Stranded in Cairo?!

Thursday: Day 45
EGYPT: Cairo

We woke up around 9am in our hostel to start another day in Cairo. Did I mention earlier that we stayed at the “American House” Hostel?? Yep. It was pretty entertaining. We slept in the Obama suite!! Hahahahaaaa all the suites on our floor had name plates with president’s names. Of course Clinton was shoved in the back corner by the washrooms :) no joke. After twiddling our thumbs for a little while, we eventually decided to go upstairs and get breakfast.  The breakfast was nothing to write home about (hah!), but I brought a bag of white cheddar popcorn with us and that was DELICIOUS. Haha

We soon discovered we were really unmotivated when it was already 10am and we were still just sitting around.  So we headed back downstairs to get our stuff and head out for the day.  Every time we wanted to go to our suite we had to get the hostel owners to unlock our floor of presidential suites (haha get it? Presidential? :D im so clever.), so we asked him to take us to our room.  We got down there only to discover that the kid had locked the only key to the suites inside last time he went in! After watching them try to break into their own door, we headed back upstairs to wait until they had gotten in.  We think they eventually woke up the other SAS boys that had spent the night in the same hostel because it didn’t look like the had to bust the door down or anything.  Anyways, we eventually got our stuff we needed for the day and headed out in search of the train station to get our tickets back to Alexandria.

Outside of the hostel, we started hailing cabs. The only problem was that we had NO IDEA how to say train station in Arabic! So after the 4th cab looked at us like we were crazy and took off, I started making full out train noises and motions to the 5th cab driver. He full out laughed at me and told us he knew what we were talking about and that it would cost us 20 pounds (4 bucks) so we said ok and hopped in.  A little while down the road he motioned that we were here and told us we had to cross the street to get to the entrance. We took one look at the busy shenanigan of a street and asked him to take us to the other side of the road.  It cost us an extra 10 pounds, but it was totally worth NOT dying crossing the street.

We had to ask people where the actual station was because it was not clearly marked. Eventually we found out that the building with all the construction around it was the train station, and that the only sign for it was in Arabic… and was hidden behind the construction. We felt less silly about not being able to find it after that one. SAS had told us that you could only get tickets for the trains no more than 24 hours in advance and that there were plenty of trains so we could just head there a few hours before we wanted to leave and have no problem… well, we quickly discovered that you could actually get train tickets way in advance, and that the trains were booked for the day and the next day. And that is about when the panic radars started going off in each of our brains.  We started trying to figure out other ways to get back to the ship, and even called the “duty dean” asking if there was any way we could hop on a SAS bus home.  He did not know the SAS trip schedules, so he could not tell us where to meet the buses.  While Kyle was on the phone with the dean, three more SASers showed up with the same problem. I think “help were stranded in cairo” was written across our faces by this point, and after a few minutes of “what are we going to do, what are we going to do” we decided to at least get out of the train station.

We walked down the street and ran into a bus that was headed to Alexandria.  We tried to talk to the driver and found out that it was 25 pounds each, but then he could not tell us exactly where in Alexandria the bus stopped! So we quickly decided that was NOT an option.  The other three girls that we ran into took off in a different direction while we caught a taxi to go back and grab our stuff from the hostel.  We figured that way we would at least be able to just go as soon as we figured something out. Outside our hostel, we decided to go grab some lunch at McDonalds down the street while we tried to figure something out and waited to hear if the dean could get in touch with the field office and let them know what was going on.  Looking at our Green Sheets (information sheets SAS gives us before each country), we realized that another group of SASers were doing the camel and jeep safari that we had done the day before! We got the crazy idea to just take a taxi back to the country club from the day before and see if we could hop on the bus.

So after eating our lunch, we went back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff, and tried to find more information about the country club we were at the day before.  It was surprisingly hard to find detailed directions.  We eventually found the name of the country club as well as the general area it was in.  The man at the hostel translated our English words into Arabic on a piece of paper to give a taxi.  We found a taxi who said he knew where we wanted to go, and hopped in.  Julie had decided to stay an extra day with a friend on another SAS trip, so we dropped her off at the Egyptian Museum on the way leaving just Kyle, Megan, and I to find a SAS bus!

