Egypt was such an adventure! I can't believe that I actually went there. I couldn't believe it when I was there and I can't hardly believe it now! We spent two days in Cairo and three days in Luxor. I was amazed by everything I saw. This first picture is me and a local in front of one of the first ever "step" pyramids that were ever built in the whole world (around 2600 BC)! One of the things you learn quickly in Egypt is that everything is older than it is in Israel. It's really amazing. Another thing you learn quickly in Egypt is that no one is really "nice." If someone offers you something then they expect money. This applies to everything from toliet paper (usually there's a woman sitting outside the stalls and handing you toilet paper only after you pay), to taking pictures. Fortunately, I had learned this little bit of information pretty quickly and when this guy offered to take a picture with me, I flatly refused. Egyptian men are persistent however, and after undressing himself and redressing one of the guys in our group in his clothing for a picture, he then redressed himself and walked over to me, grabbing my wrist and saying, "Come on, come on, photo, photo." I told him I had no money several times and he finally said, "You American. No charge." So there you go. Probably my first time that traveling abroad as an American has brought me benefits. We Americans really aren't looked at favorably in many places of the world, so this was pretty funny to me. As promised, I thanked him but didn't pay him anything. Other people in my group weren't as willing to take pictures with him. One guy, Spencer (whom the Egyptian kept calling "Jack") completely refused, and told the guy to leave us all alone.
Telling the men to leave us alone was something we actually had to do a lot. One day, a group of girls and I accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up in a local market. No tourists. No white people. Mostly men. We were completely out of place and I was horribly uncomfortable. A young man actually followed us the whole way and wouldn't leave us alone until after 30 minutes of us telling him to go away. It was a third world market in every way you could imagine. Slabs of meat in the sun, flies everywhere, dirt, and people, and poverty. Men with no legs begging in the street. You can't quite imagine. I've never felt quite so vulnerable, particularly because of my gender and my race. Looking back, I think it's good to feel for everyone to feel like the minority at some point in their life, just to help all of us realize that the world is much bigger than the U.S. Caucasian sphere that we pass our lives in.
The treatment of men toward women was not limited to the markets, however. Everywhere we went we got cat calls and comments, men asking provocative questions and offering the guys we were with camels and money to buy their "wives" (referring to us). (My personal favorite was when a guy said to me, "Excuse me, but can I give you a hassle?") It was worse even than Israel and we were all very cautious and aware of our bodies (and money) as girls often get groped in Egypt. It was even more dramatic than here in Jerusalem. You don't really think about the fact that all men in the world don't view women in the same way that American men do. I don't think I saw a single Egyptian woman with her head uncovered, and we had to follow certain rules to help keep us safe. For example: never look a man in the eyes (it's a sexual come-on),
always wear loose-fitting and modest clothing, never go out with wet hair (interestingly, this implies that you've just been "intimate"), etc. It was very different, and I'll be happy to return to the states and feel like less of an object.
Egypt really was wonderful, though, in spite of the men. It's just a different world in almost every way imaginable, and it was fun to learn to appreciate it. This next picture to the right, is of me kissing the sphinx (sort of). You can see one of the pyramids in the background. Fortunately, the nose of the Sphinx was shot off during target practice by invaders many years ago so it doesn't get awkwardly in the way when it comes to kissing.
Just beneath and to the side of the Sphinx is a temple where the Egyptians mummified Pharaohs. It took 72 days to do the whole process. I've included a video (not of someone being mummified, sorry, but) of us at the pyramids.
We did go inside one of the pyramids, and it was probably the most bizarre things I've ever done. It was also probably one of the stinkiest, sweatiest, hottest things I've ever done too. It was a good adventure. It took us about 15 minutes, and that was one of the shorter routes. I'm glad I did it. The pyramids really are HUGE!!!
After spending a day in Cairo, we flew down to Luxor, which is where many of the pharaohs are buried. It's really dry and hot in Luxor and we heard it hit 109 degrees when we were there. Yikes! No wonder we were all so tired! Add to that the fact that we were touring all day and getting up around 4 or 5 each morning to start the tours, and it's no surprise that so many of us got sick. I'd estimate that about 1/4 of us got sick, with either a cold or stomach thing. We weren't allowed to drink the water or eat any uncooked veggies or fruit, and even some of the meat looked questionable (at least to me). I felt good until the second day in Luxor and then Pharaoh's Revenge struck. I'm still feeling it, I don't know that I've ever been sick quite like this. The good news is that it should leave by the time I'm 30. (My friend Moriah knows someone who's brother who suffered from Egypt stomach problems until he was 30, so there's hope!)
