Off to Egypt 2012

Egypt Bound 07/09/2012

I was under the mistaken illusion that our long flight to Amsterdam had been very quite uneventful. We’d taken a pill to help us sleep through the flight and were oblivious to what was going on in the seats behind us occupied by Heidi and Corinna. Apparently, the pill didn’t agree with Heidi and she had to make a quick trip to the bathroom. Unfortunately, just as she was fixing to go in and throw up, a guy quickly cut in ahead of her and left her emptying the contents of her stomach at the back of the plane instead. Back in her seat, Corinna handed her a bag to use ‘just in case’. Unfortunately, and this is very gross, someone had got there before her, making matters a whole lot worse. Actually, this was a good flight to remain blissfully in dreamland.

Arriving in Amsterdam, Heidi was pretty much feeling better and ready to go…at least as ready as you can be after not having any sleep and being sick. We headed for the Corrie Ten Boom Museum which is located in a beautiful, picturesque town about 20 minutes away from Amsterdam called Haarlem. The Museum is a tribute to the lives of the Ten Boom family who sheltered hundreds of Jews from the Nazi’s during WW2. They were eventually caught and imprisoned in a Nazi death camp where all but Corrie died. Their lives are an example of God’s love for all people of all religions. The Ten Booms risked their lives to protect people who did not share the same religion, customs or faith. There was no mention of the saved Jews converting to Christianity, but there are no doubt descendants who are alive because of her sacrifice. Corrie took her story all over the world and coined the phrase “there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still”.

The tour lasted about an hour and a half and I was struck by how small the house was. The movie, “The Hiding Place” was not shot on location and consequently, everything looks larger in it than things actually are. The actual hiding place was tiny. Just goes to show that God will use anything you are willing to give, regardless of the amount, in order to make a difference in someone’s life. I think we are always thinking we have to have more, but we have enough. I seem to remember a story about a boy sharing his lunch and big things happened when Jesus was involved.

After the tour, we walked through the lovely town to board the train station to our next destination, Amsterdam. The station itself is a beautiful building and it opens up to the city with a three story bike park. Bikes are a primary means of transportation and you have to watch out for the riders because they are everywhere. I was looking to see if there actually was an outdoor urinal which I’d heard was just outside the station, but never found it. Just as well it wasn’t needed. We strolled through the main square called “Dam Square” and watched the street performers and makeshift bands playing for whatever you would benevolently throw in their hats.

Marijuana is legal in Amsterdam, and though we didn’t participate, Corinna sucked in some of the stuff as second hand smoke. It wasn’t hard to do since it was everywhere. Heidi wanted a fresh T shirt since she was still wearing the splattered shirt she’d been wearing on the unfortunate flight. Only one shirt didn’t have something on it that didn’t pertain to some kind of weed reference. Next up, a lovely canal ride that Heidi and Brent won’t remember a lot about since they ended up sleeping through the majority of it; but I can attest to the beauty. We unsuccessfully tried to find a restaurant that served a traditional Dutch/Indonesian meal, and ended up settling for an excellent Chinese restaurant instead. I picked up some blue tulips, blue tulips, ever heard of those? I want to see if they’ll grow in Spokane. What a novelty. The day flew by and before we knew it we were back onboard our flight bound for Cairo.

Arriving in Cairo was like stepping into another world. On the flight, the women were dressed in either a Hijab, which covers the entire body or had a head covering. A long line of cab drivers and tour guides awaited our business. Waleed, our driver for the week, was waiting, sign in hand, and took us from the airport mayhem safely home.  That was quite a feat considering the crazy traffic and driving even in the wee hours of the morning. For the next ten days we marveled at Waleed’s ability to navigate traffic of all kinds, motorbikes carrying four people with luggage, horses and donkey’s pulling large carts loaded with goods and people, trucks with horses and camels in the truck bed, balladay bread stacked up and cartoons of eggs piled so high it’s a wonder they never came crashing down. He handled it all in such a calm, cool and professional manner.