Traffic was HORRIBLE. I mean, traffic is always horrible in Cairo, but this was ridiculous!! It took us over 2 hours to get back to the area we recognized from the previous day, and then we found out that our taxi driver did not really know where we were headed…. So we began asking locals who would either ignore our driver or just point a finger in a direction with little to no additional information.  As we were beginning to think we were really close, we saw them!!! THE SAS BUSES STARTED PULLING OUT RIGHT DOWN THE STREET FROM US!! Half of me was relieved and the other half was like “oh crap!! Were going to miss them!” we started yelling to the taxi driver “those are them! Those are the buses!!” (we had already explained the situation to him, and he was doing the best he could to help us out).  He quickly realized what we were saying and put the pedal to the metal! He ended up literally cutting off the last bus.  Kyle had his door open and jumped out as soon as the car stopped.  He jumped in front of the bus pointing to the sign in the window signaling that we were SASers.  The bus opened its doors and he further explained the situation.  Meanwhile, Megan and I gathered 100 pounds for the taxi driver (the whole thing was supposed to only cost the 3 of us 60 pounds, but he was so amazingly helpful and went really out of his way, so we tipped him very well.).  Kyle waved us to come on to the bus, so we paid and thanked the taxi driver over and over again and stepped onto the safe SAS bus.

Apparently we picked the right bus! It was actually the back up bus. Which means it had followed the other SAS buses all day just in case one of them broke down so that SASers could quickly jump to the other bus and continue on their way.  That being said, they had not needed it, and we found ourselves on an empty bus with only 3 other people that were working for the tour company.  So the three of us got our own seats and got to relax the entire way back to Alexandria.  One of the guys on the bus simply called the passport people at the port and let them know the three of us were on board.  He gave them our QuickTrip number from Kyle’s passport and they okayed taking us back to the ship.  It was awesome! The guy then talked to us for a good half hour about our adventure.  A few minutes after he stopped talking with us, he came back and told us that he had just gotten off the phone with his brother.  Apparently we were not the only SASers stranded in Cairo! His brother was headed to Cairo to pick up a whole group in his van and drive them back to the ship!

The three of us felt very thankful that we had gotten there just in time.  We talked about how crazy it was that we had managed to pull it off, called the dean and told him we were safe and successfully on our way back, took a short nap, and then listened to music the rest of the way back to Alexandria.  Once in port, we again thanked the guys on the bus for letting us hop on.  By 7:30 we were safe back on the ship and eating dinner!

After dinner, Megan, Jenna, Carmen, Kylie and I had some girl time until Kyle broke up the girl party and joined us to watch Aquamarine on the kids channel.  Was the perfect ending to our CRAZIST day yet on the ship. :)

quick note

i totally just beasted (yes, that is a word) my global studies paper due tomorrow. i managed to finish it by 10pm!! holy cow! new record for me? i think yes! no more of this procrastination station and all nighters! ive turned over a new leaf!








and on that note, im procrastinating doing another blog entry until tomorrow.
:D

GOODNIGHT WORLD!

?At least we will have stories to tell the grandkids!?

Wednesday: Day 44
EGYPT: Cairo

After an awesome full night of sleep, my alarm clock rang at 0600 to begin my second day in Egypt! Of course me being me I snoozed for the next 20 minutes before running up and grabbing a real quick breakfast before heading to the buses waiting outside to take us to Cairo for our camel and jeep safari trip.  Once we were all settled on the bus and headed out of the port, our tour guide began talking about the history of Egypt. Eventually, she realized that none of us were really in the mood to hear history at 730 in the morning and she let us sleep. 

3 hours later, we arrived in Cairo, Egypt!! From our bus we could see the pyramids coming into view. Our first stop was at the Giza pyramids.  We were given 45 minutes to roam around and take pictures.  You would not BELIEVE how huge the pyramids are!! I mean, you see pictures everywhere of how gigantic they are, but until you are standing right next to a block and realizing that one block is about the size of you and that the pyramid is made up of thousands of blocks the size of you and and and you get the point. Its overwhelmingly cool. We had some fun taking picture with the pyramids. We made ourselves as tall as the pyramid, put Carmen’s bucket hat on the pyramid, and Kyle’s sunglasses on the pyramid might have been one of my favorites. In general we were being ridiculous and it was probably a sight to see. I wish we had gotten more time at that stop, but alas, we had more stops to make so we headed back to our busses!

