Become a member today to suggest and vote on story ideas. CAIRO, Egypt — In Cairo's bustling Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the popular uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak earlier this year, street merchants are turning Egypt's revolution into dollars and cents.
Vendors line the crowded sidewalks around Tahrir, hawking pewter pins, bumper stickers and other trinkets decorated with an oversized, crooked-nosed caricature of the now-deposed leader of three decades. T-shirts are peddled from a rusty handrail circling Tahrir's perimeter, proudly emblazoned with a date now celebrated as the birth of the revolution, Jan.
Cairo's newest entrepreneurs hope the same souvenir-buying tourists who swarm the Pyramids of Giza each year will one day be drawn to Tahrir Square, presumably eager to walk on the grounds where Egypt's modern-day history was fought for and won. I haven't had any customers since Jan.
Well, maybe a few. But literally, only a few," said Samir Abdel Basset, 41, a vendor in Cairo who peddles tourist trinkets in a shop a few blocks from Tahrir Square. In the aftermath of Mubarak's ouster on Feb. With a massive government deficit forecast, unemployment around 12 percent and food prices spiraling out of control, it's understandable that investors are just as nervous as foreign tourists.
Politically speaking, Egyptians see uncertainty in their future as an exciting opportunity. The only given, after all, is that a candidate other than Mubarak will emerge victorious in the upcoming elections, scheduled for later this fall. Economic uncertainty, on the other hand, is paralyzing panicked investors, businessmen, and even the interim government, raising even more fears that financial stability in the Arab world's most populous nation is far from a reality.
The more popular pyramid site is Giza, which includes the Sphinx, in a suburb of Cairo. I also found extremely short lines there. At another typically crowded destination, the Egyptian Museum, I braced for huge lines to the King Tut exhibit. My guidebook suggested coming first thing in the morning to avoid the lines, but I had slept in. I was interested to see nearby Tahrir Square and found the protesters had been replaced by security forces.
As an independent traveler and a woman alone, I did take some precautions. I made sure to dress conservatively and I hired guides to take me around. One of my favorite activities was walking around the city and looking at the graffiti, which was more political artwork than tagging. Another showed a stenciled black machine gun and a stenciled black video camera pointed at each other.
Being one of few tourists in a place where the economy relies on them also made me a pretty big target among those who make their living off of visitors. Sometimes it was hard to walk more than 10 feet without people trying to get me to buy their wares, or come into their shops. I was lured inside a tchotchke store near my hotel with an offer of a cup of tea with fresh mint.
The salesman gave me his pitch for the paintings on papyrus paper that lined the walls. I did buy two of his paintings, and he knocked off even more of the final bill.
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