Stephen and Ann were still up to greet us despite our early morning arrival.  Their home is a lovely two story colonial style villa composed entirely of stone, marble, tile or granite. It was very spacious with two floors, a pool and a bar. We had no problems sleeping that night in our own on suite bedrooms with ac and darkened rooms. Nor did it take any time at all to get completely spoiled by Fizaya, their maid, who came daily and cleaned up after us. Heidi was particularly impressed with the maid and was plugging for our own “Fizaya in Spokane. Ha Ha.

The twenty four hour travel had taken its toll evidenced by the fact that we didn’t wake up until 2.30pm the next afternoon. We visited with Ann who later took us around the neighborhood to experience all the sights and sounds of our new environment. Maadi is an upscale area of Cairo with many colonial style mansions and is dotted with Embassy’s from around the world. A large Jewish community lived in Maadi until the mid twentieth century, though that would not be the case any more. The Israeli Embassy had recently moved from Tahrir Square to just down the street and security was tight.

The villas and Embassies all have their own security guard complete with pistol, though the only time our guard “Saaid” used his was to silence the frogs when Ann complained about how noisy there were. The city is much neglected, with garbage strewn around and there are stray cats everywhere scratching for any scraps. We went to an Arabian restaurant and enjoyed the waiter who was showing us tricks with the toothpicks. He accidentally poured the drinks on himself and let out an “oh my Gud” which Heidi liked to repeat at various times throughout the trip. The waiters were decorating and covering the mango laden trees in anticipation of Ramadan, as well as shaking and harvesting their fruit. Later, we had a nice British dinner with S&A.

Every morning Fizaya showed up with “ballady bread, the staple diet of the Egyptians, including their animals. It’s actually very healthy; lots of fiber and the outside is covered with a gritty grain. Everyone loved it but I missed the “whiter the bread the sooner your dead” sourdough I get from Safeway. Hopelessly hooked I guess. Ballady bread is subsidized by the government. The poor are given it for free but as with anything given away, corruption is rampant. There are those who don’t need the subsidies that then turn around and sell it, so the government is looking into ways to curb the corruption. Takla, a friend who works at the US Embassy said that if the subsidies are removed she is convinced that there will be another revolution. Her family was caught up in the Arab spring and had some scary calls during that time where they essentially ‘holed’ up in the embassy until things calmed down.

The majority of Egyptians are very poor and the wealth of the nation has been plundered by the former dictator Mubarak who now lies in an apparently luxurious military hospital. There was a lot of skepticism about his failing health since he was supposedly on life support after his life in prison sentence and death was imminent, but now that he has moved to a cushy locale, he’s made a miraculous recovery. I understand their skepticism. They say that he has bilked the country of billions of dollars and invested them in Swiss banks and other countries. His net worth is estimated to be around $70 billion. The Swiss recently froze his assets and are encouraging other countries where he has stashed his money to do likewise. Of course, the people are the ones left to suffer from his largesse.

That morning we visited “Coptic Cairo” or “Old Cairo”. This is where the Coptic Christians live. You have to pass through a police barricade to get there. A policeman dressed in a white shirt and pants and sporting a black beret, asked me if I was an American.  I nodded, to which he responded “Obama good”. He put his thumb up and allowed us access. The Coptic Christians appeared from my untrained eye to be somewhat like the Greek Orthodox Church. Many have a cross tattooed on the inside of their wrist and they also wore head coverings. We visited the Hanging church, a church built on beams instead of the ground. Why? I have no idea. Inside, it had the Egyptian Mona Lisa and various places to light candles and see the Arabic version Of Jesus. He really does have brown hair, brown skin and dark eyes.  The Virgin Mary visited there back in the 60’s or 70’s and they had pictures of her visit. She looks a lot like the pictures you see of her on the toast being sold on Ebay.

From there we visited the Coptic Museum. It contains sections of the oldest Bible in the world preserved in a temperature controlled display. We had the Museum to ourselves as we were the only tourists, but there were plenty of guards around. One of them was really trying to communicate with us even though he could barely speak any English. He appeared to be telling us to walk around the display twice. Brent told us to just smile and nod our heads approvingly. I think he asked me what I thought of Mubarak. I made the mistake of expressing my disapproval and pretty quickly discovered he was a Mubarak supporter. I should have followed Brent’s advice and just nodded my head approvingly.