The whole time we were driving around places, our tour guide told us history and stories about what we were seeing or what we were going to be seeing.  Some of the information was basic stuff you learned in 6th grade. Like how to walk like an Egyptian. No. not really. But things like hieroglyphics were used and all those little things about pyramids became kind of repetitive.  On the other hand, she also told us some interesting information about topics including the clothing that today’s Egyptians wear.  For example, we found out that women wearing the completely black clothes are either married or betrothed. She also mentioned that most women wore the darker colors with an accent color such as hot pink underneath while men wear browns and tans or generally lighter colors.  We also found out that at public beaches such as those in Alexandria, women have to be fully clothed even while swimming!! They have special swim suits that cover their arms and legs.  Imagine the full body Olympic swim suit. Now, make all of the fabric loose and you have an Egyptian bathing suit.  It is considered unacceptable for women to wear a bikini! Think of that the next time you go to the beach!!

Our second stop was the Sphinx. Once again we got to get out and take pictures for about 30 minutes.  There were all kinds of people trying to sell postcards, stone replicas of the pyramids, papyrus bookmarks, tshirts, and stuffed camels.  These people were not afraid to get in your face to try and sell you something! It was interesting that they were giving prices in US Dollars rather than Egyptian pounds though.  We had been warned not to pick up anything or to let them put anything in your hands because they would then refuse to take it back! These guys were not joking around.  Of course the Sphinx was awesome. We took some good pictures with it and the pyramids in the background, and then headed back to the bus again!

By that time, it was past noon and we were HUNGRY. Good thing we headed to the country club from there! They had set up a huge buffet for us, and it was pretty tasty.  It was slightly frustrating because we had been told to be careful of so much food that we had to keep to just the simple things at the buffet, but they had AMAZING pita bread!

At our next stop, we got to explore a tomb!! It was so cool!! We had to basically crawl down this dark, crazy slanted walkway that was so short none of us could stand up straight!! Eventually we reached the bottom where we could stand (though kyle was too tall and still couldn’t!) and we got to duck into two little chambers one of which had the (empty) tomb inside.  There were hieroglyphics all over, and some had still maintained their color surprisingly. It was so cool!  After a few minutes, we headed back up the tiny tunnel and back to the bus to head to the step pyramid!!  There we had some free time again to explore and picture take by the pyramid.  Next thing we knew, we were making human pyramids beside the step pyramid!! Hahahaha! We got some awesome pictures! We started with a small 6 person pyramid, but then we decided to make one that had about 12 or 14 people! It was so awesome! We all had a great time.  Of course there were jumping pictures to be taken too… :)

After jumping around like hooligans, we headed back to the country club where they had 4x4 jeeps ready to take us on a safari through the desert.  Our group got kind of separated, but in our jeep was Kyle, me, Carmen, Julie, Megan, and another guy (who I just realized I never found out his name… oops!).  After our jeeps were all loaded, our drivers took off into the desert! This was hands down THE COOLEST part of the entire day.  We hit one of the first bumps in the jeep and laughed and got excited. Our driver quickly caught on and thus proceeded to give us the ride of our life.  He took us up and down sand dunes that I never thought we would have made it up!! In fact, one was so huge that we didn’t make it up!! Hahaha our driver had to back up and go down the hill! It was so funny! He was having so much fun with us.  I am so glad we were so happy and in such good moods from the beginning! There were some jeeps that we were pretty much doing circles around. It was cool to watch them check up on each other though.  For example, when we had to back down and turn around it took us a little longer so another of the jeeps looped back to check up on us and make sure everything was a-ok! We drove by a few pyramids and got some great panoramic views of the city as well as the desert. 

