Luxurious Luxor

July 29
We had a wake up call at 3 am. For breakfast, Shea and I had delicious fig jam on bread! Mmmm. We headed to the airport in the pitch black, sleeping the whole way on the bus. When we got there, it was empty! It was a huge, nice airport with a Burger King and Starbucks. We didn’t get any but if we weren’t in such a hurry, I would’ve loved to have a caramel frap! I guess I’ll have to wait until I’m back in America because I’m sure the Berber village doesn’t have a starbucks…
So in the airport, Shea accidentally left her passport on the desk. We were in the terminal and wanted to go get a snack, so we started to exit and we were going to bring our passport. Right then, Shea realized exactly where she left it, thankfully. We walked pretty quickly/ran to the desk and on the way, every other SASer was telling us that a lady in a green dress named Susan had it. We walked around looking for ‘the lady in the green dress’ and got her passport back! Scary thought.

The airplane was a pretty good size, I was thinking it’d be smaller. We got on, and Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson were playing, haha. There were a few magazines and I read one on the 45 minute flight to Luxor. It was really a cool magazine and I read all about the Valley of the Kings and other discoveries, which we were going to visit, so I tried to retain all of the information! I fell asleep after reading a little, and the flight attendant kept waking me up to give me juice! It was a little annoying and afterwards, everyone was saying how she kept waking them up and making everyone keep their windows open, haha. She also put my tray down while I was asleep and put like 5 juices on it, I don’t know what that was about! Haha we all laughed about our experiences with this one crazy flight attendant.
When we got off, we took a little bus to another big bus. The Luxor airport is much smaller than the one in Cairo, but just as nice. There was a big sign that said, “Smile, You’re in Luxor!” It was funny. We headed out and drove around before the first stop. Luxor seemed much nicer and cleaner than Cairo; I don’t know if we saw the ‘dirty’ part of Cairo or not, but Luxor was definitely prettier and well kept. By the way, Egyptian people are SO nice. They love Americans, and are just very helpful and considerate in general.

We went to the Valley of the Kings- WOW this was a highlight. It is a massive valley that is filled with tombs. There are 26 kings that have been discovered in their tombs so far, and 2/3 of the valley HASN’T EVEN BEEN DUG UP. Wow, again. That is just crazy. 26 other smaller tombs have been found- inside were workers for the kings; architects, doctors, scribes etc.
We took a trolley thing (like at a wildlife park) up the hill to the entrance. The sight of the valley is a different landscape than anything I’ve seen. It’s all one color- tan. It’s hot, there are mountains of dirt and limestone, and it’s basically a boring-looking valley. What lies beneath is what was incredible… We first went into the first discovered tomb. We walked into a doorway that led to a tunnel sloping down into the tomb chamber. The tunnel was covered in hieroglyphics and then the tomb at the end. This one in particular wasn’t that big, actually it was the smallest; but it was still big to me! I can’t believe how it feels to be digging and find this incredible underground structure full of history and a tomb with a king inside!! We walked back out into the heat and on to the next. I’m not sure how many tombs are available to visit, but we saw 3. While we were walking to one, we saw men in robes with white towels on their heads excavating a new tomb! They were carrying out buckets of dirt and other artifacts! It was so cool and surreal to see these Egyptians digging up history and still to this day finding new tombs; crazy. The next tomb we went into was MASSIVE. You first walk in down a huge hallway (like in a school) covered in hieroglyphics and artwork. Then, the hall turned and continued even deeper into the ground. We went down several of these and arrived towards the end (couldn’t go to the end because it wasn’t finished). If I remember correctly- when a king is crowned, his tomb begins to be built. It tells a story about him all the way down the tomb and when he dies, they stop the tunnels and put him in the tomb, as a mummy. So this king was reigning for 7 years, which is why his tunnel was so long and full of art! Can you imagine what these Egyptians went through? They would work hard on these intricate tombs and if there was a small crack in the making, they would stop and start over somewhere else! It blows my mind how they made these. In some of the beautiful art in this tomb, it showed levels in the tomb, with water pushing a boat with a tomb on it up a hill and down into the ground. It was showing how they used the flood of the Nile and a boat to get these heavy, SOLID GOLD tombs to where they were now; ridiculously amazing!

Next, we went to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. This was the temple for the only woman pharaoh, so you can imagine how big and beautiful this was. It looked like we were in the middle of no where. To one side, you could see all of Luxor, to the other was this giant temple that blended in with the backdrop of the mountain terrain. We looked at some hieroglyphics (which I never get tired of looking at), and there was an Egyptian man walking around in his little robe, smiling at everyone. The little man said “look, a shish kabob” and was showing us everything and was so excited. We thought he’d ask for money but really he was just showing us how wonderful the stuff was and he was proud of it.
Went then went up a lot of stairs to the top of the temple and looked at some statues.