From there, it was on to St. George’s church which is being renovated and through the above ground tombs that we were later to see many more of in the “City of the Dead.” We ended up in a restaurant where a nice guy explained to us how he had wanted Mubarak’s sidekick, Shafiq to be the next president because he was concerned about security and the lack of tourists. He had seen his business go down the tubes since 2008, exacerbated by the revolution. My mind flashed with explanations. “You see, we had this huge housing bubble in the US that led to a lot of people buying homes they couldn’t afford. They were sold to them by predatory lenders who made money from the borrowers and then sold the loans to Wall Street. WS bundled them up and sold them to investors. They hired and paid the ratings agencies who, surprise, surprise, rated them as excellent. Large companies behind the scenes were encouraging this even though they knew real estate was going to tank and they successfully bet against them and made billions of dollars. Thus capital flowed to the hands of a few, leaving the many with a lot less wealth to spend on things like Egyptian vacations.

No, way too much information I thought, instead, I ended up saying that a lot of people have been affected since 2008 from a worldwide financial crisis that has curbed their ability to take vacations. We really did feel for the guy though, his anxiety about the future was palpable. Clearly though, we were in an area that had voted for Shafiq and the jury was still out on Morsi. On our way out, the same policeman asked me the same question “American”? He gave me the same response, “Obama good.”

That evening we went on a Nile River cruise with a Middle Eastern buffet and entertainment. The opening show was incredibly cheesy, lots of Manilow songs and crooning specialties. But, it got better from there. The guys dancing with knives came next followed by a whirling dervish act. He was fascinating to watch, he swirled around for about 30 minutes twirling and turning down the lights and switching on his own twinkle lights all over his body. A live band played traditional Egyptian music with flutes and drums. It was topped off with a belly dancer from Argentina. She had an incredibly talented belly and was able to shake body parts for long periods of time. Out on deck, we watched smaller boats all festooned with multi colored lights doing three sixty turns on the Nile, music blaring with people dancing and celebrating. One of them had a bride and a wedding party and they were in full celebration mode.

Ain Sokhna is a resort located at the beginning of the Suez Canal on the Red Sea, primarily enjoyed by Egyptians who are trying to escape the craziness of Cairo. There are several check points on the way and everything else is just desert. It would be hard to imagine getting around those checkpoints since the heat is blistering and there were no trees. The resort we stayed in was a beautiful oasis. You have to go through a metal detector, which is a bit disconcerting, but once in, it’s gorgeous, with a lovely pool and man made waterfall, palm and date trees and not too far from the beach. We watched, with amazement, the colorful head coverings and full body suits adorning the women even when on the beach and in the ocean. It’s not like we were wearing skimpy clothing, but even being modestly dressed by US beach standards, we still felt a bit ‘exposed.’ We couldn’t spend a lot of time there though since the heat was stifling.

Both Brent and I either ate or drank something at the beach bar that didn’t agree with us and I immediately got a bout of Ramses revenge. The girls were cracking up at how quickly I had to find a bathroom. I was directed to one nearby, and since it didn’t have ac, it felt much more like a sauna than a bathroom. Brent got hit with the same problem a couple of hours later and we were pretty much out of commission from then on. I recovered quickly, but Brent was another story. However, while we were recuperating, unbeknown to us, the girls were having a blast. They stood out wherever they went and were treated like they were celebrities. Women asked them to hold their babies so they could take pictures of them. Men asked them to lunch or if they wanted to join them for a drink. They joked about the marriage proposals and pick up lines they were given. “I’ll never look at another Egyptian woman if you marry me”, one said. Another married man asked Heidi why she didn’t like him, to which she replied, “Well, for one thing you are married and for another you are old! “But, I have job” was his plaintive reply. Hilarious! “Would you like to smoke with me” was definitely our favorite. Not exactly a catchy pickup line in the States, but hey, this was Egypt after all.

