Hashing in Cairo

For reasons that I cannot currently recall or fathom, on the 4th of July, in Cairo, I decided to participate in my first Hash.

You may be thinking – “HASH!!!! Is that LEGAL in Cairo????”

FYI from the Cairo Hash House Harriers website:

Variously described as “the lunatic fringe of running” and “the drinking club with a running problem,” the Hash House Harriers are a worldwide loosely organized collection of individual clubs.

The Hash was set in an area called Wadi Degla. A wadi is a dry river bed, or canyon (similar to a Spanish/Mexican arroyo). This particular wadi has been designated an environmental preserve. More info about Wadi Degla HERE (caveat: this article is from 1999, some of the info is out of date). It is a popular place for people to run, walk, cycle, walk the dog, or just get out of Cairo. It is about 45 minutes south of downtown by taxi.

So the Hash is loosely scheduled to begin at 5 but my friends and I (I went with 3 people from the Club) arrived just after 4 – bad planning, as there is no shade in the wadi, and it is a DRY canyon! We tried to stay cool and hydrated until the Hash began.

I decided to do the walk, not the run. Both trails began with an excruciating assent to the rim of the wadi. Twenty minutes of heart-popping climbing on loose rocks and sand. At the top it was unbelievably hot and dry, but also beautiful and a load of fun.

Imagine, if you will, adults with good educations and respectable jobs, running/walking thru the desert shouting “On On” to indicate that they are on-trail, choosing frat-house names as their Hash Names (think Hugh J Nuss), drinking beer and singing silly songs after the Hash is done.

It was a TOTAL BLAST. I look forward to going back!