The Unpolished Princess

I was wide awake at 5:15 this morning.. but I did sleep better than the last few nights. So, that’s a big win. I laid in bed, writing out yesterday’s post until I was time for Mom to wake up and it was safe to start making racket.

We got ready and made it to breakfast early enough to eat, drink 3 cups of coffee, and make it to the ATM before Sherif arrived at 8:30. We’ve been crushing these mornings.. it’s got to be the excitement, that’s the only thing I can come up with.

Our first stop of the morning was to a pharmacy, so Andrea could get some non-drowsy antihistamine.. she might be having either an allergic reaction to something or a heat rash, but she wanted something on board just so it wouldn’t get worse. I feel awful for her, I know first hand how miserable it is to be itchy, even the slightest bit. We also pit stopped next door to get a soda-because-me. Ha. Sorry.

Our first half of the day was spent inside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. It was hectic and somewhat chaotic.. every nationality with their own guide, a cacophony of languages and people smacking into one another. Sherif navigated it so well for us, quickly choosing to show us things that weren’t crowded, or AS crowded as other exhibits. Then, he’d slide us in to the busier areas before they got overwhelming.

Listening to him teach us and explain ancient Egyptian history to us-his history-to us was nothing short of incredible. He was lively and seemed to love every bit of the knowledge he was sharing. We saw sarcophaguses, two preserved human mummies, mummies of animals buried with Pharohs, jewels and furniture and so so many other treasures.

The statues were stunning, every single detail carved without error. Seriously fascinating. Sherif showed us statues found in the great, second, and third pyramids, he taught us some letters in hieroglyphs-and how to tell the two names of a king or his wife, and the stories the carvings tell. We also learned about Hapshepsut and how she was one of the strongest and best Pharohs of Egypt, and how she’s depicted as a king with a beard and muscles in the valley of the kings (which we will get to visit as well).

We learned about King Tutankhamun-the youngest Pharoh, who reigned from the time he was 12 until he died at age 18. We got to see his sarcophagus, and see all of the treasures that were found in his tomb. This king was young and had a short reign, so the massive amounts of jewels and trinkets we saw from his tomb would have been nothing compared to the tombs of the other longer reigning Kings-but their tombs were raided and thieves stole their treasures.

Once we saw everything we could inside the museum, we were taken to Coptic Cairo-said to be one of the places Jesus, Mary, and Joseph stayed while in Egypt and escaping the persecution of infant boys by King Herod in Jerusalem. We saw the first Christian church, “hanging” on wooded rafters high above in a fortress built by the Romans. (Again, forgive me if my details aren’t correct-I should have taken notes! Haha).

Sherif pointed out details of the Christian church, the ivory inlays in the wooden crosses and their three points symbolizing the Coptic church: the father, the son, the holy spirit, and then the 4 corner tips, equaling to the 12 disciples. We saw the crypt that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph slept in, and the church above it-along with a stunning baptism pool. And we saw the first Jewish synagogue. The Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities got along much better than we were led to believe. Sherif says the same is true now, between Christians and Muslims in Egypt, that they aren’t constantly fighting or segregated. All beliefs are respected and can live in harmony with each other without the hatred that the media portrays.. mosques and churches nearby one another. Beautiful, really.

From Coptic Cairo, we headed to a restaurant for a late lunch (we weren’t hungry before going to the second stop, but we all were now!). We had a wonderful meal at a nice restaurant near the hotel. It looked like a tiny place out front, but the restaurant was long and quite big inside. And the food! Phenomenal. We were served rice, bread, the best falafels so far, chicken and beef-along with 4-5 things to dip our breads and meats in: tahini, babaganush, eggplant, cheese with finely diced tomatoes.. it was all so great. My favorite part was desert though: RICE PUDDING. Hell yeah.

We made it back to the hotel before 4pm-and I was exhausted. The heat here is draining, and even though we were inside most of the day, it is hot inside the buildings. Once I was back in our room, with the air conditioner set to arctic blast, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I chatted with Mom awhile and rested my legs, but before long I was passed out.. like before 6pm. I didn’t pack or plan anything, just that my alarm would go off at 3am and I’d have to pack quickly for a 3:45 Hotel departure.

Our flight to Aswan leaves at 5:45 tomorrow and apparently that’s enough time to get there, check our bags, and get on the plane. We’ll see!

Today was incredible in every single way. For our first real day out and about-I couldn’t be happier and I have memories to last a lifetime.

I was wide awake at 4:30 and there was no going back to sleep. I was just too dang excited! I played on my phone and laid quietly, so I wouldn’t wake up Mom.. and then around 6 I got in the shower. She got up just before 7 and got ready, too, even ironing my shirt for me.

We made it to the restaurant breakfast around 7:45. It’s a breakfast buffet deal, reminding me of the way cruises set up their meals. We had eggs and Arabic bread with fava beans and some other random things. I enjoyed it, although I do think I like it more than everyone else in our group.

