Egypt

Egypt
        From the second that I signed up to do Semester at Sea, the port I was most looking forward to was Egypt.  I remember a conversation that a bunch of us had in Halifax about the ports that we couldn't wait for, and when I said Egypt, I also said that I didn't want to wish the whole trip away.  Well the trip is almost over, and people have started to talk about it, and its actually making me really sad to think that I have to come home in a little less than three weeks, but before that I will attempt to actually describe the things that we saw, and the things that we experienced in Egypt. 
        I think the funniest thing I have ever heard was when we were sitting in preport and Dia, the assistant dean of students, said, “who else in the world to do you know that is traveling to Egypt at 14 miles per hour?”  I mean besides the 700 other students I was sitting next to, it was true to think that.  It was so funny to think that we were probably the only people in the whole world doing that, at that exact minute and we all just couldn't stop laughing.  They gave us a whole bunch of background and information on the country, because we were entering a new world.  It was different than what we experienced in Turkey, because even though Turkey is a Muslim country, the kind of leadership, government and customs that we would experience in Egypt was entirely different.  We were entering into the real Middle East, where people were not nice to women, where we basically had no rights, had to cover up entirely in over one hundred degree weather.  It kind of scared me to learn about the culture, but at the same time, I was so excited to lose my self in a culture, which I had never experienced in my life.  A bunch of students who had lived in Egypt or had family or knew about it gave us pointers about how to stay safe while traveling.  They told us that it was going to be different this time, that we actually had to cover up and that we had to have a man with us at all times.
        At this point, I was really stressed out because a whole bunch of people were going on trips and a bunch of other people were planning independent trips.  I had asked a whole bunch of guys about their plans and no one really had anything solid, which stressed me out.  I wanted to figure out what I was going to do in Alexandria before my big trip to Cairo.  I talked to my friend Tara and she convinced me to join her on her SAS trip that was doing a tour of Alexandria and of the Catacombs.  It turned out that Gabe was selling that exact trip, so I was able to buy it from him and not have to worry about going out by myself or how to get around. 
        The next morning we had finally arrived in Egypt, and I stepped outside to a heat I have never felt in my life.  It was well over 100 degrees at about 9am and it was hot and sticky and muggy.  All I could think about was trying to get through the day without having a heat stroke.  I had to get on my conservative clothing as well, so that kind of made me even more anxious.  We finally left the ship to board the bus around noon for our trip, which turned out to be one of the best decisions that I had ever made.  I didn't really know anyone else on the trip besides Tara, but it was really a good experience.  First we drove to the catacombs, which I didn't really know much about.  Before we got there though, I was able to look out the window of the bus to understand the kind of poverty that everyone was talking about.  The city was dusty, dirty and hot.  There were people everywhere, it was unbelievably crowded.  We drove down streets that were barely big enough for the bus that we were on, watching cars swerve in and out of traffic.  I later learned that the lines and lanes on the road mean nothing to Egyptians.  We arrived at the Catacombs, which ended up being a huge and beautiful tomb.  The tour guide told us that we had to leave our cameras on the bus because they were not allowed inside the tombs.  After a tour of the main parts of the tomb, we were allowed free time to walk around and see the other parts.  There was one part of the tomb that was designed for an extremely rich family.  The father, mother, son and daughter were all laid there in a lavish tomb so that they could experience their after life to the fullest extent.  The tour guide had given us tons of facts about the tomb, and of the hieroglyphics, which were still visible on almost all the walls of that particular tomb. 
        After the tour of the Catacombs of Shawqafa, we left for the next stop on the tour, a palace.  It was about a 20 minute ride from one place to the next, and I couldn't help but stare out the window at life going on around me.  We drove down the almost 18km of coastline in Alexandria, where we could see people swimming and having a good time.  I noticed that all of the women that were in the water were fully clothed, head scarf and all.  The guide made a point to tell us that the beaches that we were passing were public beaches, and because of political issues and lack of governmental guidance, the Muslim brothers had taken it into their hands to watch over the city.  Therefore, all of the women that were on any public beach, had to be entirely covered.  The guide explained how they made special bathing suits for the women, that were basically wet suits, but the whole situation completely blew my mind.  It was so much to take in because of how different it was.  The guide also told us that if any of us were to go on the beach in a bikini, that we would probably be arrested.
