we began our journey by having to toss our four cans of Ensure (I was thinking ahead of some slim rations on US airlines!) into the trash can…which i was loathe to do, so i went back through security , hurridly drank a can, re-removed my shoes and AGAIN went back through security to join up with Arlin. We flew from Mobile-New York-Cairo! Flying at 600+ mph over six miles high is no small miracle. What convenience we can enjoy that our ancestors have missed!
CAIRO
In Cairo we sailed breezily through customs with all Terrill’s extra luggage. . .stuffed it all in a taxi and headed for our fourth floor room in a hostel.
I
We always used the stairs, giving this man reprieve from his job!
elevator operator
We had just arrived when the three days of post-Ramadan celebrations were beginning, and our street was ”the happening place”. We’re talking about a non-stop cacaphony of horn blowing and of the low rumble of hundreds of voices four stories below us. We had no AC or fan, so were obliged to let double doors wide open to the night air. Along with the breeze came , uh, mosquitoes and flies which for some reason we weren’t expecting, since there isn’t malaria in Cairo. Oh well, early one morning Arlin found the bug spray in one of our bags. I must have missed my face, because i got over twenty bites, and a sizeable hard knot under my eye (not red or itchy) that changed my profile and made me less glamorous–ha ha. We ate our breakfast of coffee and a piece of hardish bread with unsalted butter and fig jelly of all good things! THe second morning we had strawberry jelly, but it was brown just like the fig…hmmm, didn’t taste very fresh—but then what can you expect for $10 a night!!
When not exploring the sights, sounds, and tastes of Cairo, we were either sleeping or hanging over the rail watching the incredible driving habits and skills of the traffic below. The last night, we had to leave at midnight for the airport, and our street was closed off to cars, so we had to take two large suitcases of things for terrill and amber as well as our own through this crowd!
am I happy?
Is the camel happy?
The second day we went to the Egyptian Museum. There were two floors, and you can’t imagine all the things that have been retrieved from tombs. The Museum was crowded with people, and very very hot…again, no AC. We chose not to have a guide, because we wanted to see what we wanted to see and the Egyptian speaking English is very hard to understand.. When I needed to use the bathroom, a lady wanted to charge me for a few squares of toilet paper…but I had my own. The museum, once they had you inside, were going to charge us $20 USD a piece to see actual mummies, which we decided not to do. We were able to see mummies of animals, including a huge crocodile. All these places we walked to, running in and out of traffic! We were surprised to see many many couples holding hands, and a lot of the girls were wearing slacks, though they had their head covering. Groups of children without parents were wandering the streets, and it felt safer than being on the streets of Mobile–certainly safer than Prichard.
On our third and last day in Cairo, we “shopped’ at a bazaar but bought very little. We did buy tee-shirts but were disgusted with the rudeness of the vendor who insisted on my buying a dress after lowering the prize way down. When we decided not to get it (I couldn’t figure out when I could wear it) he showed obvious disdain for us. His fawning and flattering stopped immediately! We walked down to the Nile after dark and down a steep bank to a waiting sailboat (felucca). I saw about two feluccas (without any lights on) along with many lit-up party motorboats. We paid for a half hour ride–I assumed would be going down the Nile. Instead, we zigzagged across the Nile and back, going across and back while the party boats were going “up and down” the Nile. It felt dark and dangerous but was nice enough with a great breeze for the sail. Our boat reminded me of the size and kind Jesus and the disciples must have used. At one point, the little Egyptian driver ran up to the hull of the boat and started waving his arms and shouting . A party boat was heading straight for the side of the boat I was sitting on (it was just Arlin, I, and the captain in the boat). It didn’t seem possible that a crash could be avoided, but at the very last second, the boat turned sharply, and instead of hitting us squarly, we got thwacked soundly on the side by the side of their boat! We missed getting a swim in the Nile by a split second!
arlin and the captain
boats like the one who hit us