The jeeps dropped us off by a huge group of camels.  As soon as the door was opened, we were being pulled and pushed towards camels by Egyptian boys.  I thought riding a camel would be a lot like riding a horse, but I was definitely wrong! The saddle only had one foot holder which was slightly odd, and in general there was no specific seat on the saddle. More of just a big blanket with an area to sit on.  You had to lean way back as the camel stood up.  It was a crazy feeling!  The camel was so tall! The guys leading our camels all wanted to know if us girls had boy friends. It was pretty funny. We all lied and were like “oh they are up there” and pointed to the group of camels in front of us! Hahaha we might have crushed a few hearts in Egypt ;) we rode around for a little bit and took a few pictures then rode the camels all the way back to the country club.  We said good bye to our camel drivers, gave them a small tip, and left.  Tipping was very intense.  Our taxi driver from the previous day had told us that we should only give between 5 and 10 Egyptian pounds as a tip but that they would want more.  And boy did they want more! No matter how much people gave them, they were ALL trying to get more money.  Kyle’s driver would not accept his tip at first, but when Kyle started walking away he quickly accepted it though not without a few mumblings.  Others gave 4 or 5 US Dollars and STILL got begged for more.  One of our friends was silly and did not have the money already out, so the camel driver grabbed an entire wad of 70 pounds out of her wallet! (that’s about 14 US Dollars)  It was definitely an experience. 

Back on the buses, we headed into Cairo.  The bus stopped and let a bunch of us sign off the SAS trip to stay an extra night in Cairo.  Julie, Megan, Kyle, Molly, Daniel, Heather, and I had all made reservations at the American House Hostel for the night. (believe it or not, it was actually one of the highest rated hostels in Cairo and it only cost 12 bucks each a night!) We took a taxi, eventually found our hostel, and checked in.  It was actually pretty nice compared to the hostels we had previously stayed in, however it still did not cut it for Molly, David, and Heather who chose to leave us in search of a better hotel.  They ended up staying at the 5 star hotel with the rest of the SASers. The other 4 of us decided to stay in our cheap hostel for the night and began exploring.  First thing on our agenda was DINNER. 

*****A slight diversion:
Cairo as a city is, well, memorable.  It is definitely not the prettiest city we have seen this voyage. Far from it really.  It is sad to see that both Alexandria and Cairo are literally covered in trash.  I thought of my mom the whole time because she is one of those people who picks up any piece of trash she sees when walking around and throws it away or recycles it. Well, she would have a hard time here because I am pretty sure she would have to throw away the entire city.  From cigarettes and candy wrappers to soda cans, food wrappers, and even dirty clothes, everything can be found on the streets.  Its quite sad really because you can tell that the city hidden under the trash could be beautiful.  Makes you want to adopt a highway or in this case adopt a city… and take lots of showers. It is not even just the roads! There is a stream of water that I should really call a stream of trash that ran all through Saqqara (where the country club and step pyramid are).  The stream is literally full of trash.  We started counting the tires but lost count after about 15 because we were distracted by the dead horse (no, really. There was a dead horse in the water).  And this whole time there are people walking around and kids playing.  OH, and there was irrigation systems pumping water out of the stream of trash and into the crops… and THAT is why SAS told us not to eat or drink so many things… It was a little hard to watch.  Even worse was that there was a girl getting beaten by a man while our bus drove past.  I am really glad I actually did not see this, but I do not know how I missed it because our entire bus saw it and was talking about it.  Apparently he was hitting her to the ground and picking her up by her hair to beat her again and again.  Now that is scary. Egypt was definitely a different world compared to the other places we have been on this voyage.  Up until these cities I felt pretty darn safe and comfortable with my surroundings, but in Cairo and Alexandria I was NOT comfortable.  You know me too, I am not a little pansy. It takes a good bit to scare me, and there was one time later on in particular that I was extremely uncomfortable.  But lets get back to the good stuff. I just wanted to make sure I included the fact that this is definitely an extremely different lifestyle and environment. 


