My first Cairo taxi ride brought to mind my first ride on a high-powered circus machine, which I believe was called The Hammer. When you first get started you worry about the equipment...has it been properly maintained? Does the operator really know what he is doing? The typical Cairo taxi cab is at least thirty years old; many are much older and there tens of thousands of them: Peugeots, Toyotas and some that look like 1958 Studebakers. All have battered aluminum luggage racks on top where bags are thrown with no straps to secure them. Most have something personal to distinguish them, perhaps a name like "Queen of the Road," or in this case rearview mirror art made up of the eye of Horus and strawberry air freshener. You will see prayer beads on or near the dash and sometimes cassette tapes containing sermons by Islamic preachers. The young men drive quite fast; the older ones often slow down and come to a dead stop in the middle of a busy road to bring a statue, a giant mural or other landmark to your attention. When you overcome your initial vertigo you begin to notice the absence of traffic control devices. You travel miles among automobiles constantly honking and changing lanes or encroaching on your lane in an apparently haphazard and nonsensical way with no stop signs or traffic lights in sight. Several times in any ride you must reverse direction in a break in the median jammed with other vehicles. The reason for the reversal often remains obscure and serves to disorient you even more. After half an hour you relax. You watch dozens of pedestrians jaywalk under perilous circumstances and survive. You are in a vehicle, so you figure your chances are much better. After being in dozens of congested jams of smoking vehicles (many of which lack a first gear) and coming through without a scratch, you conclude that the Egyptians are some of the best drivers on planet Earth. There is a system within the madness of honking horns. You notice several different honks: one short and sharp, one long and loud, one consisting of a series of rapid sounds; and one particularly long and good-natured---almost melodic---honk which they make when they see a friend driving his taxi nearby. In the United States, most honks are accompanied by hostility or at least impatience. There is no such thing in Egypt. You do not honk in anger. Except for the sing-song honking at your friends, there is no emotional charge attached to the sounds at all. In fact, in the midst of the heat and fumes of environmentally incorrect vehicles, very few drivers seem rattled at all.