The Amazing Race continues in Cairo

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I arrive in Cairo with Carla and Robbie at 2:30am after about 46 hours of sleeplessness. The crazy thing about Egypt is that flights only land or take off in the middle of the night, so every flight coming into this airport is landing somewhere around the same time as us. Let me tell you, the Cairo airport was an experience all it's own... I felt like I was in the Amazing Race, and after getting a visa and finding our luggage, I felt like we had just battled and conquored another leg of the game.

Everyone at home is all worried about me travelling here, and I've gotten numerous emails full of concern. Really, this part of my trip is just a big, glamourous vacation. My girlfriend Willa has planned this incredible journey complete with hired car, driver, and English-speaking Egyptian guide for pretty much the whole three weeks we're in Egypt. Willa had sent me the itinerary for the trip while I was in London, and I didn't even open it... so when I arrived, all I knew was that Willa had charged a bunch of stuff on my credit card, and a good time was sure to be had. I had no idea how good it would be...

So our car and driver drop us off at Willa's ultra posh penthouse flat in Maadi (kind of the Rosedale equivalent, but more exclusive) where all of the American, Canadian and British expats live. She lives in a 3500 sq ft marble and mahogany flat with two roomates and a great view of the city and the pyramids (when it's not too smoggy!)

I feel like I'm Aladdin here... riding around on my magic carpet, watching this surreal world from above. I'm pretty sure I'm not here. Our first day, we were exhausted, so we chilled out, went to Willa's school then hung out at Willa's country club. We toured the grounds and played nine holes of one of her 3 courses, (which had better views than any course I've ever seen... www.katameya.com It even rivalled Cape Breton) then we chilled in the spa for the afternoon. Willa lives like a queen here.

The best part about travelling this past month was experiencing Christmas in all of the different countries, and learning all of the different christmas traditions celebrated around the world. But I was still really sad to be missing Christmas with my family in Canada. Well... who would have known that the one place I would get the most Christmas would be Egypt?

We spend our first night in Cairo at the Rugby Club christmas party, where the Brits celebrate the holiday in true British fashion - with lots of beer! The second night in Cairo, Willa takes us to her staff christmas party where we celebrate with a bunch of teachers and catered Thai, a gift exchange, and more alcohol than I've ever seen at a work party... and then tonight, Willa and Karen (her roommate) are hosting a turkey dinner for 45-50 people or so. (Yep, Willa hosts parties just like I do... with copious amounts of food, overdone decorations and silly amounts of excess until the wee hours of the morning... We spent saturday chopping carrots for an army! It was just like home...)

I love hanging out with Willa's friends - all of the teachers here. They are all so passionate about their jobs, and love the school and the administration. It's a refreshing change from most of my teacher-pals at home who struggle with the school boards constantly. And these guys are such a fun gang to play with! For a fleeting moment, I wish I hadn't dropped out of my teaching program years ago... 😞

Our tour guide, Holda, is awesome... she takes us to the museum, to the citadel and to the Mohammad Ali Mosque (it's true, the rugs do smell a little, but the buildings are beautiful...).

Holda is funny, she is a great guide with a major in Egyptology. But whenever there is a Call to Prayer, (which happens 5 times a day when a chant can be heard from the mosques inviting all of the Muslims to pray) Holda convienently drops us off at a carpet factory or a paper factory or wherever so she can go pray... and we are "invited" (no pressure) to shop... and after our tour and purchases, she gets a kickback I'm sure... Prayer times have become our favourite because we never know what weird farm or market we'll end up at.

Willa + Dave (another roommate) take us to the Khan, which is propably the only true Egyptian experience I will have here. The Khan Al-Khalili is an insane market where we barter for awesome (cheap) jewellery, egyptian cotton pillows, pashminas, etc. Clearly, I'm not a very good barterer... I get really excited when I can talk the shopowners down by 20-30LE (Egyptian Pounds) and I hand over the house. But Willa steps in and beats them down another 100-150LE! I'm such a tourist, and these guys see me coming for miles!

It's funny, at the market, the Egyptians always ask where we are from. When I say Canada, the boys always say 'Canada Dry, Never Dies' (from an old Canada Dry commercial here... but they don't even sell the stuff in Egypt anymore!) The girls will ask our names, and then say ahhhh Lady Marina beautiful. I have to say, with all of the men trying to take pictures with me and calling me their girlfriend, I feel like I really am royalty!

