The Idiot, financed by a gracious and substantial grant from The Bangles Foundation, just spent a month in Egypt determining whether he can actually walk, or MedTrek, like an Egyptian.
Here is a sample of his extensive research and a glimpse at his revolutionary findings:
The Idiot began by studying hieroglyphs, pictographs and other remnants from antiquity to determine how Egyptians have walked through history.
Egyptians walking on a wall at the temple at Edfu on the Nile River.
An Egyptian at the temple of Philae in Aswan, Egypt.
(FYI the difference in coloring is due to the effect of water immersion following the construction of the Aswan Dam.)
Egyptians walking at the Nile-side temple of Kom Ombo.
Then he analyzed ancient and contemporary Egyptians at numerous historic monuments and learned that many prefer to sit.
An Egyptian sitting on a camel at the pyramids in Giza.
Ramses II sitting at the temples of Abu Simbel in southern Egypt near the Sudan border.
A souvenir vendor sitting at the Saqqara pyramids near Cairo.
Like many vendors at monuments in touristless Egypt (tourism has declined 90 percent since the 2011 revolution and prices for souvenirs have been substantially reduced), this one prefers to sit.
He learned that Egyptians who don’t sit don’t really walk like the Egyptians heralded in The Bangles 1986 hit.
An Egyptian walking at Hatshepsut temple near Luxor.
An Egyptian walking at the Karnak Temple complex.
An Egyptian walking at the ancient capital of Memphis.
An Egyptian woman walking to buy fruit in Luxor.
An Egyptian man walking to buy fruit in Ras El Bar, Egypt.
Two Egyptians walking at the Citadel of Qaitbay in Alexandria.
A whirling dervish on the Nile dancing like an Egyptian.
The fact that most Egyptians today don’t seem to walk much like their ancestors didn’t deter The Idiot.
The Idiot and friends try to look, walk, act and dance like Egyptians.
The Idiot dances with an Egyptian belly dancer on the Nile.
(Photo: Kate Gale)
The Idiot may not be able to walk like an Egyptian of yore but tries to look like one.
(Photo: Kate Gale)
In fact, during the last days of his November MedTrek outing he attempted to teach Egyptians how to walk tall and proud like an Idiot.
The Idiot stands tall while walking on the Mediterranean Sea.
Watch The Idiot do more walking and MedTrekking in Egypt next March when, among other things, he has an appointment with the Oracle at Siwa in the Sahara Desert.
Walk Like An Idiot.
With apologies to The Bangles:
“All the old paintings on the tombs
They do the sand dance don’t you know
If they move too quick (oh whey oh)
They’re falling down like a domino
All the bazaar men by the Nile
They got the money on a bet
Gold crocodiles (oh whey oh)
They snap their teeth on your cigarette
Foreign types with the hookah pipes say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an Egyptian
Blond waitresses take their trays
They spin around and they cross the floor
They’ve got the moves (oh whey oh)
You drop your drink and they give you more
All the school kids so sick of books
They like the punk and the metal band
When the buzzer rings (oh whey oh)
They’re walking like an Egyptian
All the kids in the marketplace say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an Egyptian.”
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