As they swam in the Red Sea, Heidi expressed to Corinna her paranoia about seeing a jelly fish and Corinna was exhorting her not to worry about it. As Murphy’s law would have it, right after that conversation, they came across a big blue jellyfish and as if that wasn’t enough to scare them out of the water, they met a man with a large welt on his arm courtesy of a jellyfish sting. And yes, he had peed on it. Way too much information!

Later that evening, we watched a cheesy entertainment show put on by the hotel staff, complete with human fountains and gymnastic dance routines.  Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” and a medley of the Beach Boys and the Beatles songs were playing as we sat down. We were the only Westerners there and were surprised that they would be playing such music. I guess we had expected harp and lyres, but everyone seemed to like the oldies. Off to the side were cloth tents with shisha pipes placed atop low tables with soft bean bag chairs. We retired early for the evening and the girls visited the disco where they learned some Egyptian dancing and met some nice Egyptian young men.

The next day, Brent wasn’t feeling well at all and so Waleed arranged to come and pick us up early. He went straight to bed when we got back, grateful that he had a toilet all to himself, as were the rest of us. That evening, Stephen booked a felucca sail on the Nile at sunset. We joined another family from the US, friends of Stephen and Ann who worked at the American Embassy. They were busy making preparations for the upcoming visit of Hilary Clinton. Takla was in charge of booking the rooms in the Four Seasons. According to the Dutch Ambassador to Yemen, whom we met at the end of our trip, the US always has the largest entourage of any country. They needed four floors.

A felucca is a non motorized sail boat. The temperatures had pleasantly cooled down and there was a gentle breeze on the Nile with the most spectacular huge fiery red sun sinking down below the horizon and bathing the evening in gold. Cairo is extremely polluted, which no doubt added to the gorgeous sunset. Ann had decided not to accompany us since last year, when we were on a boat together, we had almost sunk and the memory was too fresh to allow here the freedom to enjoy the sail. We had no such drama on this ride, all was peaceful and calm. Richard pointed out the site where Mary, Joseph and Jesus allegedly stayed when they fled from the threat of Herod. Fortunately, the immigration policies of the Egyptians at the time were quite lax allowing them to stay there for about two years and for Joseph to work so he could support his family. A  large church is built there memorializing the site.

Upon our return, I stayed up so that I could accompany the other family driver “Shady” which seems to be a popular Egyptian name, to the airport to pick up Ashley. Shady was quite chatty and we discussed everything from raising a family to politics to religion and his various careers. Ashley showed up quite late since she hadn’t bought the prerequisite $15 visa to get into Egypt and had to get out of line to get that and then go through the line again to get through customs. We got back around 4 in the morning.

 “Garbage City”. Stephen wanted to take us there, much to Ann’s disgust, but we were glad he did. Every morning the garbage men leave their ‘city’ to collect the garbage. We called them the “ikkia” men since that’s what they said for “pick up. They pick up tons of trash and pile it up in trucks and donkey carts and bring back to their ‘city’ where it is sorted, by hand, by the women and children. There is a documentary called “Garbage Dreams” about it that I’ve ordered from Netflix. We did find out that they are highly efficient, recycling up to 80% of the garbage compared to Western recycling which is a measly 25%. The organic waste, left over food, goes to their pigs. Muslims don’t eat pigs- we couldn’t even get bacon on our “Eggs Benedict”- but it is a staple of protein for the Christians. Recently the government called for the pigs to be culled because of the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico. The Zabaleens justifiably felt they were being targeted and their food source being attacked. The pigs ate the organic waste and now without them, the trash around the city lies in smelly mounds. The pigs were culled and swine flu continued in other parts of the world.

We wanted to visit the shop they have where they sell items made from recycled garbage, but it was closed. But we did get to visit the churches that meet in caves. One of them holds 20,000 people and the other is beautiful with all the modern conveniences you’d find in a Western church, sound system and screens. Apparently, the rock had been excavated and used to build the pyramids. At least that’s another theory. Since Christians can’t get permits to build above ground, it’s a very nice meeting place alternative.

