The other night I set out alone on foot for the old quarter near the ancient mosques, the bazaars, streets with no names. I got lost- and found many things 1) I can’t understand directions in Arabic. One guy took me by the hand and led me the whole way 2) Street planning in Cairo is non-Euclidian, parallel lanes and alleyways often crisscross, what seem like perpendicular avenues never intersect 3) Cairenes are all colors 4) Nothing physically dangerous, no violent crimes but of passion 5) Watch your money…1 Egyptian Pound = $1.40, a good size loaf of bread costs less than a penny, two years ago people rioted because they were to raise its price, the government changed its mind.
-Letter Home, August 1978
By the end of that year in Cairo, my enumerated list had run into the triple digits.