No maps for these territories

Are crazy in Alexandria; they swerve in and out of traffic with all the other minibuses and cars, the people crossing and standing in the street, the vendors and the occasional horse-drawn cart. No one slows down for anyone. Pedestrians walk in front of cars who blithely ignore this fact; taxis stop suddenly; instead of lights or brakes people just use their horns.

The conference was fine; I will write about the details later. I was in London for two days; Alex for five; and now back to Cairo, where I am spending a lazy afternoon inside, refusing to go out. This is what the end of a long trip and an intense conference in a complicated country looks like; my enthusiasm for going sight-seeing is limited. I have been sick this week (head cold, stomach troubles); my energy is waning.

More stories later: about smoking shisha on the corniche; about talking to sixty reference librarians at the Library of Alexandria about Wikipedia (and convincing them they should edit the Arabic-language site); about teaching a dozen Egyptian children how to make sockpuppets; about waking up to the sounds of muezzins, honking, and arabic pop. Egypt is hot and dusty and incredibly crowded, less romantic than it should be but complicated.

To another year done, I suppose: next year, Buenos Aires for Wikimania 2009.

See pictures and more pictures.