This is a picture of my friend Moriah and I at the Luxor Temple (which was incredible
, as was the Karnak Temple). There's a hieroglyphic behind us of 4000 year old belly-dancers. Our tour guide was an Egyptian and gave us a long spiel about how belly dancers are some of the highest paying jobs in the country. I figured that if something happened and I got stranded in Egypt then I'd take up the profession. Belly dancing outfits are fairly cheap and they're all over the place for sale in the markets. I'm glad I didn't have to carry out the plan. In case you wonder about Moriah's and my strange postures, we're imitating the posture of the belly dancers in the hieroglyphic (except that they were definitely more limber than us, we'll have to work on this before we take up the profession).
One fun tidbit: The Muslim Brotherhood (supporters of Islamic militant jihadist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas) has a pretty strong hold in Egypt.
For this reason, attacking tourists to hold for ransom from the Egyptian government is something that could easily (and has in the past) occur. To combat this (since tourism is such a major source of income for Egypt) the Egyptian government requires all tours to have an Egyptian tour guide and an Egyptian security guard with them at all times. We learned a lot of interesting things from them. Usually the guards wore suits, so it was hard to see their guns (we call them "pieces" because it's fun to say to each other that we saw someone "packing
a piece" in the bathroom, etc) but one day one of the guards was wearing regular clothing and he jumped on our carriage with us. I turned around and what did I see? His piece, glaring back at me. Of course I thought it was pretty funny and took a picture. (This is me and Jason (he's engaged too)).
One of the funnest things we did in Luxor was go on a faluka (sail boat) ride on the nile. This is a picture of me on the boat. Don't worry, I didn't actually touch the Nile, I didn't want my foot to become diseased and fall off. (The Nile is really diseased. We heard all sorts of stories about people who drink the Nile and go blind and stuff. Horrible stories.)
After the faluka ride we went on an hour long camel safari through little towns along the west bank of the Nile, and through fields and groves of banana trees and other plants. It was really beautiful and I had fun talking to my guide, who was 25 and in school to be a teacher. He was actually nice and was married with a 6 month old daughter. My camel was named Casablanca (very romantic, huh?) and I was the last one.
My guide, Makhmoud, taught me how to ride it like an Egyptian and then had us slow down behind the rest of the group and gave me the chance to "gallop" a camel. Talk about awkward. It was very fun. The girl in front of me is the only black girl in our group, and all the Egyptians we passed loved her. She looked like a princess as she waved at all the men and children and they yelled things like, "Oh, sister. We love you. You're our color, I want to marry you," etc.
After our three days in Luxor we took a night train back to Cairo. That was good adventure too. They call it the "new train", but it's actually the same age as me. (That should give you some idea about Egypt.) We spent the last day in Cairo at the Cairo Museum (where I gazed on the faces of Ramses and Seti, the postulated Pharaoh's of the Exodus, and looked at King Tut's treasures). It was very cool.
We woke up early the next day to drive back and stopped in Eilot (just across the border in Israel) to go snorkeling in the Red Sea. The Red Sea!!! The one Moses parted! The snorkeling was great (I'd never really been before) and the water was such a beautiful blue green color. I don't know if the picture to the left really captures it and does it justice, but it was gorgeous. The mountains behind me are in Jordan, but just a few miles to the south is Saudi Arabia. Kind of cool to be so close to all these countries you only hear about in history books.
I was feeling pretty lousy during the last few days in Egypt, and the bus ride back was rough on me (I actually spent the last hour or so of it sitting in the guide seat next to the driver because I felt so sick). I was happy to get back. And in spite of hurting stomach and achy body, I had beautiful Jerusalem awaiting me. I took this picture of a Jerusalem sunset last night from my balcony. The prayer call was singing, the Dome of the Rock shining, and I was happy to be back. This world really is an amazing place!
I was amazed, you can just walk right up to it and touch it.