They have the relics of a Saint Simon who apparently took literally the admonition that if your eye offends you, pluck it out. Stephen in particular found this to be hilarious. And quoted what he read on the wall. If your eye offends you, pluck it out, it is better that way” “Try telling that to the one eyed, one legged and one armed man” he scoffed.  When we questioned the guide about the wisdom of such an action, he was quick to point out that the man was a ‘simple’ man and that they don’t advocate removing body parts versus using self control.

Clearly though, the people are close knit and even in the midst of squalor, they did seem to have joy. More recently, great strides have been made to pave the roads and provide electricity, sanitation and schools for the kids. They still have a long way to go, but they are making some inroads to improve the situation. Nothing that a self help guru couldn’t fix, but funny thing, they never seem to visit people like this.

In the morning we visited the world’s largest crystal factory. The prices were very reasonable and all of us, except Ashley, bought some kind of trinket to bring home with us. The nice thing about it was that there was no one around hustling you to buy or trying to negotiate prices with you. It was also air conditioned and drinks were provided.

That afternoon, we headed for lunch at a lovely restaurant called “Sequoia” on the banks of the Nile River in plain view of the Egyptian World trade Center. It was empty as well. A waiter offered us choices of shisha pipe smokes in what looked like what we’d see US waiters bring if they were offering different kinds of tea. There were cloth drapes everywhere and the seating was all cloth covered, beautiful view and good food too.

We had time to visit the Egyptian museum which it at one end of Tahrir Square. There remain a few relics of the revolution left on the square with some tents still set up. Ann took us straight to the outstanding King Tut display in the museum and we marveled at his gold death mask and gold fingertips and gold toe coverings. Not to mention the place where they laid his body. It was placed in the Egyptian version of those dolls that open up and then there’s another one inside. He had been placed in layer after layer of exquisitely decorated gold covered containers. Somehow, that prepared him for the afterlife.

The traffic at rush hour was like nothing I have ever experienced. Waleed at one point crossed the median and went against traffic as a shortcut. An old woman was selling tissues and I rolled the window down to give her some money. She thanked me and then referred to Waleed as “Assel” I asked him what that meant and he got what I was asking when he heard a snicker come out of Ashley. Heidi put on her full Scottish accent and let us know that she was from a long line of “Athol’s and we all had a good laugh about the word. “Assel” in Arabic means “honey”, so we’ve been using it a lot recently.

Stephen had been doing some research on a good location to go horseback riding around the pyramids. He found a place that rides around the smaller and older pyramids. All but Corinna and Brent headed out for a sunset ride. It took Waleed a while to find the place which had no signage. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a pack of dogs. It was like a scene from the island of misfit toys with the toys being replaced by dogs. The dogs had all been rescued and there was a three legged dog, a one eyed dog, a massive dog, and ugly, scrawny dogs of all shapes and sizes. Devout Muslims don’t particularly like dogs since they have to go through a five step cleansing process before they can pray if they touch a dog. It was easy to see why a dog rescue place could be in high demand. A small baby was crawling around amidst the filth and flies. Who knows where the parents were.

The Californian woman who owned the stable was clearly an animal lover, but had built the place up to be something that it wasn’t. She said that the horses responded to her voice commands and could understand English and Arabic. It did cause me to raise my eyebrows and I had to purse my lips to keep myself from making any comments. Once on the horse, I decided to give it a try and all I can say is I’m glad Eddie, my riding instructor, didn’t see me, he would have died laughing. I found the horses to be quite illiterate, either that or their English wasn’t very good or my Arabic was very bad. For all the horse riders, I don’t believe I have to say anymore.

But, we were off and passed through an agricultural area of Cairo. We rode through a partially dried up canal that was now filled with garbage. Children were pumping water from a system that I imagine coming right out of the 17^th century. We passed water buffalos tied up under shade trees; donkey’s straining to find any strands of grass on which to graze, herds of sheep and goats and tons of children. When they saw us they ran toward us saying “eellow”. There had to have been about 40 of them all together calling out. It was very cute. The guides were laughing at what they were saying and when I asked for the translation, they told me they were asking if we were Chinese.

