Egypt!

Egypt was by far one of my favorite trips of all time. It was the most culturally different for me than any other place. Between Tiffany's blonde hair and my blue eyes, plus being from America, we were like celebrities always getting our picture taken by every Egyptian. My favorite case of this was Friday at the Giza Pyramids. I was on my camel and my guide came to a stop as a woman hoisted her baby girl up to me, totally caught off guard I grabbed the tiny little girl and held on for her life, camels are not steady and are incredibly tall! The mom stepped back as dad and other pulled out their phones to snap as many pictures as they could. I embraced the situation, held the little girl and gave a smile for the cameras. It was so sweet, I loved the little girl. My guide saw my confusion and told me, "your eyes, she picked you because she saw your eyes".



Cairo itself is an extremely dirty and poor place. It was one of my few encounters with real poverty. I don't want to go into detail as I feel like it’s only exploiting the people and places I'll never forget. The men were also.... um, culturally different. Like an Australian girl I met said, "if I'm ever feeling down and need a compliment I'm coming to Egypt!" it's so true, every man you pass will say something; anything from "Do you have a husband? I will be your Egyptian husband" to "Hello J-Lo, beautiful come back! Gorgeous...." I think you get the picture. Only gave into one lover though... the Sphinx!



Arriving into the airport was NUTS! I got through customs and walked out the exit to a walkway surrounded by hundreds of people and I got stared at like I was a freak of natural with my light skin & hair & of course my eyes!



Once I finally found Tiffany in the crowd we didn't stop talking for the entire weekend. I'm so glad I did this trip with her, I had tears running down my face from laughter and we made moments to last a lifetime.



I'll keep this blog “short” (to me not detailed) as in less than a month I'll be back and able to explain in person, but basically Friday we woke up and headed to the Giza Pyramids. We adventured on our camels, Mickey Mouse & Ali Baba, for about 2-3 hours. Our guide taught us how to make our camels run and as expected I couldn't help myself but make them run way too much! "YA-LA! YA-LA Ali Baba!"



We saw all the Pyramids at Giza, touched one of them and had time on foot by the Sphinx. All of which was INCREDIBLE!



While still on our camels our guide led us into a village type area, tied up his horse and our camels and said he’d be right back, he had to pray. So as he ran into the mosque we sat on our rather high camels while we watch women sort veggies in the back of a truck, men dicker for fruit and children begged us for money. Soon enough he came back out and we had to navigate through the market area and out past the mosque where everyone was filtering out. Quite the experience to say the least.




After the Pyramids, Mohamed (our driver from the hostel) took us to a papyrus museum and then to Imhotep & Saqqara. (see below)



We had a short break for food (totally got American fast food for ease and hope not to get sick) and then after some window shopping, Mohamed (not the same Mohamed as before) took us to our dinner cruise on the Nile. (*side note, check it off the bucket list, I’ve been to both the rivers on the world that flow north) It was a HOOT! There was a male dancer and he was so skilled and entertaining. Then the female belly dancer came out, put on a show and then while walking around pulled me up to dance with her! You should have seen Tiffany's face, her jaw was on the ground and I'm sure mine was as well! It's worth a story and bought the picture of us from the photographer on the boat. SO funny!



The next day we went to the Citadel of Salah Al-Din. It was beautiful, looked like a castle from the outside and inside there were a lot of old mosques and museums. I really enjoyed going into the mosques. We sat for a bit in one of them.



We were such celebrities here, boys got pictures with us and one sneaky little bugger snuck kisses to the cheek for Tif and I. Another funny story with that was when these two guys asked for pictures with us. One got his and then it was the second guy's turn and the children, like school group children, saw and came running over! They were squealing and giggling as they piled in to get close. It was hilarious and the poor guys couldn't stop saying sorry. We were kind Americans and said its okay and agreed to a picture with the children. They were too cute.




We then visited the old Christian area of Cairo, which was neat. Next stop was the Egyptian Museum which holds some of the most amazing artifacts. We paid to go into the Royal Mummies Hall and it was totally worth it. These mummies had their skin, their teeth, their nails, etc... unreal and at times, creepy. They even had tools on display explaining which ones take out the brain and how, same with the organs, minus the heart because that stays. Such interesting displays!

By that time we needed lunch and a short nap/break before we hit the bazaar and then left to go horseback riding through the Sahara Desert at night!



After much joking and good times with our friends, we were off. Tiffany got a big black horse and I got asshole. (bahaha) Yes, I asked, what is my horse's name? And he replied, "ass-hole" I giggled and tried to keep it in, "Hey Tif! Did you hear? My horse's name is Asshole!!" We laughed and kept making jokes to each other... Sneaky Egyptians, about an hour later they catch on and say, "NO! (laughing) it's not ASLLHOLE! It's Ash-four, it means flower in English" Wonderful, now its flower the asshole, no way we'll ever forget my horse!



We had such a good time out there though. We went with our guide (and friend) and his son which they were the ones leading our horses and then Mahmoud & Muhamed from our hostel also came. We would ride for a bit, walking and running, then stop on top of a dune, have a beer and kick back looking at the Pyramids and then do it all over again.



I loved riding my horse, my guide was great and kept offering for us to gallop and I always took him up on it. Sad to say, I'm still sore from it though! I was holding on for dear life! He would yell ya-la and whip our horses and we were off, only instruction... "relax your body!" I was freaking out in the beginning, rather convinced I might fall off and die but by the end it was peaceful and I got a, "there you go! You got it!"



Sunday morning we got up early, skipped breakfast and headed back to the bazaar to get ripped off my small children! :)



It was good though; I got some souvenirs and got my last compliments in! It was way different than Turkey's bazaar. Not to mention everything that came home with me reeeeked so bad.


This blog doesn't do justice to Egypt, but ask me about it sometime. I'd love to share with you. I do believe we had a flawless trip: camels at the Pyramids, all the best museums, dinner cruise on the Nile, battling in the bazaar, discovering history through religion and monuments, night time horseback ride into the Sahara & enough little moments to last a life time. As always, I couldn't be more grateful for this experience, just another building block to making a more experienced, educated & well rounded Kayla Dawn : )

Love & miss you all!

PS: I'm still walking like an Egyptian, it hurts!!!