...of everyday life in Cairo.
Cairo is known world-wide for its infamous black and white taxis (would-be tourists will be pleased to know that we have new yellow cabs too). These taxis are often museum pieces dating from the sixties (shades of Cuba?), and some are held together by hand-made parts and a lot of faith. King of the "black and whites" is the virtually indestructible Peugeot 504, a vehicle seen in most "developing" African countries. The 504 is the prince of Cairo's taxis and many are cherished by their owners. Those of us who ride in Cairo's cabs every day will often flag down a 504 as we know it will get us from A to B fairly reliably.
Today I went downtown to buy some computer parts and returned in a 504. It has been cold and rainy in Cairo and I could not find the window winder. The friendly driver put his hand between the seats and pushed a switch that closed my window. This was an unexpected luxury as these ancient cars do not have electric windows as the norm. I teased the driver by telling him that his car was a "limousine". A "limousine" in this city is any car ---large or small--with air-con and electric windows.
It began raining again and I noticed that the wipers were not working. My cabbie pushed his hand under the dash and began to work some manual lever back and forth and voila, a wiper struggled into action across the cracked windscreen.
"How did you do that?" I asked in arabic, bursting into laughter.
He gave me a funny smile and replied: "Limousine."