The owner had a very long conversation with a young boy that, based on the body language and tone, was asking for payment to go through his property to get to the pyramids. After a ton of banter and no money exchanged, he let us pass. Once in the desert, we were able to let the horses gallop up the sand dunes. It was exhilarating and we arrived just as the sun was setting on the pyramids making for some nice golden pictures. The return trip brought more sights and sounds. A couple of riders were training some stallions and were doing everything in their power to control the beasts so they wouldn’t go after our mares. They were rearing up and one of the riders jumped off before he got thrown off. The banks of the dried up canal were being burned, I guess to decrease fire danger, but I don’t know. In any case, the smoke from the fires, the cigarettes the guides puffed and the dust from the desert sands were causing me to cough. We had all enjoyed our ride immensely and the horses were a highlight of the trip.

Camel Day: We had hoped that Brent would be able to accompany us on this unforgettable day, but it was not to be. He was still suffering from the residual effects of whatever he ate and couldn’t sit well: dx: 455 for all you medical peeps. Waleed took us to Kaleed’s camels and he didn’t waste anytime on getting us up and going. We rode on Moses, Micheal Jackson, Rambo and Alli. Kaleed rode on a tiny horse; either that or he was a giant man. He was dressed in an outfit right out of Lawrence of Arabia. All white galabeya which is a full sized robe and white long headdress. To our rear, we were joined by his sons who whacked the camels if they slowed down. His son was out in the blazing heat with just his sandals for protection between the scalding sand and his feet. But he said what we hear a lot in Egypt “Ma feesh miscala” which means “no problem”.

We came across another group of Asians who wanted to do what so many tourists wanted to do there and that was take a picture with us. I must say we found it a bit odd that total strangers would want pictures with us, but we went along with it. It made us feel important or something. The camel guides didn’t like it at all and directed us away.

We tried, pretty much unsuccessfully to get the camels to run, but we did manage their equivalent of a trot. Kaleed told us to yell “Yalla, Yalla”, at the camels, but they didn’t seem to be getting what we wanted them to do. At one point, Ashley lost her iphone in the sand and so Kaleed and his older son who showed up on another horse, backtracked to try and find it, leaving Heidi, Corinna and me with our camels who were anxious to return home. Kaleed had been teasing us that he would trade me a few camels for Ashley to become his third wife and I’m kicking myself now for not videotaping Ashley running off in the desert with those guys. Amazingly, they found her phone. What are the chances of that! Plenty of “el Hummdulla shookor’s” to go around meaning, “Thanks be to God”.

We stopped at a pyramid and attempted to climb it, but the heat was too much for me and I was desperately in need of water. Heidi had generously poured our last drops of water on her camel’s neck because she felt sorry for it. But we really could have used water at that moment. We were out in the desert for 21/2 hours passing the Sphinx, through the merchants trying to sell us tacky trinkets and rode into town where we stopped to buy some perfume. I don’t see us getting our next bottle of perfume in the same way. Kaleed heard that we liked horses and he brought out his prize Arabian stallion for us to admire. Such a beautiful beast and Heidi climbed aboard for a photo op. Later, being curious about what was broadcast over a loudspeaker from a truck driving through the streets, Waleed said it was to let the people know that someone whom they knew had died.

I asked Kaleed if he thought that aliens built the pyramids, but he was having nothing to do with that idea. Instead, his theory was that the materials were shipped up the Nile from Aswan and slaves built them or the Pharaoh’s paid the farmers to build them. Waleed thought it was the Nehalem that built them. You know those guys from the OT who died out and have since showed up playing in the NBA and NFL.

We were definitely in Morsi territory now. Morsi managed to get 52% of the vote, but that was because the moderate candidates split the vote leaving the two candidates on either end of the spectrum. Essentially, there are 74% unhappily waiting to see if he’ll make good on his promises to the people. He’s allotted 90 days to make headway on the trash problem, the lack of security, the terrible traffic and bread subsidies. His original choice as PM was the head of Pimco, the largest bond fund in the world.  I watch him with some frequency on CNBC.  From my vantage point, the people seemed more concerned about democracy translating into their ability to be able to put food on the table than they are about a return to Islamic law.