        Upon arriving at the palace, we were allowed to get off the bus to take pictures, and use the ATM.  There was a 5 star hotel right next to it that was absolutely amazing.  The view of the water was absolutely incredible.  The next stop on the tour was the place where the old light house used to be.  Of course, the guide gave us all of the history of the light house, an old world wonder that was destroyed.  It was really beautiful to see the Qait Bey Fort that is there now.  It was very close to the beach and people had set up stands to sell all kinds of Egyptian souvenirs.  The men selling their items harassed us, and told us to look over here, that they had the best price.  Tara and I just laughed it off, saying, wow, that's funny, they all seem to have the best price.  After we left there, we rode the bus to the new library, which is an architectural masterpiece.  It was absolutely gorgeous, but we only got to see the outside.  Everyone else who I spoke to that got to go inside, said that it was absolutely amazing.  I would have liked to go inside the library, but I just did not have enough time.    After the library, we made a quick stop to take a picture of the Mosque of Abu El Abbas that was there.  I was so happy that I did that tour because I was able to see most of Alexandria in such a short time.  I hadn't actually realized how spread apart all of the attractions were, so I think that it would have been really hard to get from one place to another.  We had been warned against the taxi cabs, because they tended to rip people off, or harass women who were traveling alone.  I really had fun on the trip, which was really much better than I had expected.  We stayed in that night to watch movies, because once again we had been advised against going out on our own.  The culture of Egypt looks down upon women who drink and smoke, so we decided that we didn't want to get into trouble, plus my Cairo trip was leaving at 7:30 the next morning.
        I had experienced my first real SAS trip by going with Tara to the catacombs, and I had a really good time, and I was able to actually learn about what I was seeing.  I think that made a huge difference in just going to a huge tomb that I knew nothing about versus actually learning something about it.  I was so excited for my trip to Cairo because I wanted to see the pyramids in the worst way.  I knew that I would not have been able to really do the trip on my own, because it was a two hour train ride away.  I lucked out with my trip, I was on the bus with all of my friends, and we had one of the greatest, most entertaining tour guides ever.  She introduced her self as Hala and shortly after that, she became our mama Hala.  She was so knowledgeable and funny and I knew that she was the one who would make my trip even better.  The first stop on the trip was the museum in Cairo, which housed some of the greatest archaeological pieces ever found in Egypt.  We got to see the casket of King Tut, as well as all the jewelry that was found with it.  We saw mummies and crazy every day items that had been preserved so well.  We got to see a cart that may have been used as a type of transportation led by some kind of animal.  There were tons of slabs with hieroglyphics on it as well as pieces from other tombs that were found.  I think that the most exciting thing that we got to see was the famous gold head of King Tut.  Apparently it was a piece that made its way around the world for all the people to see, but we were lucky enough that it was in Cairo at the time for us to see.  The only disappointing thing about the museum, along with some of the other places that we got to go in Egypt was that we were not allowed to take any pictures at all.  After a two hour ride on the bus to Cairo, the stop at the museum, and some of the most heartbreaking scenes I had ever seen, we arrived at our five star hotel in Cairo, which was situated about ten feet from the Nile river.  I had to stop and think to myself though how privileged I was to have all of this right in front of me, which I had literally just passed by miles and likes of slums.   I knew areas like that existed around the world, but it had never been real to me until I saw it with my own eyes.  The piles of garbage, the roofs made out of cardboard boxes, the naked little children playing in the dirt.  I had to turn away at some point, just because it was so hard to see such poverty.  Mama Hala came on the loud speaker and told us that if you were to ask any child living in that kind of situation if they wanted to move to America or trade in their life, they would probably say no, just because they were content with their own life.  I thought that it was so inspiring to hear that, because knowing if I were to offer my life to them, they would turn it down to stay happy with their families in their home. 