Like 8 cups of tiny coffee and entirely too many fava beans for me later, the four of us met Sherif in the lobby. The owner of our tour company was chatting with him when we walked up, and so we were all introduced and then we were on our way. We had a calm introduction yesterday morning into the traffic of Cairo and Giza. Today-we were thrown into the thick of it.. and apparently this is “nothing” because today is a holiday or something like that.

Three lanes of traffic, five cars wide-cars included an array of vehicles and animals: donkeys and horses pulling carts of stuff and people behind them, pick up trucks, old 1990s style cars, and-wait for it-pedestrians. How in the hell did our driver manage to bob and weave and never once even tap someone else? I’m shocked! We’d be riding along at 60 mph and then suddenly after some maneuvers we’d be almost at a dead stop to go over a random speed bump! Just-WOW. It was like a dance that everyone knew the steps to but us.. but our driver never once slammed on the brakes! He was seriously smooth.

Our first stop was an archeological site in Saqqara. Forgive me if my details and facts are ever incorrect, it’s not intentional, I’m just going off of what I remember our guide telling us. Anyway-this was the first ever multistory building created in the world, dating back to over 4,800 years ago. The king was building his tomb, and it’s layers of rock stacked on top of each other in the pyramid shape, covering his tomb below ground-they believed that once you die, your spirit goes into the sky, and years and years later when it returns to your body, it needs to be preserved so that it can find you and take you to the afterlife. Everything found with you when your spirit returns gets to go too.

So, the pyramid is like steps to sky, and the hieroglyphs on the walls of the tombs show how great the person buried was, pictures of how tall and brave they were, (so they will be tall and strong in the afterlife) the fish and birds they’d want to take with them.. I’m doing a terrible job explaining, but it was truly magical. We saw the outside of that first pyramid, the places built to mummify the body after death, as well as the tombs of some noblemen, too.

To get down into one of them, Andrea and I had to creep down a slab of wood with metal “steps” to keep our feet from sliding as we were crouched low not to smack our heads. Once inside, it opened up in a few places. We got to see the sarcophagus and the etchings all over the walls. It was seriously neat. People get degrees in this field of work, so there’s no way I’d understand it all in a few minutes, but it was truly magnificent.

Sherif took us into his favorite tomb of a nobleman. The details in the carvings in this tomb were simply spectacular. The color in some places still showing up today, some 4600 years later. The fact that what they built that long ago is even still here at all is completely unreal. I still can’t get over it. And seeing Sherif’s excitement as he explained things to us, showed us tiny details our untrained eyes would have never noticed, you couldn’t help but smile. He loves what he does.

We saw so many things at that first stop that I’m sure I’m getting stuff confused. There were also a ton of street dogs.. some absolute cuties. They all seemed happy, but they were pitiful. Locals feed them, and they started a program to have them neutered and tagged, too. It was hard not to love on all of them, but I didn’t want to chance catching something.. everyone seems to ignore them, so I tried to follow suit, mostly.

We had lunch at a very cute restaurant. The main stuff was on a buffet: more fava beans and Arabic bread (I can live off of this stuff), potatoes, pasta, rice, and other things. Then, they brought out these tiny decorated charcoal grills with chicken and some type of beef cooked on top. It was neat, and I was creating my bites like building a fajita. Andrea seemed a little leary of the food, but I was all in. Let’s hope I don’t regret it later.. haha

After lunch we made it to the pyramids of Giza.. the famous three main pyramids that everyone knows and that’s considered one of the seven wonders of the world. They were massive and beautiful. How they’re still standing all of these years later is truly a wonder. Sherif told us so much about the structures as we went by the first one and got pictures. I was very grateful to have him there too, not just for his incredible knowledge, but also for his skill at keeping some local scammers from swindling us out of money. He’s a protective guy, and it’s really a great thing to feel safe when you don’t understand the language or customs. We’re learning, but not as fast as I’d like 😉

There was a little boy, maybe 10, that took the most epic pictures of us with that first pyramid. Then we went for the experience of a lifetime: a camel ride. Now, y’all. I thought we were going to pose with a camel and be done.. but Connie had other plans-she wanted a camel ride-I had no idea she was that hellbent on riding a camel! It was news to me! Ha! But what mama wants, she gets!
She got on this ginormous creature so fast and so carefree! I have a slight fear of animals that are bigger than me. I’m always cautious even around horses.. the man tells me to swing my leg over and sit on the back of this camel.. and as my butt is just sinking down onto the camel’s saddle, not even slightly situated-IT STOOD UP!

Y’all. The bloodcurdling scream I let out! I’m pretty sure everyone stopped to look at me.. every single person. I was petrified! How can I hike in the woods, alone.. sleep in the woods alone.. encounter bears, alone.. but lose my shit over a camel? Easy. Those things are huge and I was freaking the hell out! I also immediately yelled for someone to grab my phone because in the chaos of it standing with me unprepared, my cellphone slung out of its spot in my bag. Cool.

