City of the Dead Mausoleum

Our cab driver drove us through the "City of the Dead", which is a very large mausoleum cemetary. It is so big that is is called a city. Also because the mausoleums double as people's homes. The people who live hear are very poor, and there is a lot of garbage around, and even a few stray dogs and chickens. We took some photos, including some of puppies in amongst the garbage. At one point, while driving down the narrow alleys the road ahead was blocked by a few trucks. Our cab driver was not pleased, and began to yell at the trucks in Arabic. After several minutes of this, one of the mean by the trucks walked up to the taxi, speaking english to us, saying that it would only be a few minutes before the road was clear. After a few minutes, the driver of the first truck began to drive the truck forward and a little to one side of the narrow alley. Still there was barely enough room but our driver was able to squeeze by with only an inch of clearance. After we passed the first truck, it proceeded to back up, close to its orginal position. We were now sandwiched between two trucks in a narrow alley in the middle of the City of the Dead. There were actually 2 more trucks ahead of us, and more yelling ensued. After a few more minutes, the other drivers appeared and we were able to continue on our way.

On our way back to the hotel, the driver stopped a few times so that Michelle could take some photos -- he even stopped on busy freeways. When we asked him if it was okay to stop in the middle of the street like that, he alsways replied, "it's no problem". He also showed us a page from a Japanese travel guide book that including a photo of him, presumably next to a section of the guide about Cairo taxi drivers.