        When we got into our hotel, which we were informed was an old palace, we all had to go through a metal detector and put our bags through an x-ray machine.  It was so weird to see how protective they were being, because I don't think that I have seen that anywhere in the US.  We were led through the hotel, which was quite deceiving from the outside, because walking through it, we realized how absolutely huge it was.  The lobby was amazingly gorgeous, the courtyard had two restaurants set up with people drinking tea.  We were led back into another section, where there was another restaurant with a huge spread of food laid out.  A huge buffet was set up for us and I was so excited to dig in.  It was everything I could have wanted, plain old delicious traditional Egyptian food.  I piled my plate high with every kind of indistinguishable salad and vegetable thing and lots of pita and salad.  I had to get a second plate for the meat section of the buffet.  The food was absolutely incredible, I just wanted to keep eating forever, but finally I was too full and had to stop, that is until I could fit the dessert in.  There was a table at the back of the room that had about 50 kinds of desserts on it.  Me, Julia, Christine and Meg kept going back and forth for more food because it was so good.  After lunch, we were given keys to our rooms so that we could go back and take a rest for a while.  The rooms were absolutely amazing.  I couldn't wait to crawl into bed and take a nap.  We had been up since 7:00 am, it was really hot, humid and we were wearing pants and long sleeves.  I got into my bed, which happened to be one of the most comfortable things I had laid in in a while, turned on the Disney channel, which was in English, and passed out shorty after that.  I had not intended to sleep for four hours, but I did, and I was awoken by my alarm clock to tell me that I had to get in the shower in order to be ready for that night.  After getting dressed, and finding Julia and Meg, we went to the bus.  We were going to the sound and lights show at the pyramids and I was so excited for the first glimpse.
        We were excited when we were getting on the buses, because we realized that a lot of the other SAS trips that were in Cairo were going with us to the show that night.  It was really nice to see everyone there, partly, I think because it was so unexpected.  On the road, on the way there, we could see our first glimpse of the pyramids.  They looked really small from the street, but as we got closer, the more amazing and big they got.  As we were pulling into the parking lot to the pyramids, there were camels lining the road with their owners.  The men on the road were pointing at us, you could tell that they wanted us to give them money, or pay them to ride their camels.  It was actually amusing how many times people tried to sell us things through the bus window.  We eventually got off the bus, and it was really crowded with tour groups, and a whole bunch of SASers.  We got seats at the cafe, which were slightly raised over the regular seats that people were taking.  Of course, we took about 100 pictures standing in front of the pyramids, until it started getting dark.  The show finally started, and it was a bit corny, explaining the history of the pyramids and dimensions and how perfectly straight they were.  It was kind of cool to get all that information because I never would have known it other wise.  After the show, it was close to 10pm, and we were all tired and hungry.  There was so much traffic, it was crazy, but mama Hala told us that the people in Cairo come out at night because the temperatures drop and its much more bearable to do things.  We saw some crazy things in that traffic, including these little white mini buses that had about 100 people on each one.  We had learned that those were the buses that the poorer people in the city took, because they were so cheap.  At one point, we even saw a broken down bus, with all the men pushing it to the side of the road.
        We eventually made it back to the hotel about a half an hour late, where there was another sprawling buffet set out for us.  I ate wayy too much again, and went to sleep because we had a 4:15 am wake up call, in order to see the sun rise over the pyramids.
