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Tourism, with 8.5 million foreign visitors and 7 billion dollars in earnings in 2005, represents for Egypt a strategic sector for economic development. This article reports on the experiences of three individuals with one point in common: their place of residence or their profession bring them in daily contact with foreign tourists. The eyewitness accounts give, beyond the individual experiences, elements for understanding changes in a society where the processes of individuation are largely constrained by the dominant moral code. Tourism becomes a possible source for social and individual advancement. This potential makes the touristic encounter an interstitial space where negotiation of identities and cohabitation of differing values could be rendered possible. These men are constantly seeking ways of involving themselves in transverse actions which will enable them to reconcile worlds which come into collision more often than they meet.