Bridge over the Nile in Cairo
What day is it? All sense of time of timing has left me. Perfect! Because I am on vacation!
After breakfast in the Terrace Cafe, I met my group downstairs. Mostafa guided us onto our bus. It was there that we met our other guide, Mohammed. Mohammed is an Egyptologist. He looks to be in his 40's. He is just as warm and welcoming as Mostafa, with a really pleasant sense of humor. It feels like he enjoys working with Americans. Mohammed was to take us to our first excursion of the day- to the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. Pictures are not permitted inside, and so I left my camera on the bus. There were lots of tourists filling the museum. We followed Mohammed to various places in the museum and listen to him tell us about the history of Ancient Egypt. It is absolutely impossible to see everything in the museum in one visit. In fact, Mohammed explained that in order to see every single item there, it would take 8 hours a day for 4 years. And there is more stuff in the basement in storage. They will be building a new, ginormous Museum in the next couple of years, just house and exhibit all of the stored items. I wonder if I will ever make it back to see the new museum...It was very overwhelming here, because there were a lot of things I was seeing up close and in person outside of a book. I stood in front of the famed gold funeral mask of Tutankhamun in wonder and awe. It is beautiful and unbelievable to behold. To being seeing there was one of the profound experiences for me. All of us declined to see the mummies in a separate room. It was an extra $18.00 and as Mohammed reminded us," they are just dead." That I could personally do without. My psychic senses had yet to pick up anything tangible, but I did not want to provoke them with viewing the mummies.
After the museum, Mostafa took us to a hotel across the street, "The Nile Hotel" for lunch in the outdoor cafe. I sat with Sam and Martha and we exchanged pleasantries and introductory information over chicken shwarma sandwiches. The whole time I could feel Mostafa's energy and sometimes his eyes, directed partly in my direction. I was trying to be oblivious and cool. Mostly because I was still unsure about the attraction I was feeling and didn't want to be obvious to my tour mates or him. Crap! Wasn't I on vacation? This was a completely unexpected development.
It was a short lunch and then we were back on the bus on the way to Giza to see the pyramids and the sphinx. My camera battery was showing signs of slow down. Actually it was dying a quick death. I had failed to charge it up the night before. This would prove to be a trend over the week. So the few pictures below are the only ones shot by me. A few of my tour mates have very generously offered me use of some of their pics or took pics of me to send me later.
While I am on the subject of tour mates, let me tell you about our group. There are 14 of us total. Mostly from the East Coast, with the exceptions of me and Alan from Wisconsin. I was the only left coaster, and the only one to be making my maiden voyage outside the US. There is Sam and Martha from Texas, a retired couple with a very lovely life story about their marriage and a large family they often see and scuba dive with. Carol and Shauna from Connecticut. Carol is a dietitian and is very well traveled. She was accompanied by her daughter Shauna, who is a few years younger than me. Joan (Florida) and Nancy (South Carolina), retired southern ladies who are old collage friends, leaving their S.O.'s behind to see Egypt. Mark and GG, doctors from Virgina who came with their neighbors, Mark and Betsy. And finally Kevin and Kami, the fun 20 somethings I would connect better with later on. It felt like a good group, small and pleasant. Mostafa commented that our group is half the size it usually is. We would all be thankful for this fact as our sightseeing trips went on.
Entrance to the pyramid site
Standing in front of the second pyramid, and looking up. I went inside this pyramid. It's hot, narrow and tight and not terribly inpressive. No pics allowed inside either. The climb into and out, allowed me to discover muscles in my thighs I never new existed.
I was really frustrated with my camera battery. I was upset I was not going to be able to capture this experience photographically the way I wanted.
Shortly after this picture was taken, I headed back to the bus with Alan and Mostafa. We didn't board right away, instead the three of us stood in front of the bus, chatting as we waited for the others to join us. I took the opportunity to try and get a read on Mostafa and it was fascinating and puzzling. I learned abot places he has been outside of Egypt, a bit about his political views, and his take on America and Americans. The more I hung aorund him, the more I liked him. Damn it- I could feel the attraction growing. It wasn't a mindblowing attraction like I have felt with others in my life- it was mild and mellow, but definately present. And it made me think about the different tones of personal chemistry. Hmmmm....
Slowly the tour memebers began to trickle back to the bus. We were headed over to a place up the way for our camel ride. Initially, I was not going to do this. But then I decieded, what the hell? I may never get this chance again- might as well live it to the fullest that I want to. So a little nervously, I mounted the camel ( Ooohh that's a great title for something - mounting the camel...Book title? Poem? Kama sutra position? All of the above? Hmmm..)
Camels are cantankerous. I was picking up on the vibes of the camels and they were not happy. I could here them thinking " Fuck. This is my life- parading tourists around on my back, back and forth between the pyramids with my keepers, little boys under the age of 12, hitting me with sticks telling me to go faster. Fuck you. I don't want to. I'll go as fucking fast as I want to!"
I focused on not falling off, and sending a lot of love and appreciation to my camel. The ride itself was very cool. Riding in the desert on a camel to a pyramid. The scenery was beautiful, pleasant temperature and blue sky. It was a great bonding expereince for those of us who did it.
me and Martha and our camel friends
Back on the bus again, this time our destination was the Sphinx. We had maybe a 30 minutes here, because the site was closing at 5pm. Truthfully, the sphinx is so much smaller than you think it's going to be. I was only able to take one picture on my phone. My camera was dead by now, and my phone died immediately after I took this picture. (It was nice not having to charge my phone, because I wasn't using it. No phone calls or texts was such a nice thing for me!)
I tried to be impressed, but between my dipping energy, the crowd of tourists, the street vendors hassling, and my camera being dead, I was done. I wanted to go back to my room and re-group. Instead we left the Sphinx, and headed to a jewlery store where they made quality gold and silver heiroglyphic necklaces. A lot of the guides have established realtionships with reputable dealers, that allows them to recieve a commishion for bringing in their groups, if they buy the product. I think only one person bought something. The rest of us were not interested. There was slightly more interest in the Papyrus shop we went to next. Mostly, everyone was ready for dinner. It was probably close to 7 by the time we got to the restaurant. Dinner was ok, kind of bland. But it was a good opportunity for some of us talk and get to know one another. Once dinner was finished, we were headed to the airport for our short flight to Aswan.
Mostafa was staying in Cairo, and Mohammed would be taking us onward to Aswan and our cruise through to Luxor. I was a little disappointed to learn this, as I was still wanting a chance to nonchalantly get to know him better. Just as well, I suppose.
Our flight to Aswan was indeed short, the landing a bit rough, and the ride to the hotel a bit longer than I am sure we all would have liked. It was just before midnight when we arrived at the Basma Hotel. It has been a very long day - put a fork in me I am very well done.
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