        I didn't find out until later that the pyramids are not accessible to anyone before about 8am.  Semester at Sea was able to negotiate with them to open it for us so that we could see the sun rise.   We arrived to the opposite side of the pyramids, what is called the panoramic side, at about 5:45 am.  It was quite bright out so I was getting worried that we weren't going to be able to see the sun rise.  We started taking pictures, creative ones of course, and a whole bunch of people had signs, thanking their parents for letting them see the world and stuff.  It was really cool to see the pyramids like this, because besides our group of about 100, we were the only people there.  We kept taking pictures of silly things, we actually made a human pyramid in front of the pyramids which was fun.  The sun rose, it was a bit hazy, but it was really really cool to see.  We had ventured down from the buses where the sand was flat, and we were taking more and more pictures until about 7:30 when we saw the camels starting to arrive.  We were going to take a camel ride, and I was really excited.  Once the camels were situated, we were allowed to get on them and take a ride.  Christine and I shared one, and it was the craziest thing ever.  It was wobbly, and I thought that I was going to fall off.  Our camel was very close to the others, so we kept bumping into them.  I have some videos from that experience.  After a short ride, we were harassed by more men to buy things from them, including the infamous head dresses that I had wanted from the beginning.  We had to explain to them that we didn't really have money on us, but they kept insistently harassing us to buy from them.  I bought a head dress (with a cute little pink and green tie :) ) and got back on the bus so they would leave us alone.  We were headed down to the next spot of our tour anyway, we were going to the Great Pyramid.  I bought a ticket to go inside, which was probably one of the best decisions ever, except that once again, we were not allowed to take our cameras in.  It was a steep low clearance stair way into the pyramid, which led to a small opening and a similar stair case up, which opened into a big room with an open tomb inside.  One of the boys on our trip actually brought his camera inside, and took a few pictures, which was way cool.  We had to leave after a little bit because it was blistering hot inside, but it was just cool to say that we went into the Great Pyramid.  The next stop was the sphinx.  I had seen it the night before, but it was so much cooler to get up close to it and be able to take some pictures.  We had to go through this amazing temple that was built there along with the pyramids to get to the sphinx.  We were allowed only to go so close, but it was incredible to see how big it was.  I had to stop and think at some points how incredible these things were, and it just amazed me to know how they were all built.  Mama had mentioned something about aliens, and it was funny, because my dad had always said that, but it was actually amazing to realize that people had created those structures with out any form of technology or machines.
        After seeing the pyramids and hanging out there for a few hours, it was time to leave and go to our next site.  We were going to the Citadel of Saladin where there were breathtaking views of the city of Cairo, and a mosque.  We were able to go into the mosque, where mama Hala gave us a brief overview of the Muslim religion and some of the traditions and cultures that they had.  It wasn't until later, when I met back up with Kati after getting back from Cairo that the black spots that people on their foreheads made sense.  She told me that her tour guide had told them that many of the people who prayed 5 times a day had burn marks on their heads from the carpet they prayed on.  I thought that it was so interesting to see, and it actually made sense to me after she told me that.  After the Citadel, we headed back to a restaurant that was on the Nile river, where we ate again like kings.  All of the food that we were eating was absolutely amazing.  We were exhausted after lunch, because I think that is the most amount of things that I had ever done in a day before noon.  But instead of going back to the hotel with a bunch of people after lunch, I decided to continue touring around Cairo, where we headed to the bazaar.  It was very touristy of course, but it was very cheap.  I was able to get a few more gifts for people, before we headed back for the bus to the hotel for a much needed nap.  I hadn't planned on sleeping so much, but I awoke four hours later for my shower and to get ready for our Nile dinner cruise. 
        We boarded the boat for dinner and I was expecting a kinda shabby boat, but it was actually amazing.  There was another spread of food, a 10 piece band and a belly dancer for entertainment.  After she was done dancing, another guy came out with a really cool dress, and spun around and a round, and the lights went out and his dress lit up and was neon colored and it was just so cool to watch.  After that, everyone got up and started dancing and it was so much fun.  When we got back to the hotel, Erin, Meg and I decided to go to a pub called Harry's which was attached to our hotel.  It was ok to go and have a drink there, because it was part of the hotel.  We had one drink and then realized how expensive it was, so we headed back to the hotel to go to the shisha bar that they had there.  It was amazing to walk by it during the day because of the amazing fumes that were coming from the water pipes.  Plus it was much cheaper to smoke than it was to drink.  After a relaxing night, we went to sleep.
