City of a Thousand Minarets

We had to get up early the day we went to visist my grandmother. I always dreaded these says. It's not because I had to visit her, but it's because I hate where she lives. I think it's safe to say she lives in the most rundown place in the country; Garbage City. However this year was much different because she lives with one of my aunts in a very nice district. So the trip wasn't so bad. Or at least I thought it was. The next day we had to go back to her old apartment (or whatever you can call it) to visit her other daughters (my other aunts). I thought we didn't have to go back there again, but my thoughts were wrong. There's several "mistakes" about that place. It's too hot. It's literaly at least 5 Celcius hotter than mid town Cairo. Also, the mosquitos live in that area and the smell just smells of a run down and corrupt district (Sincerely Hosni Mubarak). Honestly, the best part about the trip from my aunt's house to my grandma's house was the ride there. We got to witness the true scene of old Cairo. An amazing panoramic view of the ancient world: Cairo Cidatel (the castle and the castle walls), Muhammad Ali's Mosque, which is one of the most glamorous mosques in the world, and just the other thousands of Minartes just scraping the sky above it. And the residential homes (if you can even call it that) are probably the most run down apartments ever. Just look above that the photo, the portion on the left is exaclty what I was witnessing. And in front of the run down homes is what they like to call "The City of the Dead" which is probably the most interesting thing there. An unbelievable amount of land dedicated to just the dead bodies. It's too large to call it a cemetery so they decided to address that location as a city. Unbelievable. And as the car got on top of a hill, I thought that it would be pointless to look for anything "luxurious". I'd be wrong to even think about that. Yet again my thoughts were proven wrong by a beautiful Ferrari just drove down the line of cars going opposite of us. As I looked at this amazing car drive through the crowd and watch every car literaly make room for it as if it had room, I thought if I could just capture an image of this scene, it would be the highlight of my summer. The picture would include the run down apartments in the very back, with the City of the Dead right in front of it, with this black gleaming Ferrari at the tip. And to top the picture off would be the numerous amounts to minartes spiking into the sky. I kept saying in my mind, this is exactly what Egypt is. It was the perfect picture to describe the country. The disproportional social classes; either you're too poor to even find water, or you're rich enough to purchase 100 palaces. That is what you find in this country. And for everyone else who doesn't fall under this category, is just a common "Masry" or "Egyptian."