View from the hotel pool deck. Overlooking the Nile and one of the bridges that was featured prominently on the news during the revolution.
It was actually too cool to swim. The weather was perfect, but it wasn’t hot enough to feel like you needed to get in the water to cool off. Our evenings were full of jeans and sweatshirts — it only really got warm for our last 3 days there.
I was reading aloud to the boys over the noise of the traffic — horns honking and cars in the background, when the noise suddenly got louder and we could hear shouting. Everyone jumped up to see what was going on below (I was on high alert anyway the whole time we were downtown) and then spent the next 5 minutes watching the fight that had broken out. One guy with a big stick, another hiding behind the various freeway overpass pillars and chucking bottles and rocks, people running in between moving cars . . . just your normal street fight.
Later that night we went over to Khan al Khalili, the huge souk that stretches on and on forever. We found a place that served great schwarma and other Middle Eastern appetizers like hummus, mutabal (roasted eggplant with yogurt), and tabbouleh (chopped parsley salad). After dinner, it was time for tea.
We were specifically trying to make our way back to Fishawy’s, the oldest teahouse in Cairo. We wandered around a lot of back alleys and bought a glow in the dark mummy and a plastic pyramid snow globe before we found it. The craziest part? They remembered Josh. I thought the owner was just using one of his lines until we showed him the baby and explained how much bigger she had gotten and he responded by making his face into a frowning pout, perfectly mimicking the skeptical baby we had brought to his shop last time.
Now she’s smiling!
We ordered the mint tea (the black tea comes in individual pots and the mint is placed in the cup — you add sugar and bruise the mint to your liking).
Carter kept trying to sneak more sugar
So did she
Then we retook our family photo — you can see the one from last time by clicking this link:
photo bomb: Giza pyramids
One of our top priorities on our No Regrets tour was to make a trip back to the pyramids. We wanted to do another family photo in front of the Sphinx like we took when we lived here. We also wanted the boys to be able to go inside the Great Pyramid. Previously, it was difficult to get a ticket for an inside tour because they issued a limited number each day, but with the severe drop-off in tourism, we knew that we would have no problems today.
Breakfast in the hotel restaurant — Carter looking out over the Nile.
Our rooms came with free breakfast — chocolate mousse? Why not?
Calvin found the best of the buffet — I said yes to the donut, but no to marshmallows in the chocolate fountain (until the last day).
Typical Cairo — bread on the cart, street sweepers with wooden brooms. We actually noticed there was less trash on the streets this time. The entire city seemed cleaner, but I’m not sure why that would have changed since the revolution.
The last time we were here, tourists were everywhere (and we were visiting on a slow/non-peak day). Now at the height of spring break travel we were the only tourists at the Sphinx. It was crazy quiet and pretty sad. Last time there were souvenir peddlers stretched up and down this path. Today? Nothing.
Carter’s photo
Updated for 2012 — the old ones are in the post for Christmas 2010
We asked one of the local guys to take our family picture so we could all be in it this time (last time Carter took a great one of us, but then he wasn’t in it). After the family shot, he wanted us to pose in all these different positions to get funny shots with the Sphinx. These are the best ones:
And my favorite (which Caleb didn’t want me to put on the blog because he was embarrassed, but I assured him that everyone would love it):
Hilarious
Our photographer — hustling to make a living, but there aren’t many tourists around to “guide” or photograph.
Another of Carter’s photos
We kept remarking on how quiet it was there. Good for us, but not good for the country and the people. So many depend on tourism to feed and clothe their families.
Camille and I didn’t go inside the Great Pyramid. We had heard that it was a tight squeeze with steep steps. After the fact Josh said it would have been find if he wore her on his chest, but oh well. Next trip.
Waiting for Josh to buy tickets to go inside
Loving all the camels
While we were waiting for the boys to come back, I chatted with some of the camel guys. Josh asked if they were hassling me and trying to get me to buy stuff, because that is what the pyramids are known for. Especially now, with so few tourists, the ones who do visit are seen as fresh meat in a city that is starving.
Ironically, this is one area where it pays to be a woman in the Middle East. Camille and I hung out, chatted and relaxed without anyone pressuring me to buy anything. I told Josh it must be because they thought that as a woman I didn’t have the power to make those kind of decisions. One of postcard peddlers even gave Camille a pack of postcards and when I said, “La shukran” he replied, “No. My gift to the baby” which is usually one of the tricks they use to get you to pay for something, but he just handed them to her and moved on. She loved the postcard with the camel on it, of course.
