?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’!