THERE MUST HAVE BEEN AN ANGEL BY MY SIDE.....It was 2001-02 (cant remember), I had decided to go on the educational experience of a lifetime; a trip to Cairo, Egypt with a cruise down the Nile River. This adventure was with a group of probably about 30 people which included good friends Jocelyn J Lo Lyles and Keith Rogers. Keith and I have traveled together a lot in the states and abroad. We always go against the grain and find adventure where ever we go. This brings me to the meat of my story. After a lengthy 18-20 hour plane ride, Keith, Eric (NY) and I decide to take in the local climate by taking a stroll through downtown Cairo. Now mind you, we had been strongly advised not to venture out alone (we had armed guards where ever we went) due to the hijacking of a bus full of American citizens two weeks prior. So everyone was keen on staying together and not going against the trip moderators agenda. I say that loosely, because Keith, Eric and I had other things in mind. As mentioned, we were strolling down one of the main drags of Cairo enjoying the heat and the total chaos on the streets. As we get maybe about a mile from our hotel, we encounter a group of Egyptian gentlemen sitting at a table chainsmoking outside of what appears to be a vacant storefront. One gentleman speaking broken English approaches us...Ah, you must be Americans, welcome to Cairo my friend. Please, please come into my place I have something to show you. My mind is going a mile a minute, now we have been told not to go into shady places, so my response was sorry no thank you my friend, we are on our way back to our hotel. If anyone knows how aggressive people get when they see Americans overseas, you know what challenge lies ahead. After several minutes of banter back and forth, we collectively decide what the hell and go in (since I am 65 240 and Keith was 64 240 thought we had a good chance to get out of there) and see whats going on. As we walk into the entrance, we notice there is nothing there, he directs us to a set of stairs leading downward. Go...go, no worries, no worries, it is downstairs. Approaching cautiously, I walk through the doorway to this room with a couch and a cooler, to the left of the couch is another door which is closed. Sit..sit, be comfortable our Egyptian host says. Now the other gentleman from outside have made their way downstairs and are in the room. We each look at one another, like shit what the hell did we just do. We are sitting on the edge of the couch, telling the guy ok its time for us to go...people will be looking for us. The gentleman says relax my friend and claps his hands. The door to my left burst open and a teenager appears; the gentleman speaks Egyptian and in two blinks of an eye the teenager has produced three Coca Colas on a tray. Rule no. 1 while in a foreign country, never be rude when you are offered a drink. Well, I started to toss this rule out the window when all the bottles were open. The teen places the drinks on a table in front of us. They continue to speak Egyptian among themselves; we are just looking at one another giving the head nod on how we can blast through the doorway. Drink..drink my friends, it is hot outside you need a cold drink. I waited for one of us to drink, Eric bit the bullet and took a drink. After a minute, I saw he was ok , so I drank too. So now we are going to make a move; its time to go! All of a sudden, the gentleman claps again...two gentlemen come running out of the doorway carrying large boxes. I said to myself, oh shit what is going on? The men drop the boxes on the table and jump back awkwardly. The aggressive Egyptian runs over to the table and loudly says you buy...you buy. He opens the boxes and there are small bottles of oils, hundreds of them all different fragrances. Hell naw! we are holed up in this basement with several Egyptians to buy oils that they sell in the hood! We all look at each other in a daze. I say man lets just buy some of this shit and get the hell out of here. We each spent $10 American dollars on oils just to get out of there. This event has crossed my mind many times over the years, we could have been hostages or never heard from again. THERE MUST HAVE BEEN AN ANGEL BY MY SIDE!
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 00:36:22 +0000
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