Ann took us to what had at one point been an Indian palace and was able to get the staff to allow us into the bedroom where famous guests such as Winston Churchill, Lord Mountbatten, and more recently, Omar Sharriff and Hulio Englasius had spent the night. It’s easy to see why they liked it; the room was tastefully decorated and the view of the pyramids from the patio was spectacular.

They have rolling blackouts of power in Cairo, a cause or irritation to the residents and visitors alike. The power never goes off for very long, but it did go off when were back at the Villa and a couple of times when we were at a restaurant. I had to take a battery operated lamp into the bathroom, which is a first, and was impressed with how adaptable the staff was able to be in light, or lack thereof, of the circumstances. Yes, pun intended.

Heidi and Corinna had become Facebook friends with the guys they met at the disco in resort and they wanted to meet them for coffee. Though we were a bit nervous about allowing them to do this being that they were strangers, we agreed to it if they met them in Maadi. Suzie, Takla and Richard’s daughter, who attended the American School in Cairo, went with them, making us feel better about it. Stephen and I met them later on and they were very nice. A couple of them were medical student and another two were in High School.  All of them had Mohammed somewhere in their name.

Heidi told us she had never had such in depth conversations with anyone before about the Islamic religion, customs, preconceived ideas and Egyptian politics. It was music to my ears to hear her say she no longer wanted to report trivial news like Enews, but more in depth subjects that make a difference in other people’s lives. Who would have thought?!

The Khan el-Kahili: This bazaar or souk is a place that you have to see to believe. It dates back to 1382 and is a labyrinth of miles of streets that are packed with anything and everything. It was decorated for Ramadan and packed with merchants trying to entice us into their stores. If we got separated and were looking for each other we were quickly informed where everyone was located. Our every movement was being watched. Ashley was invited over to one of the merchant’s homes to have his mother’s specialty, braised camel foot. Yum! We regrouped at an ancient Turkish looking restaurant complete with waiters dressed in round black pillbox hats, waistcoats and pantaloons. The girls shared more of the banter they’d been given. “What you want”? “Nothing”, replied Ann. “No problem, we have got three of those inside my store. A guy told Corinna, “Oh look, you dropped something. She looked down, didn’t see anything and when she looked up he told her, “it was my heart” Cheesy, absolutely, but amusing nevertheless.

Everywhere we went we were greeted with “Welcome to Egypt” regardless of whether we bought anything or not. The place is a maze and without Ann guiding us, we would no doubt still be looking for the way out to this day. That evening we attended the cultural show exhibiting the talents of more whirling dervish. The dance is filled with religious significance but since we didn’t speak Arabic, we have no idea of the meaning. Heidi and Corinna’s new found Egyptian friends met us there and they referred to it tongue in cheek as “Egyptian metal”.

The men whirled for about 45minutes non stop on a stage in a hot room without air conditioning. A robed man plaintively wailed in the background as the stringed instruments and bongos played. The whirling dancers supposedly feel closer to God. The only thing we wanted to get closer to at that moment was the whirling fan, the direction of which was being hotly contested behind us. When the show was over we had to find our way back to meet Waleed. There was absolute mayhem, crowds like I’ve never seen before. We passed a live cow in a butcher shop, almost got hit by a motorbike and felt sorry for a puppy that was being stepped upon in the throngs of people.

Sakkarra: This is one of the oldest pyramids dating back to the third dynasty and it is a royal burial site built by the architect Imoteph. They haven’t found his body yet, hence the movie, the “Mummy Returns.” Fortunately for us, he didn’t return while we were there because he is one scary looking dude. The pyramid at Sakkarra is a step pyramid that, because it’s crumbling, is undergoing some much needed renovation. We went down into the tomb, and saw a sarcophagus and the burial room all decorated with hieroglyphics and stars on the ceiling. We saw a mummy in the museum and the Coptic jars that were used to hold the organs of the king or queen being mummified. We passed through the columns of the kings and it wasn’t hard to imagine the day when chariots were ridding through those columns to bury their dead.

