AFAR Magazine
Spin the Globe: Ryan Knighton in Cairo
When I touched down in Cairo at the end of April, the Arab Spring seeded in Tahrir Square was just two months old. My own government had advised against traveling to Egypt. Protests continued. Air strikes in neighboring Libya had begun. Syria rumbled in the background. I was, frankly, terrified. Revolution wasn’t the half of it. The cabin of my plane carried only two passengers: an Egyptian woman returning from holidays, and me. The blind guy from Canada.
After we landed, our pilot stopped me at the cabin door. “You’re going on your own?” he asked, aghast. “Think so,” I said. “Should be fun.”
Cheerful abandon did not reassure him. So the pilot guided me through immigration, exchanged my money, found my bag at the carousel, flagged me a driver, and put my suitcase in the trunk. None of this gave me comfort. To be helped so much assumes a need to be helped so much. Without him, perhaps the airport would have killed me.
“He is safe,” my driver shouted to my pilot. “We are brothers now, Insha’Allah.” Around me, all I could hear were skidding tires and honks. There was a complementary smell, too, as though you were huffing a tailpipe. Cairo is a car, I thought.
“Sounds angry out there,” I said, and mimicked pounding a horn.
The driver laughed. “No, this is to say I am here. Hi, I am here. It is like birds who sing, Insha’Allah.” We blew past the palace where Hosni Mubarak, the recently deposed dictator, had lived. I imagined it to be the quietest spot in Cairo.
“What does Insha’Allah mean?” I asked.
“It means God willing. In Egypt we say God willing, because we do not think we can say what will happen.” And he chirped his horn for the hell of it. Insha’Allah.
My hotel was in Zamalek, an upscale, reputedly lush neighborhood set on an island in the Nile. The desk clerks were as friendly as the sands are old. A glass of juice appeared in my hand and brightened my senses, the cold and the tart of lemons cutting away the drive. I asked about a restaurant within walking distance. Both clerks puzzled a moment.
“Walk? You cannot walk.” “It’s OK. I’m Canadian,” I explained, and stepped out for dinner. Feeling along the sidewalk, I tapped until it dropped two feet, giving way to gravel. Several paces on gravel, then three steps up at an angle into a post. Beyond that was something my white cane inferred to be an open manhole. Beyond that? I made my way back to the hotel.
“I can’t walk,” I said.
Comments
This is a beautiful piece.
Ryan Knighton writes a touching piece on Cairo. I'd love to see his bio.
Ryan Knighton writes a touching piece on Cairo. I'd love to see his bio.
I was re-reading an old AFAR a little while ago and came upon this article, read it, and loved it. Definitely up there for one of my favorite articles, in AFAR and elsewhere. Knighton's bio was in this issue, I think, and I'm really looking forward to checking out his new book when it's out. If it's half as great as this piece, I'm sure I'll love it!
I was re-reading an old AFAR a little while ago and came upon this article, read it, and loved it. Definitely up there for one of my favorite articles, in AFAR and elsewhere. Knighton's bio was in this issue, I think, and I'm really looking forward to checking out his new book when it's out. If it's half as great as this piece, I'm sure I'll love it (as will many others, I'm assuming)!
I was re-reading an old AFAR a little while ago and came upon this article, read it, and loved it. Definitely up there for one of my favorite articles, in AFAR and elsewhere. Knighton's bio was in this issue, I think, and I'm really looking forward to checking out his new book when it's out. If it's half as great as this piece, I'm sure I'll love it (as will many others, I'm assuming)!
I was re-reading an old AFAR a little while ago and came upon this article, read it, and loved it. Definitely up there for one of my favorite articles, in AFAR and elsewhere. Knighton's bio was in this issue, I think, and I'm really looking forward to checking out his new book when it's out. If it's half as great as this piece, I'm sure I'll love it (as will many others, I'm assuming)!
I was re-reading an old AFAR a little while ago and came upon this article, read it, and loved it. Definitely up there for one of my favorite articles, in AFAR and elsewhere. Knighton's bio was in this issue, I think, and I'm really looking forward to checking out his new book when it's out. If it's half as great as this piece, I'm sure I'll love it (as will many others, I'm assuming)!
I was re-reading an old AFAR a little while ago and came upon this article, read it, and loved it. Definitely up there for one of my favorite articles, in AFAR and elsewhere. Knighton's bio was in this issue, I think, and I'm really looking forward to checking out his new book when it's out. If it's half as great as this piece, I'm sure I'll love it (as will many others, I'm assuming)!
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