OK NOW BACK TO THE STORY :)

After a short walk down the street, we decided to try and get dinner in a shopping center we passed.  There were some American favorites like KFC and pizza by the slice as well as a couple of coffee shops and what looked to be some local dishes.  Still wanting to play it relatively safe, Megan and Julie got food from KFC. Kyle and I tried to order chicken tenders from one of the local places, but when it came out it was like fried chicken only it was not fully cooked and in general did NOT look appetizing. So we eventually gave up on our first meal realizing that it was only 4 bucks, and we got meal number two from KFC.  We were much more successful with round two, and afterwards we headed back down the street towards the hostel.  We decided to stop and grab some munchies so we could just hang at the hostel and people watch.  We originally had three rooms in the hostel for the 7 of us and even then there was room for 11 people to sleep. So with David, Molly, and Heather gone we had even MORE free beds. Yet, in the end we all shared the suite downstairs because it was the coldest and quietest by the time we wanted to go to bed. :) We all wanted showers before bed, and that turned out to be an experience when we found out that we had no shower curtain! Add a broken shower faucet that we literally had to hold together while showering and you had quite an adventure. Needless to say, the bathroom was pretty soaked after the four of us each got our showers. Our motto for the night/next day became “at least it will be a story to tell the grandkids” hahahahaha

It was really fun getting to know Megan and Julie more.  Kyle and I had hung out with Megan in Santorini with Briana and Hannah, but besides that we really had not known each other long.  All four of them are awesome.  Since then I have started hanging with them a lot more frequently. We discovered that Briana has a whole bunch of movies on her external harddrive, so we have been having movie nights recently! Its funny how much I have missed just chilling watching a movie with people. Of course we always end up talking or going through our half a million (literally I think by this point) pictures ranging from baby pictures and family and friends back home to pictures we have taken so far on the ship.  So awesome.  I am so happy I have met so many completely different people on this trip.  Its nice always having someone to hang out with.  Its fun to also see who we get to hang out with at port vs who we hang out with on the ship too. For example, Kyle and I are pretty much always together at port and we just add to other groups depending on who is doing what which day at port, but on the ship we do not really hang out as much.  Instead I hang more with Jenna and Carmen or Briana, Hannah, and Megan.  We had an AWESOME time at Sea Olympics the first day after Egypt, but now I am getting ahead of myself. You will just have to wait to hear those details :)

Now it is time to get to work!! I have a Global Studies paper due tomorrow. 6 pages long, and so far I only have 2! Better get crackin’!

walk like an EGYPTIAN. no really. do it. :)

Hey guys!! Back on the ship after an AMAZING time in EGYPT!! Yay! Now I have a few sailing days before Morocco.  Hopefully that means I will be able to get a good chunk of days updated on my blog! Though I also have a test as well as a paper for global studies due before morocco so we will see how much I can accomplish!

So without further ado here is Egypt day one!!

Tuesday: Day 43
EGYPT: Alexandria
After the longest preport of our lives, we went to bed ready to wake up to EGYPT!! Kyle, Kylee, Molly, David, and I planned on meeting and exploring Alexandria in the morning, but we soon discovered that getting off the ship in Egypt was a lot more complicated than the rest of the ports had been.  Each of our passports had to be stamped with a “quick stamp” and then handed out to every one on the ship… while in Italy, most of us had to get our passports, so they called us up to collect them sea by sea. However, this time they were not as organized.  It was weird.  They called a few groups up, but then it was just mass chaos as they called the ENTIRE ship up to get passports.  Needless to say, that took a little while.  By the time the whole group was ready to go, we looked at our watches and it was 1100.  So, we decided to just hang out for another half hour and play it safe by eating lunch on the ship. 

In pre port, we were heavily warned of the wonders of E Coli. And basically determined that there was little to no Egyptian food worth the “side effects” of eating.  They told us to stay away from all veggies and fruit, all forms of dairy, and even the meats are up for skepticism in any of the restaurants. (and trust me. By the end of our stay in Egypt, we knew why they had warned us of each and every one of those.)
Also during preport, they discussed Egyptian Dress codes.  Like Turkey, men can wear normal shirts and shorts while women are advised to pay even more attention to wearing long pants and long shirts that fully cover all cleavage, stomachs and backs.  This time they meant business.  All throughout our stay women were fully clothed, and most wore the traditional Habibs (not sure exact spelling).  Even to swim at the public beaches women wear special bathing outfits that cover their full arms and legs.  It was intense.  All these clothing restrictions also meant that we stood out even more as a shipboard community.