        The next morning was probably the highlight of my entire trip, which I am only half kidding about.  The restaurant had a full American buffet breakfast, with waffles, omelets, French toast, pancakes and so much more.  I was so excited to have an omelet and waffles because I hadn't had one in almost three months.  Its so funny to think of the things from home that are just so comforting.  Its not that I wanted to go home at all, it was just nice to get some of my familiar favorite things. On the last day in Cairo, we visited Sakkara, where we saw one of the first pyramids ever made.  It was a step pyramid,which we were informed was one of the first trials of building pyramids.  It was basically a confirmation that aliens did not make the pyramids.  It was amazing to see, although it was much smaller than the other ones that we had seen, but it was just history standing in front of me, which was so amazing.  After, we visited Memphis, which was a really small area, but it was the first capital of Egypt, so that was really cool.  We got to see a whole bunch of really cool statues and monuments  including a huge statue of King Ramses II, which basically took up an entire building.  When we were finally done site seeing, we returned to Cairo for lunch at another five star hotel that was near the pyramids and also amazing as well.  We were all exhausted from traveling when we got back on the bus, and took a nap until we were back in Alexandria at the port.
        Upon arriving back in the port, which happened to be one of the most extensively protected port, we had to wait on a huge line because there were so many trips getting back at the same time.  We had to go through a huge building, where there were heat sensor which could pick up if a person had a fever, there were metal detectors and an x-ray machine to put all of our bags.  They also checked our passports several times to make sure that we belonged there.  I finally got through the line and all of the security and I got into my room and passed out in my bed.  It is really funny to consider the ship my home, but after traveling for a long period of time, it really does feel good to be home.  We didn't do anything that night, just stayed in and watched some movies, partly because we were tired, but partly because we were still women in Egypt, and it wasn't entirely safe for us to do so.
        In the morning, it was our final day in Egypt, and it was amazing how quickly time flew by.  Kati, Kate, Colby, Krissy, and Emily and I wanted to go to the bazaar in Alexandria, but we found out that it wasn't that great, so instead, we headed to the mall that was by the beach.  It actually ended up being in the Four Seasons hotel, so all of the stores were really high end and expensive.  We ended up spending a while in the food court, eating Pizza Hut and McDonald's where they had a sandwich called the McArabia.  I thought that was kind of amusing.  After walking around the mall for a while, we didn't end up buying anything, but we did get to go to the grocery store, where we stocked up on snacks to get us through our 5 day trek to Morocco.  After, we met back up at the Starbucks where we thought that there might be some free wifi.  Of course, because we were still in Egypt, there wasn't anything for free, so we just got back in cab and headed back to the ship.  The cab ride in itself was an experience, and I'm pretty sure that we almost died a few times.  The traffic in Alexandria, and the country as a whole is absolutely insane.  I actually had to take out my camera to video the situation because it was so funny.  We reached the port, and walked back, but before we headed back to stay on the boat, we looked through the souvenirs one more time.
        I am not even sure that this is a good portrayal of my time in Egypt, simply because I saw and experienced so many things that were so out of the ordinary and amazing to me.  I think that Egypt has opened my eyes to the world, where I was able to see a small portion of poverty that exists in so many places through out the world.  I also have picked up on an interest to possibly want to learn how to speak Arabic one day, just because I think it is the most fascinating language that I have come across in my travels.  I most definitely want to return to Egypt one day, but possibly to other African countries, which are less developed and learn about their culture, language and ways of life because they are so entirely fascinating.  If any port has changed me, it is Egypt.  I can't wait to get to Morocco to see how the two differ :)