide who are maniacs on the road. Trying to cross the street in your country can be a nightmare
All this being said, now that we have been here once, we would return with a better understanding of what is expected of us and our outlook would be different. There are many things yet to see here. Tomorrow we will be leaving for Portugal and entering a more western environment where the lifestyle is again different.
As most of you are celebrating the July 4th holiday, be grateful for the freedoms afforded us in the USA and yearn for a sense of community exhibited by countries like Egypt. May we, as believers, demonstrate true community as taught by Christ.