To really experience Cairo, we eat at the market. Vine leaves, olives, stuffed pigeon, babaganosh, and kofta, all from a street vendor. And the amazing thing is my stomach survived without any grumblings! We did, however, have to fight off the scrawny, diseased wild cats that kept clawing at our legs and jumping on our laps while we were eating... ahhh, nothing like Egypt.

It is amazing how lush and green Cairo is - not what I expected at all. There are palm, fig, and sycamore trees everywhere. And it's crazy to see where the green ends, and the desert begins. The grass just stops then it's sand for miles.

It's weird to see the incredible poverty everywhere... we are pretty sheltered from it in Maadi, but we drive past shanties and crumbling homes everywhere. As I fan the 3000LE I took out of the cash machine and ask about the security guard leering at me, Willa informs me that this is more money than he will make in 10 years. Gosh we are so lucky. It's crazy to see farmers working with the same tools we read about in history books, right next to the highway or on the main streets in between apartment buildings or stores on whatever plot of land they can find. With 25 million people, there is definitely a shortage of well-paying jobs.

Everywhere I turn here, I'm shocked by some sight I never thought I would encounter in my lifetime. Stray goats, dogs, cats, sheep, and chickens everywhere. Men riding water buffalo on the main highways to bring water to the homes that don't have plumbing. Children on donkeys hearding sheep. Women carrying crates of vegetables for miles on their heads. The pollution in the water, and garbage everywhere. The dilapitated homes people live in everyday. And the crazy drivers here!!! Ohmigosh!

The highways have roughly 5 lanes in each direction, but there aren't any lanes, so everyone just drives where they want. And people here don't drive with headlights or turn signals... they use hand signals and gestures and honk to let you know they are coming up behind you. We are on the highway in a cab, and another car pulls up beside us to ask directions... our driver rolls down the window, and both cars slow down to 10km/hr and carry on a full conversation with people honking and swerving around us at 90kms. There are always cars going backwards on the highway, bicycles, and people walking on the highway... and then a man will just run across the highway, jump the median and keeps running. Add a few donkeys and camels to the roads and it is one sea of insaneness. You need good breaks and good nerves to drive here!

Oh... just cuz you are wondering... gas is roughly $0.18/L cdn here. Crazy eh. They are complaining because it's usually around $0.12/L.

Today, we went to see the pyramids. It is indescribable to stand at the foot of the world's oldest tourist attraction and wonder the age-old mysteries - how and why were they built? I stood in the middle of the room in the great pyramid for about 40 minutes... just pondering... How, who, when? How? When? How? I don't have any answers yet... but I have a really big book to get through and I hope it will keep bringing me back to that incredible moment when I first looked up at them and my stomach fluttered and chills ran down by back. It is scary to wonder how a civilization that was once so advanced could now be so primative.

Unfortunately, the marvels of the great pyramids and the sphinx have been downgraded to basic commodities for an enormous tourist trade. The Egyptians don't respect the pyramids at all... ugh, there is garbage everywhere, and it's really hard to appreciate these gifts from the gods when modern Egypt is pulling at your pursestrings at every turn. We shoo off the street vendors, but it's so hard when they are just young children begging for money.

Tomorrow, we are heading north to lower Egypt... to Alexandria (home of Cleopatra, the haunting catacombs, and where the Nile flows into the Medetiterranean Sea.) On Tuesday, we leave for a little trek into the Libyan (Western) desert, which all of the teachers tell me is incredible. Then we do some cruise down (up) the Nile and stay at a posh little resort in Sharm el-Sheikh (the mid-east Los Vegas) where we dive for a few days in the Red Sea. We climb Mt. Sinai hang out in another desert... and then back to Cairo when everyone but me leaves (including Willa and her roommates). Because I changed my flights to get to Europe early, I have an extra week here all on my own.

So... call me a chicken but today I booked a ticket to Turkey for my last week travelling. I thought about it, and although chillin at the country club sounds great, I really don't want to be in dirty Cairo alone. I've come all this way and I feel like I have more exploring to do before I go back home to work. And the ticket was dirt cheap, as they always are when you get out of North America. So that's it... I'm going to spend a week in Istanbul and touring around for a bit. Two of Willa's friends are also going, and I'll meet up with them for a couple of nights... but otherwise, if anyone has been and can offer advice or places to stay etc... please send my way. I'm also taking orders for pashminas and pillows - which apparently are beautiful there.

That's it for my intro to Egypt. I'm really enjoying myself... but mostly because hanging out at Willa's is so much like home... I love my new family of ex-pats, and I've been eating like a horse (or donkey in Cairo!) As the Egyptians say, "All happy here?" "Ya?" "Ok, buh-bye."

~Lady Marina beautiful

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