So with full bellies from yet another shipboard meal of repetitive fashion, we finally headed down to the gangway to step onto North African Land: ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT. Also during preport, they told us that we would need to rely on taxis to take us everywhere during our stay.  As soon as we got off the ship and went through security, we saw a whole line of shops down the port as well as a whole bunch of taxis ready to take us away.  We met a man named Rafti who offered to be our personal chuffer around Alexandria for the day for 50 pounds each (that is equivalent to a little less than 10 dollars for an ENTIRE day of taxi service. 1 Egyptian pound=5.56 US dollars.) We decided to take him up on his offer and hopped into his 1973 Peugeot (complete with a furry dashboard, roll up windows, and no AC) ready for a full day of adventure.

Our first stop was the Citadel of Qaitbay.  The castle was so cool! It was located right along the coast line with the water splashing against the rocks beside it.  I got some pretty cool water pictures there.  We got to go inside the castle for 15 Egyptian pounds (about 3 bucks) and it was totally worth it.  It was fun to see all the Egyptian tourists also there.  We got a group to take our picture and then tried to return the favor! Was pretty hysterical. They got so excited over us! Especially Molly. Hahaha  They all wanted pictures with us!! We took a few, learned some names, and continued on our way back to the taxi who was waiting right outside for us as promised!

We hopped back in the cab and headed to the Mosque of Abu El Abbas.  Rafti dropped us off right at the entrance of the Mosque so that we could get a few pictures.  As we were taking pictures, a tourist police man came up to us.  We had been warned in preport to be careful taking pictures, but they had said that mosques were ok.  Slightly confused by his motions to come towards him as well as the gun wrapped around him, we followed his orders and followed him to the back of the mosque.  Turns out he wanted to take us to spots for good pictures and then try and take our money as payment for showing us these spots… he was NOT happy when we did not have any change. Kylee gave him a pound and a half, but he was still not happy.  That was all the change we had, so we fled as fast as possible back to the safety of our taxi.  It was actually one of the scariest moments for me yet this trip.  We had been warned about the corruption among Egyptian policemen, but to actually witness it was really unsettling in a way.  As Americans, we are used to being able to go straight to a policeman for safety, and here if anything I think it is the opposite.  Almost all of the tourist policemen we ran into were trying to trick us into giving them money, and the other policemen did not look any safer.  That’s a scary concept to think about.

Back in our safe taxi, Rafti had bought Kylee, Molly, and I each a flower from a man walking around. Haha he was so nice.  Then he took us to the Bibliotheca Alexandria. One of the coolest libraries ever!! The place was massive.  It is shaped like a tilted hemisphere and has millions of books as well as a cool exhibit of old manuscripts.  We did not have time to go see the manuscripts, but I heard they were really awesome.

Next up in our grand Alexandria tour was the Alexandria Museum.  The museum was interesting, but really not that big. Within 30 or 45 minutes we had seen the whole place and were ready to go. 

Rafti took us to a small shopping area near the huge mall (that is very Americanized. More details later about that one) where we all got a nice cold Coke-a-cola for a few minutes.  We then walked around a jewelry store and a papyrus store for a little bit before heading to our final stop: a market.  Picked up a few snacks for the ship, and then headed back to the ship for dinner. 

Back at port, we thanked Rafti for the ride and the awesome tour and gave him 60 pounds each to add a little tip in appreciation.  He actually passed us a journal he uses as a “guest book” of sorts.  We saw a whole BUNCH of SASers throughout it!! They ranged from last summers voyage to summer of 05! Was sooooooo cool to read. We were happy to know we picked a great, reliable taxi driver and told him so as we added our names to the guest book.  Maybe future SASers will see our names :)

Ate another safe meal on the ship, and then I headed to bed really early after packing for Cairo the next day.  I cringed as I set the alarm clock for 6 am, but knew it was totally going to be worth it, and it DEFINITELY WAS. :)

but you will have to wait to hear about that until tomorrow.  Now I have to pack up my laundry because it is LAUNDRY DAY finally for deck two!!! Thank goodness because I am down to about 2 pairs of underwear and 1 t-shirt!!!