Only in Egypt

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The following blog was written by Angel Beebe, Zara's sister. Here and her mom Sigi met us in Egypt and we really enjoyed our company. Thanks for writing this Angel!

The beginning of the trip went pretty smooth from Florida to New York. As soon as we got on CairoAir to fly to Cairo, Egypt, the ambiance immediately changed. There was a very large Muslim church group, a few tourists from around the world, a few Egyptian women dressed with head pieces holding small children, and of course the loud and rude passengers that only fend for themselves and put others at an inconvenience. This is pretty much the same population that you find once you get to Egypt.

The view from the plane was amazing. We flew over the pyramids and also saw the tall buildings all squished together in the city. When we arrived, the airport was a little confusing as far as what line to stand in and what paperwork to fill out. Once we got past that we used the restroom where the attendant asked me for baksheesh (tip). I thought it was weird to pay a woman who watches you while you use the restroom and wash your hands, but she insisted so we gave her .5 pounds (10 cents), which I come to find later is completely normal EVERYWHERE in Egypt. A nice man named Mohammed Ali was our driver sent from the hostel, and he helped my mom, Sigi, and me learn phrases and told us he liked Shakira’s music and dancing. Later he asked me how many camels it would cost to marry him. I told him 10,000.

Everyone at the hostel was very friendly. When we arrived we were invited to join them for Breakfast, which was actually at 6:30 pm. We happened to visit Egypt during a religious holiday called Ramadan. It is where all Egyptians over the age of 13 fast (no water no food nothing!) all day until sundown when they have a prayer playing throughout the loudspeakers of all of Egypt and then they enjoy Break-fast (meaning that they are breaking their fast.) Then they can eat while the sun is down and start their fast again at sunrise. The food was amazing and was mostly sugar dates, falafels, pita bread, dipping sauces, and chicken. The only negative thing was that the shower was over the toilet and had no water pressure at this hostel.

We set up some guided tours and also ventured off on our own. The sites were amazing! Whenever anybody asks me what we saw I say, “pretty much anything you have ever seen on a postcard.” There are a lot of pushy people selling things and trying to rip you off at the sites, and if you are walking through the streets of Cairo do not stop walking even if you are trying to read a map because people will come up and try to “help you” but are really trying to sell you stuff. There were A LOT of tourism police everywhere to ensure safety, and also trash from pollution, random camels and donkeys used for labor, and lots of date trees(outside of the city). Also, when we walked on foot to explore whatever town we were in, taxis would stop in the middle of a busy road to see if we wanted a ride. I don’t see how there are not more accidents with all of the honking and taxis and pedestrians.

After Cairo we took a night train to Aswan, which our hostel helped us with getting the tickets. They are pretty much just pieces of cardboard paper that cost about 90 pounds each, which is about $16. After the 12 hour train ride, we got a ride to the cruise ship that travels up the Nile. The ship stayed docked the first night and we had to get up at 3am because be booked a guided tour to Abu Simbel. This trip took about 3 hours on a crowded van that was the first driver in a convoy through the desert. Before we took off they searched all vehicles for bombs and several armed tourist police escorted us. The cruise lasted three days and we saw a lot more sights on the way, because it was a small ship that docked at 2 or 3 places on the way to Luxor.

We also got to take in the craziness that comes with shopping at a bazaar where there are hundred of tiny market stands and everyone greets you by saying “You’re Welcome.” Everyone tries to haggle and sell you his goods by drawing you into conversation about where you are from. We took in a few more sights, such as the Temple of Karnak in Luxor and then waited for our bus to take us to our next destination, Hurghada on the Red Sea. The bus stop consisted of a curb in front of a small office and an even smaller kiosk shop on the other side of the road, where we enjoyed some Coca Cola and Boreo cookies (off-brand).

Hurghada had beautiful beaches and we went on a snorkeling excursion. We met a guy named Marley and he caught a few squids at the local beach and asked Jonathan to keep the ink-leaking squid in his pocket. We also enjoyed some nice restaurants and shisha hookah smoking with some local beer.

After Hurghada we went to Egyptopia aka El Gouna. It was almost like a faraway Disney creation of his idea of epcot. The small town was in the dessert off of the red sea and was self-sustaining and offered all kinds of entertainment. This is where we celebrated Zara’s birthday by having the hotel bake a special birthday cake in her honor and then Sigi treated us to dinner at an Oasis that had live entertainment and camel rides.

All in all, the trip was one that I am glad I did. I wouldn’t change it for anything. It was nice to visit with Zara and Jonathan and to get to explore another third-world country. I think that it’s very different from the U.S. not only because the people are very religious, but also because they are more about survival and taking care of themselves and their loved ones instead of materialistic things. I must have been told that I had beautiful eyes at least 100 times including a guy that wanted to and I quote “eat them”, and Jonathan was called Casanova quite a bit for walking around with 3 lovely ladies. There are so many cool things we did… from standing in structures created B.C. to eating pigeon, to holding a baby crocodile, to cruising down the Nile, and snorkeling the red sea, you just have to experience it for yourself! …Because only in Egypt do you scan down a line of parked cars and the order is car, car, car, camel, car….

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Comments

[Isabel]

nice to see you all again in egypt
hi , it's nice looking at the egypt pictures and seeing all of you together again... many greetings from goslar to you... alex is working on the christmasmarket in goslar this year again, so we stay with my mom until the end of december... charlotte and the baby are doing fine and we all can't wait, how it is going to be having another baby in our family... lotte likes to oil the babybelly and speaks to her brother while doing it... it's so soft watching her taking care of her brother already... see you soon, hopefully. bye bella, lotte and alex