Anyway. After my heart rate lowered to like 130 instead of 190, and all of us and my phone were “secure” on these big guys-we were led around the pyramids and were stopped in random places for pictures. Mom loved every second, as did Andrea-and Terri and I seemed to be the only two unsure of these massive animals. We enjoyed ourselves, too, of course.. and the laughs that came from that 30 minutes will seriously never be forgotten!

Except our camel leader guy did leave Andrea and Terri at one point! He forgot to reconnect them! Which also led to another fit of laughter from all of us! It was so funny, and unnerving, but I’m so grateful I was able to have this experience and to share it with my favorite people. How lucky am I?

Anywho-we left the camels (I screamed when it sat down too, poor guy probably really hated me), and then Sherif took us to see the Sphinx. He told us about the history of the sphinx, the reasoning behind the body of a lion and the head of a human (strength and brains), and then we took some goofy pictures before fighting the crowd to take closer pictures. It was pure chaos in there and I think Sherif was probably just as happy as we were to get out of there!

For our last stop of the day, Sherif took us to a place where they still make papyrus paper, the first ancient scroll papers (after carving on rock, of course). He showed us the process and we walked through the gallery. Mom found a piece she couldn’t live without, so she got it.. the rest of us, while we were fascinated with the process, didn’t see anything we had to have today.

Sherif got us back to the hotel and we had drinks (well, I had wine, mom had coke, and Andrea and Terri had water, maybe I have a problem? Hmm), and got some mediocre food from the bar. Note to self: don’t get the bar food. We have another full day planned for tomorrow so I can’t wait to get to sleep so I can wake up! I think we’re all tired from a fun and busy day.
Goodnight!

We landed around 3am in Cairo. It wasn’t chaotic or difficult to find our way through the airport, all of the signs were in both English and Arabic. Our guide wasn’t there right when we landed, and we had a feeling he wouldn’t be, since our flight was supposed to come in at 4:20, not 3:10.. big difference when you’re sleeping!

We got our visa sticker from the teller in the window for $25 USD, filled out our immigration form, then went through customs. The man put the visa sticker in our passports and stamped them-the best of both worlds! Ha! Then we went and stood with everyone else to wait for our luggage. That’s when Hassan, our airport transfer guy found us.

A hour later, we finally had our luggage. Instead of waiting in a huge line to have our things checked, Hassan walked us right through a different gate. The agent checked one passport and that was it! Everyone else was in line to put their luggage through the security scanner again.. not us! Off we went! Hassan got us to our van, and introduced us to our actual guide, Dr. Sherif (said like cher-reef). He’s an Egyptologist and absolutely hysterical.

Sherif and our driver took us to a restaurant that I swear looked closed. They went and talked with the guys out front, and the next thing we knew, we were sitting at a table outside and being served entirely too much food: falafels, local Arabic bread, omelets, fava beans, grilled veggies.. it was incredibly good and so filling! I was in Heaven. I often base countries off of their breakfasts if I could live there or not-I could eat this breakfast everyday. For sure.

We got to the hotel, The Steigenberger Pyramids Hotel, and we were all absolutely beat. We hung out in a lobby seating area and Sherif worked on getting us in our rooms early. I was shocked when we were in before 8am! They’d never do that at home. But the hour and a half or so hanging around was also enjoyable. Sherif entertained us with stories and lots of laughs. Everyone had some coffee, mom toured the pool on her own for some pictures. It was a good time.

Once we were in our rooms, we tried to take a nap.. mom and I fussed some because the room was hot and we were both flipping around in these beds awhile before we could get comfortable and fall asleep. We were supposed to get up at noon-to help with the jet lag.. only 3 hours after noon did we budge. Dammit!

So, at 3:15pm I finally got up and went to find Andrea by the pool. Our hotel is nice and the pool is great, you can see two of the pyramids in the distance, which is pretty neat. Mom came out too, and she and Terri hung out in lounge chairs and Andrea and I swam. It started getting dark by 5pm, which I don’t think we were expecting. Terri and I walked through the restaurant in the hotel and checked out what they had (and maybe got to sample a couple things from the chef, talk about hospitality) and then we met the other two back in our rooms.

Terri and Andrea did as we were supposed to, and stayed up-so they were now headed to sleep. Mom and I were wide eyed and a little bored, so we got ready and went to dinner. The food was laid out buffet style and while some things were odd, everything I tried was delicious. I got several varieties of chicken, some pasta, bread and soup, and several things that I have no clue what they even were. Pastries and red wine rounded out the meal perfectly.

We are now back in the room, not even 8pm, and we’re both getting ready for bed. I’m still worn out! Jet lag is no joke. We have to be ready to leave the hotel with Sherif at 9am tomorrow, after breakfast, to go on our first day of exploration: the pyramids, the sphinx, and several other places are listed on their itinerary for us.

So. Off to sleep I go! I don’t think I’ll have trouble this time 😉 goodnight!