Navigating the traffic of Cairo

Shortly after moving to Cairo I was hired by an international school to teach kindergarten. Not the traditional kindergarten I am used to in the states but rather three to four year olds. I thought, "well, this is a new challenge and I am up for this." I will blog more on teaching in another blog. This blog is dedicated to the drive to work and home as well as a few errands. Now, I live in Mokattam which is located on a "mountain" in the middle of Cairo. It is actually really central to getting anywhere in Cairo with three different routes available down the mountain. Now I live close to the route on the south end of the mountain. My view as I descend includes the pyramids of Sakara (older than the famous pyramids of Giza) to the south and to the west the pyramids of Giza through the tall buildings of downtown Cairo. Mind you this view is only when we experience a moment of air not clouded by pollution, sand or fog.
As I make my way down the street with a hairpin curve I must avoid the potholes and debris on the road. Once I am at the bottom of the mountain I make my way down asphalt roads with speed bumps, large holes surrounding sewer covers, feral dogs racing to bite my tires, going around buses stopped to let people get on or off the bus, taxis cruising for customers and other people making their way to the ring road. Now in the states a ring road is referred to as the loop or the beltway. Here it is the ring road. It is officially four lanes wide if you look at the lines painted on the asphalt. In reality it can be more than six lanes wide with the traffic since no one here realizes why the lines are painted on the road.
The speed limit?? Well the signs indicate that cars should not exceed 90 km but as with the direction traffic should follow it is only a suggestion. A suggestion?? Yes, a suggestion. I will merge into the traffic (no onramp, just a right turn into fast moving traffic) and move left as quickly as possible. Vehicles travel at all different speeds depending on how fast they are capable of traveling. BMWs, Mercedes, Jeep Cherokees (pronounced shur rook' ee), large SUVs and other big engine sedans will travel at 120-150 km. Even trucks and buses will pass me in the morning hours (I stay about 100 km or 60 mph). The vehicles traveling at these higher speeds rarely brake - they just swerve to go around slower traffic and quite closely. I like to stay left because it's one less mirror to worry about. I call these faster vehicles "runners". Then there are the 800 cc vehicles, the OLD vehicles belching out black exhaust, buses more than 40 years old, trucks more than 40 years old, donkey carts, horse carts, vespas, motorcycles with four guys on them or entire families including infants, camels, bicycles and pedestrians. I am getting a dashcam for Christmas so I can include some footage with my blog.
None of the streets in Cairo have signs. There might be a sign at an interchange stating you should take this exit to Maadi or the corniche. The best way to navigate is to have someone local drive you where you need to go so you can just memorize the route which is what I did. My husband drove me to work and home for 2 months before he cried "Uncle"! We got my drivers license and bought a Suzuki Alto 1100 cc for me to drive.
An hour to work and one to two hours home again. I work in an area west of the pyramids called 6th of October city. It is about 45 km one way. I take the ring road west past Maadi, across the Nile, past Giza until it literally ends and exit at the Mansouria Canal road. Now on the ring road making my way to the canal road I will see cars backing up on the ring road because they missed their exit. I have also seen SUVs drive over the curbed median to turn around. I have seen donkey carts cross the ring road and go over the median also. I have seen cars driving the wrong way on the ring road.
Once I am on the canal road it is about a two lane road that follows a canal. Along the right side are the vendors selling foul (foul are cooked fava beans) in pita sandwiches, coffee/tea shops and the tourist shops. School buses, trucks, microbuses and cars are furiously trying to get around one another to go faster down the road. There are no stop signs or stop lights, only speed bumps to control the speed. My not-favorite moments include being stuck behind a truck with red bricks stacked in the bed and somewhat above the edge of the bed. I am always waiting for those brick to rain down on the hood of my car. Also, pedestrians will ride on the bumper of trucks or microbuses. When we come to the Pyramids road (yes, I drive past the pyramids twice a day) I am praying the traffic policeman has arrived. If he is not there it is a congested effort of cars 5-6 across trying to push into the traffic coming from the left to cross the road. I try to stay behind a big truck and just follow his route. A bit of a zig and then a zag and we are past the pyramids and on our way to Remiya Square. Remiya means "shooting". There is a large shooting club near the traffic circle so it was named for the club. There are six roads either leading into or out of Remiya Square and rarely any traffic police. I tend to stay right or to the outside to make the way around the circle (why do they call them squares????). I must navigate through buses, trucks and pedestrians to make my way to the Alex road (the road that leads to Alexandria).
I actually want to go to the west but there is not a turn to the west so I must travel down the Alex road for 4 km to make a u-turn and head back towards Remiya Square to make the turn I need to make to get to 6 of October. No proper intersections in this city. The majority of left turns involve driving forward anywhere from 1-5 km then making a u-turn. Then you must find the turn you missed because there is not an intersection.
The turn to 6 of October is right under the overpass of the other ring road (north of the pyramids) and is located in an upper end neighborhood. There are six speed bumps along a road less than a mile long. To my right are walls and tall bushes creating privacy for large villas and palaces. To my left is a military camp with walls surrounding the camp. In front of me is the onramp going up to the ring road. The view ahead is desert. As far as you can see, desert. As I round the first curve going to the south I see lots of apartment buildings on my left (behind the pyramids). As I get closer to my school there are more apartment buildings dotting the desert landscape. At last I arrive at the school and call my husband to let him know I have successfully managed the traffic again. Whew! Thank you God for another day.