Dear imaginary friends,
Here is how our trip to Egypt began-
There was a slight scary moment when the ticket agent at Dulles
said you must show us proof of your yellow fever shot. What
yellow fever shot?? First we heard of that. Then the lady
said have you been to Zambia?
Luckily no. Cuz that is when you need the shot!
(Now why did she assume we just came from Zambia??)
As much as we love a major adventure, we planned to
nonetheless avoid Tahrir Square.
You only need so much excitement!
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| Pinching Ourselves |
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| Everyone Wore This Garb Outside of Cairo |
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| Such Balance! |
We feel extremely safe here in Cairo. The only
violence we have seen is two women arguing. Today I rode a camel,
saw the pyramids, climbed up inside the tallest pyramid, Cheops, saw
the sphinx, was accosted by a zillion vendors, and ate lunch
at a yummy country inn. Tonight is dinner here at the hotel.
We are sore and exhausted, not to mention sleep deprived. It was
the equivalent of climbing beaucoup flights of stairs
to go up inside the pyramid.
And we were bent over like trolls some of the time, hanging on to
dubious handrails, climbing rung ladders, etc.
It was about 100 degrees inside at the top. Outside,
it is in the seventies during the day, with a lot
of smoggy haze in the morning and evening. There is such bad air
pollution here.
We are in room 2120 of the Sofitel Elgezirah on the
Nile on a little island. We have a tiny balcony, with great panoramic
views of the city and the river. It is a large, beautiful hotel. We were
originally supposed to stay in the InterContinental Semiramis, but it's off Tahrir Square, and the last tour groups complained of tear
gas getting in their eyes when they went outside. Not fun. The protests are killing the tourist economy here.
Only seven people were brave enough to show up for
this tour, as the news makes things sound far worse than they really
are. Just Carlo and I are doing the Jordan extension. Can you imagine
seven people on a 75 cabin Nile boat? Crazy. But not as crazy as a tour group of two
people in Jordan. We have every meal at the same table with the other five people and the tour guide.
Egypt is less Westernized than I expected. Many men
are walking around in turbans and galibiyahs (long gowns) The ones from
southern Egypt, also know as Upper Egypt, are more
fundamentalist. Modes of transportation include donkeys, carts,
bicycles and tiny mini cars called tut-tuts, because they sputter. There
are no front doors on them and no seat belts. Also, this country is not
handicap friendly nor OSHA compliant!
There are really long lines at all the gas stations in Upper Egypt. The supply line is terrible outside of Cairo.
There is much litter along the roads, and no
shortage of car exhaust. 15 million people live in Cairo, the
largest city in Africa, sited on the longest river in the world. The
Nile floods, making agriculture possible. Today we drove past farms
growing gigantic cabbage, farms with buffaloes, goats and sheep, none of
which looked well-fed.
Tomorrow is the Egyptian Museum, a market, a view of
Cairo's medieval quarter, and Muhammed Ali mosque and citadel. I am
required to wear a head scarf, long sleeves, and no shoes in the
mosque, just like when we went to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
I really am glad that I came. It is a fascinating country and older and a better history lesson than any class I have ever taken.
We are very well taken care of by Viking. Our guide is an
encyclopedia of Egyptian history. He does free lance tours for all the
good tour companies, including Uniworld and Abercrombie and Kent. His
English is great. His name is Ehab.
All of the camels have names. The one I rode was Michael Douglas (!) I could not see the resemblance. It was very scary when he stood up and
laid down, and his gait lurched from one side to the other. I was
hoping to survive and did. He was pretty cute. For a camel. (Don't want my cat to be jealous!)
This is not a clean country! Many people keep covers over their
cars and air conditioners to keep the sand and dust out. Maybe that is
the true reason for wearing the long gowns?
An enigma: why do the people walk in the roads, even freeways, even at night, eschewing the sidewalks? Tradition!
Your Imaginary Friend,
Patsie
