WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN R. Myers, March 31, 1999         Walking in Cairo, Egypt is an exhilarating adventure which usually ends satisfactorily. It's not to be taken lightly, however. What sets me apart is that I walk alone. Egyptians move in groups or gaggles and primarily use the touch system rather than their eyes and ears to perambulate. Except for collections of sub-teens, who are scurrilous, these groups of walkers are unfailing polite and give way graciously after the requisite number of gentle bumps and touches. Since sidewalks are either non-existent or blocked, broken or inadequate, walking in Cairo usually takes place in streets completely overrun by cars driven by frenetic but also polite drivers. In fact, the coming-and-going experience in Cairo is almost always a multi-mode one, with pedestrians, cars, busses, bicycles, horse-and-people-drawn carriages/carts, etc. playing a role in each other's locomotion. The first thing a pedestrian must learn is the safety and social significance of horn (and sometimes siren) blasts. Horn honking is continual (Cairo is a cacophony of horn honking) and the horn is as much relied on as the accelerator or brake. In fact, it is a cause for celebration when the original equipment horn on a heap-like vehicle gives out, enabling installation of a much louder and more raucous replacement horn (or even a siren), thus raising the driver's social status and/or the image and, therefore, cost of even a dilapidated taxi.
        It is crucial to distinguish horn blasts meant for others or for you, and if for you, the difference between greeting and warning blasts. In general, if you are doing something that pedestrians don't normally do (shouldn't be doing), the horn blasts are for you and they are a warning. Otherwise, they are a greeting, or more accurately something like the statement, "I'm here and I'm happy and I hope you are too." Of course if it is a taxi, then it is an attention-getting device as well. Since there are innumerable taxis, much of the horn honking is attributable to them. The omnipresence of (very cheap) taxis is part of the problem, but sometimes a boon to pedestrians. There are times when it is most sensible to give up walking and take a taxi to your destination, even if it is within eyesight. I've done this myself, although not until I saw Egyptians do it first. As you may have already gathered, walking, especially when you are alone, has social significance. You must warmly accept the touch system if you are to avoid offending other pedestrians and unnecessarily upset yourself. You must also not offend drivers. They are polite to pedestrians, but unless it is a major gaggle, vehicles rather than walkers have the right of way. This means that crossing streets clogged with rapidly moving vehicles, although terrifying, is actually a social event. The idea is to go directly across the street (the shortest distance is straight across) in such a way that drivers can demonstrate their politeness by casually slowing and swerving so as to just shave past you rather than having to stop or swerve suddenly. Forcing a panic situation may seem dangerous, and sometimes is, but it is most importantly a breach of etiquette. Pedestrians, especially solitary ones, must not stint in their efforts to avoid inconveniencing drivers. Ostentatious adherence to pedestrian etiquette is doubly rewarded; you survive a dangerous journey and you engender the appreciation of drivers and other pedestrians.
        Then there are the hand gestures. I will admit that even though I have learned some of these in Sub-Saharan Africa, I am still a novice. Rude gestures are very rare. Most are for self-preservation. The most important one is the "Mayday" gesture; the hand held up in the "stop" position while you walk across WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE ONCOMING TRAFFIC. This is used when you clearly aren't going to make it without the gesture. It is most effective when used by the old or disabled. For the physically fit, it is least socially transgressive when supplemented with a pronounced limp. The most socially savvy pedestrians stop affecting the limp just before reaching safety so as to let the affected drivers know that the gesture was employed to save face rather than to save your own skin. A second, frequently employed gesture is the "frustration" one. This is affected by dropping your arms/hands nearly to your sides, with your fingers down and your palms facing the traffic. You then undertake a kind of arm and hand flicking gesture, the opposite of a beckoning one, in order to implore the vehicle to move more quickly past you or, get the hell out of the way. It is used in place of the "hurry up" gesture, which is impolite. This gesture is important because a single slowly moving car (usually an empty taxi) may cause you to lose a good "crossing gap." This is a space which is socially defined and is the gap in at least some of the lanes of traffic, which will enable you to begin crossing a street without forcing a panic situation on drivers. As with any street crossing, even if you played by the social rules, you may get stuck in the middle of several lanes of traffic. Or, you may have to forget about all this dignity and social stuff and run like a banshee for safety.
        There are other significant points about being a solitary pedestrian in Cairo. One is that a three lane, one-way street will have four lanes of traffic on it. Not infrequently, one of these lanes may have vehicles intermittently going the opposite way on it, which upsets no one. Another is that although many streets are designated as one-way, totally one-way streets are very rare, consisting mainly of a few major dual carriage ways. So far I have been hit from the wrong side by a bicycle and a hand pushed cart. Only my acumen with horn blast interpretation has saved me from being hit by cars going against one-way traffic. Finally, it is important to leave more than enough time to walk to wherever you are going. Don't be in a hurry. Locomotion is still at least partly a social event; it is impolite and unrewarding to hurry. One of the more rewarding things to do is to arrive early, which means not appropriately late, so that you have to kill some time by ambling around. This is when you get to see the true Cairo. More often than not the people hanging around will realize that you are killing time and they will invite you to sit, perhaps for tea. This I recommend you do. There is a language problem, but they are warm, welcoming people who realize that language is less important than providing tea and a place to sit for someone who has just experienced walking like an Egyptian.