As soon as Josh came back, they knew the boss man was in town and then it was all, “Ride my camel. Good price.” Poor guy.
crashing
I didn’t literally get hit by a truck, but it sure feels like it. I feel pregnant tired — I barely made it through women’s Bible study yesterday morning and I came home, crawled into bed, and Josh woke me up 3 1/2 hours later. And then I was ready to go to sleep again at 7 when I tried to put Camille to bed. Of course I didn’t actually get to go to sleep because she was still screaming at 10:45, but in my zombie state all I could do was go in every now and then and mumble, “Good night. Go to sleep.” She wasn’t a fan of that.
It’s good to be home — I can’t wait to feel awake enough to enjoy being back in Oman. I’m guessing that this Egypt trip was a lot more stressful than I realized at the time and my body is now making up for 10 days of going non-stop. I have more pictures and videos to post, but I don’t see my brain unfogging soon enough to do much with them today.
Thank God for Lucy. She carried Josh and I through this week. As we tag-teamed our naps, she kept the house clean and the kids fed. We have an easy weekend planned and we’re hoping we all feel more like ourselves come Saturday.
pilgrimage
A little out of order — we first arrived in Maadi, spent several days with friends, then headed up to Cairo before traveling on to Alexandria. I haven’t posted much about Cairo because I had been warned that people are a little on edge up there with all the protests so to be careful where I take pictures. That pretty much convinced me that I would be putting away the camera while we were in Cairo.
Leaving our friends’ house — after all of our travels in Egypt, Maadi is my favorite place because it’s where our friends are and the place that most feels like home.
On the walk to the metro we were looking for a cab and Josh let one go by because he wanted 5 LE and from living in Maadi he know that a ride to the metro should cost about 2 (it’s only about 8 blocks away), until I said, “It’s less than a dollar! Just get a cab so we don’t have to haul this luggage any further!” Thankfully, he did.
The side streets can be really narrow — there’s a give and take as cars back up or pull forward to make room for each other. Of course, there’s lots of horn honking too.
We took the metro not only because it’s cheap (1 LE per person, about 15 cents), but because traffic is so bad that it’s usually faster than taking a cab into the city.
Relief that we finally made it to the hotel. We got off the metro in the middle of a dust storm and the grit was flying everywhere. We hiked across freeway off ramps and through dirt lots to get to our hotel because it was much more efficient than getting a taxi. All the cars were sitting bumper to bumper. It wasn’t too far, just very dirty and the sand flying everywhere was stinging our skin. Later that night we bought the kids sunglasses not because of the glare, but to keep the dirt out of their eyes.
from our hotel room — this was taken during the day
the same view the following morning — crazy, huh?
All of these buildings are unfinished because the owners don’t have to pay taxes on them until they are completed. It doesn’t keep the owners from renting them out though!
We braved the sand and grit that night to walk to our favorite koshari restaurant, Abu Tarek.
Did you know that “iPhone!” and “iPod!” and “game!” are also now part of her vocabulary?
In case you missed our visit the first time around, Koshari is Egypt’s national dish made of macaroni, broken spaghetti noodles, lentils, chickpeas, rice, fried onions and tomato sauce. Yes, it sounds like a strange combination, but it’s so good.
Adding the spicy tomato sauce . . .
It’s as good as we remembered.
a visit to the curbside Sunglass Hut for a few pairs of faux-kleys
train travel
Leaving Alexandria Friday morning. Too bad we weren’t staying another day or we could have rented bikes like the locals and rode along the corniche.
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| This guy rode into the station like this |
But instead we headed to the train station. Our cab driver from the day before arranged with Josh to pick us up from the hotel at 10:30 am. I was a little skeptical because the Middle Eastern culture doesn’t place a high value on promptness so I thought we’d end up scrambling for a cab after waiting for 30 minutes for a no-show. Josh must have tipped him really well the day before because Mr. Cab Driver was there 15 minutes early to pick us up. It was great.
Waiting on the platform. She was not a fan of the loud hissing noises that the trains made.
Friday entertainment — watching the trains go by from the apartment windows.
Camille not happy about the trains
While I was watching the boys playing I was thinking what a strange life they’re leading. Just hanging out on a train platform like it’s no big deal while the call to prayer blasts in the background.
Calvin and Camille playing — Camille wants Caleb to play too, but he’s pouting about something. We probably said we wouldn’t buy him cookies from the platform vendor. :sigh: