The Faces of Cairo

In Cairo, it seemed everyone was excited to have their photo taken. Ever since we started traveling, we haven’t really sought people out to photograph, knowing it’s a bit of an invasion of their privacy, normally, and that some people in poorer countries will ask for money to have their photos taken too. Still, we’ve collected a lot of snapshots of people. It seemed, that Egyptians were even more enthusiastic than most people to have their photos taken. Most of these photos were requests from them, not us!

We met this kid outside of one of our favorite restaurants, Abou Tarek. It was our first day in Cairo, and when he asked to have his photos taken, I thought he was a little ‘entrepreneur’, looking for a little extra pocket-change. Nope! More like a budding starlet, looking for a little posterity. Well, now he’s immortalized on our blog

Okay, this photo I asked for. C’mon, it’s not everyday that I see a guy in Cairo with my name on his shirt! (I must say, he was really confused by the request and the photo though).

These kids mobbed us one afternoon, as we were strolling through their community. We took a few shots, letting everyone have a chance to sit next to me, and then bundled away the camera and took off, before all the rest of their friends noticed and came over!

These guys were enjoying a glass of tea at the same place we did one day. We were playing a few hands of rummy to pass the time, and one of them, the guy on the right, came up and showed us a card trick.

We’re not sure if these were the guys who own this koshery stall, or we’re just serving from it. Anyway, it was delicious!

Again we were wandering through a neighborhood. These girls’ dad was outside playing with them, but stopped to chat with Earl and I, and then had his very shy girls stand next to me so he could get a photo on his phone. In return, we got a photo with these pretty girls too!

Earl and I stopped for directions one day, and it became a community event… The guard, on his tea break, whom we originally asked, was involved…

… Then these guys, because they were near and also having tea became involved…

… Finally we got it all sorted out!

These we the guys I bought my flip flops from — for less than $1!

This was a little girl Earl was making faces at in the park one day…

… And her much more shy older sister.

And finally, as they say, when in Rome… Well it got mighty hot when we were out in Giza, looking at the pyramids, so I bundled my scarf around Earl’s head, and had him pose for a photo (this one was definitely a request from me, not Earl!) And then we went on our way, looking that the pyramids with the scarf still protecting his head and neck from the sun. I have to say, this was a much classier scarf than most of the other tourists wore.

Anyway, Cairo was a ton of fun. We enjoyed all the sights, and with such a slow-paced culture, we enjoyed all the people-watching too!