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Most Egyptian culture and civilization centers around the Nile. It’s banks are lush and green, while just a mile or two away from it the desert is completely barren.

Around Cairo, the Nile is the best real estate. But strangely, while there are some hotels and restaurants, the bulk of buildings lining the river are the embassies to other nations. It’s like Egypt is trying to make sure that the foreigners are constantly seeing the best part, at the expense of a huge loss in revenue from taxes on those properties.

Outside of Cairo, in the small villages, life and the use of the Nile both change drastically. Instead of a nice piece of scenery, the river becomes the main source of irregation for farming many crops, which is how the majority of people outside of the cities still make their money (instead of on tourism or service). Bizarrely, one side of the river (or its canals or tributaries) is often thriving with plants, while the other is a dump for trash. The river is horribly polluted, which seems incredibly counter-intuitive to me. If you’re farming and drinking and bathing in this water, wouldn’t you want it to be clean?

Among the foods grown close to the Nile, the most important is perhaps the tall date trees, which are essentially palm trees with large clusters of fruit hanging from the top. This is for religious significance, as I’m told that the first food ingested to break the fast during Ramadan is the date.

Village life itself seems still very much like an old-fashioned farming culture: sheep, goats, donkeys, horses, and cattle take up as much of the roadway as cars. Families are judged based on the amount of land they own, and deals (as in, for a wife) are made by bartering animals, land, and pure gold.

The last piece I’ll share about Egyptian culture that affects the villagers along the Nile is the compulsory military service. The amount of years you serve is inversely proportional to how many years of primary school is completed. Do only 1 year of school (the minimum) and then 3 in the military, 2 in school and 2 in the military, or 3 in school (the maximum) and 1 in the military. It sounds like the middle option of 2 and 2 is the most common. I guess part of it depends on how much you like hanging around home and helping with the farming while you attend school.