cairo

After almost 24 hours in the air, with the time change, I made it to Cairo last night. The city is as crowded as New York, as dirty as Mexico City and filled with as much traffic as Los Angeles, except with no discernible road rules.

I met some of my fellow delegates in the Paris airport during our layover. We are of all ages and backgrounds, mostly women, a huge range of ages. After a hair-raising drive from the airport with seven of us stuffed in the airport, we reached our hotel, which is charming despite the rather terrifying elevator needed to reach it on the fourth floor.

This morning we enjoyed being tourists at the pyramids of Giza, which are spectacular despite the fact that you will be constantly distracted by people trying to sell you things, or give you "free gifts" and take your picture, for which baksheesh (tip) is expected of course.

Tomorrow we will be heading to El-Arish, a seaside town on the Mediterranean about 25 miles from the border with Gaza. We'll stay overnight and then head to the border early the next morning.

Right before I left the US, we heard the excellent news that all 3 of the delegations ahead of us got through the Rafah crossing successfully. Of 66 people, only one person was turned back (a Palestinian student who didn't have the correct visa--ironically it is easier for citizens of almost any country in the world to enter Palestine than for actual Palestinians.) This is fantastic news that gives us a lot of confidence we will be able to get in.