We were greeted by a man who looked like he came right out of the pages of a Sunday school book, riding on a donkey saying “taxi?” “You want Egyptian hat, Egyptian paper, and Egyptian husband?” he asked. We sympathized with the policeman who stood guard there all day with only the shade of a makeshift outpost in the blazing sun. The police in Cairo are paid a pittance, around $100/month, so it’s not hard to see how some might have tried to increase their salary in unpopular ways before the revolution. Nor was it hard to see why they may be despised. This policeman told us he had four children to feed. He asked if I was American and gave me the same response as the other policeman in Coptic Cairo, “Obama good.” We ended up giving him a donation and taking some pictures in the area, refusing the offer of his machine gun to be included in the photo op.

The Citadel: This dates back to the days of the crusaders and was built for protection. The Mohammed Alli mosque has been built there surrounded by a castle like structure. Who would have thought a boxer could have such influence. The girls had to don robes to cover visible skin and we all wore head coverings out of respect for their customs. The robes looked a lot like what you’d think members of the KKK would wear so we went to great lengths to get rid of the point in the hood. We took pictures at the beautiful fountain where people cleanse themselves before entering the mosque. The interior of the mosque is very sparse. There is the equivalent of a pulpit, but no chairs and the carpets have a designated area for each person to pray. They all point toward Mecca. We waited for the call to prayer and listened as the various mosques throughout the area responded back. Muslims are called to prayer 5 times per day. They say they can pray anytime and anywhere but that call allows them to focus on God in the midst of their day.

We ended our trip with dinner at an Italian restaurant with Richard and Takla and Stephen and Ann. A loud “boo’ was expressed by all the customers when the power went out, but, fortunately, this time it was on again fairly quickly, to equally exuberant cheers. Richard and Takla had said their goodbye’s to Hilary Clinton who had headed for Alexandria where her motorcade was pelted with tomatoes. What kind of thanks is that after she just granted them over a billion dollars of US taxpayer money? She was perceived as being a Morsi supporter by the other 74%.  However, she emphatically stated in the Egyptian parliament that she was a supporter of democracy and the democratic process. Heidi and Corinna had arranged to meet for coffee one last time with their new found Egyptian friends.

Here’s some random things we learned while there. The Salafi’s are strictly religious and want to return to a fundamental adherence to Islamic law. They have long, raunchy looking scraggly beards and wear galabeya’s. They view the Muslim brotherhood as being liberal. The Muslim brotherhood leader, Morsi, studied engineering in America at USC and seems to be open to religious freedom. It is widely believed that his supporters paid poor people food in exchange for their votes. They were also told that if they didn’t vote for him, their place in paradise might be lost. It sounds a lot like today’s religious right propaganda. The men with dark spots on their forehead are extremely devout. They get the bruise from banging their heads on the floor when they pray. Women don’t pluck their eyebrows until they are married. Don’t put your feet up on the chairs, it’s inappropriate. People wear modest clothing so they won’t draw attention to the physical body. If you have pleased God in this lifetime you will go to paradise where everything you’ve ever dreamed of will be yours for the taking. If not, you go to the fire.

The most dangerous thing to be afraid of in Cairo is not the people, it’s the traffic, but if you have a good driver to get you places, it makes for an eye popping, exciting ride.

We were very sad to leave; Brent was dreading the flight home since he was still suffering from dx.455. At the airport, there were many pilgrims waiting for a flight to Saudi Arabia making their once in a lifetime journey to Mecca. This is called a hajj. They were all dressed in robes and long headdresses.  Many snacked on nuts and fruit getting bulked up before the compulsory fast of Ramadan which started that night. Hostility and hard feelings remain between the Egyptians and Israeli’s left over from the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War. There are still disputes along the Egyptian/Israeli border. Anyone who can solve that problem deserved the Nobel Peace Prize.

Ashley peeled off from us in Amsterdam in order to catch a flight to London to visit her cousins. After an uneventful flight, we arrived back in Spokane and were greeted by a massive storm and subsequent downpour. Becky had prepared a lovely dinner but in my jet lagged state, I managed to fall asleep at the dinner table. We had an unforgettable time in Egypt with many unforgettable experiences but there sure is no place like home!