Funkengroovin Wednesday

This video is titled: Trafico en el Cairo
See how many VW buses you can count.


Spotted this car by the Maadi Grand Mall. It's loaded with stickers including Che on both sides.















On our walk back from the mall we saw this bug causing all sorts of traffic problems. It forged ahead through oncoming traffic, ignoring the rules of the road, and refusing to use the roundabout.
























VW Brasilia
Spotted this on our way home from the Carpet Barn Friday afternoon. It's been there for awhile.



























This car is always parked in the same spot, and I always see it whenever I trek over to Seoudi or Miriam Market in Digla, Maadi. Sometimes the back vent cover starts to fall off and hangs down. This day someone must've straightened it out.
















While I was taking a photo of this green bug a policeman snuck up behind me, demanding to know, "what picture taking!" He scared the shit out of me, and I must've inadvertently taken the photo below.







(This is just off of Road 200, which is a street with all apartment buildings. It's on the edge of Maadi and is a pretty ugly street.)

The police are everywhere here - on every street corner. Usually they're just sitting around, picking their toes or napping. Occasionally I get one who's particularly nosey and after asking maybe the only three words in English he knows, he realizes (1) I'm a woman, what does he think I'm taking a picture of and does it really matter? (2) There's nothing important there - no embassies, no schools, nada, and he's being an ass;(3) "auto, I love Volkswagen, qwais," and a thumbs up usually take care of it. Sometimes I wonder if they're pissed because I didn't offer to take their photo.

I'm seriously worried about loosing a camera to one of these jerks and I'm considering getting a good quality camera phone. I've seen plenty of VW's (van and bugs) up by CAC (Cairo American College,) the local American school and have avoided going there without my Nikon D70. I'm using Boss Man's old Nikon Coolpix right now, but with my D70 I can use my long angled lens and avoid some of the trouble from the police. It's not like I'm photographing anything special, but some of the police and boabs are extremely paranoid types. Another expat told me that, security personnel will suddenly jump out of trees, bushes; basically out of nowhere and seize your camera if they determine it's / you're a threat - often for no reason at all.

Security is extremely high all over the place. Maadi Grand Mall was not a problem, but in order to go to the new Stars Mall in Heliopolis you must pass through a metal detector and have your bag / purse scanned. It goes for many of the ancient sites, as well. I'm sure they've got their eye out for any suspicious behavior, but on the other hand, let's not get carried away.

Well, if I do get hauled in, it wouldn't be my first visit to a foreign police station.

Bobby Fuller-I Fought The Law