We went back to the hotel for lunch, and it was delicious. It was like a Disney World themed palace, but it was the real thing! It was the same food that we have been seeing everywhere, but it was way better and the desserts were too! We had a good 4 hours to hang out at the hotel and rest. Most of us went to the pool, which was amazing. The pool was huge, because it was a nice resort. There was a bar in the water, palm tree umbrellas, lounge chairs, and the NILE! We had a great view of the Nile and it was very relaxing! This was the most beautiful sight of the Nile that I’ve seen so far. I forgot my swimsuit for this trip so I went back to the room and napped. I got to watch Animal Planet for a little bit. I’ve been tv-less for a few months, and I’m ok with that, but I was so glad to get to watch something!

Around 6 we went to the Luxor Temple, a must-see. Thankfully we went this late in the day because any earlier and it would be way to hot to function! This temple was build by two pharaohs dedicated to their god. It was beautiful! There were several giant statues of some gods and other people, and many more hieroglyphic artwork. There was an avenue of mini-sphinx that go all the way to the Karnak Temple (which is in the next blog). The mini-sphinx run for 1 mile, and many were damaged and had missing pieces. I love the Sphinx, I really don’t know why, it’s just a beautiful sculpture. We were standing in front of one tall statue and started chatting with the security guard. His name was Mohamed, of course, and he was really nice! He had a huge rifle with him, which was a little intimidating, haha. He wrote our names in Arabic on basil leaves and was telling us facts about the temple. It was fun talking with him! The next day, we ended up seeing him again at another temple being the guard, haha! We saw more hieroglyphics and something about Alexander the Great (which was AWESOME because I bought a nice gold ring with an Alexander the Great coin on it in Greece!) One ring is meaningful in two countries. I’d say I made a good purchase.
We hung out at this temple for a while and it was a beautiful sunset, making great lighting on the columns and statues. The pictures turned out really nicely because of the ideal lighting from the sunset; not too dark, not too bright! When we were done there, Shea and I wanted to run across the street and try out an Egypt McDonald’s, just for fun. We started walking towards it and realized that we had about 5 minutes until we had to get onto the bus! We were CRAVING French fries, but we decided we didn’t need the calories, and we’d be late!
Every temple, museum, park etc that we’ve been to have the prettiest tickets. They are all similar but have pretty pictures on them of the places we visit! I’ve been keeping them as a memory maybe for a scrapbook or something just for fun.

When we were sitting on the bus about to leave, there was a figure on a wire that looked like a giant bat! Everyone on the bus was arguing whether it was a bat or not- and I say there’s no way it was a bat, it was trash. It was really funny and people were arguing and just joking around. Our tour guide said in a heavy Arabic accent, “Maybe bird got electrified.” Hahaha we laughed soo hard! It was just funny the way she said it and how she thought maybe a bird was just hanging there, hahaha I’m still laughing!
We went back to the hotel for dinner, and thankfully it was something DIFFERENT! WOO! We were pumped because we were getting a little sick of the same ole meal every single time… But tomorrow, we go back to a hotel in Cairo and get the exact same lunch again… surprise! After dinner, a friend had about 5 minutes left of internet time and let me get on and check facebook, of course. It was nice having internet since it’s near impossible to get anywhere! There were a few small stores in the resort and I bout 2 pillow cases made from Egyptian cotton. One is an ancient Egyptian with a pretty bird, and one is 3 little birds in bright colors! I love them and can’t wait to add it to my room! I went back to the room and slept!
What a great day in EGYPT!!!!!

Sunrise and Camel Rides at the Pyramids!

July 28
Cairo, Egypt day 2

We woke up at 4:15 and had a nice breakfast (yummy bread with fig jam) at the hotel with delicious chocolate milk! The oranges were really good too, we don’t get these on the ship! We rode on the bus to the Giza plateau to see the pyramids, and it took about 15 minutes to get there. We slept the whole way because it was so early and dark outside! When we got there, we walked up a sandy hill and could barely see the pyramids. They were beautiful and the sun wasn’t even rising yet. The sun finally started rising and it was extraordinary! It was a little foggy so the pictures didn’t turn out as well as planned, but seeing it in person just took my breath away. We were all sitting there, silent, just staring at the sun rising behind the 3 pyramids. Just sitting there looking at these massive structures, thinking about all of the history behind it, and wondering about their time, it made me realize how amazing this trip was and how incredible this opportunity was. We took a lot of pictures and hung out there until 8 or so, then the camels showed up! We had the ENTIRE pyramids to OURSELVES. Just our group, no sellers, no locals, no tourists with us, no one. It was absolutely amazing. We walked down to the pyramids, because the pictures were from far away, and we sat in awe. Some guys were doing back flips off of rocks and getting cool pictures. So once the camels showed up, men with their little table shops came as well! They sell little statues of camels, pyramids, and other Egyptian figures like the Sphinx etc. All of the camels lined up and we each paid $10 to ride! The camel ‘drivers’ were in robes with white things around their heads, and the camels had pretty fabric over them; they were fancied up for us! She and I walked up to our camel and climbed on! Camels are way bigger than I thought, for the record. We hoped on and watched other camels stand up as people held on for life! As our camel started to stand, I held on so tightly to the knob in the back and the camel leaned far forward to where we thought we’d fall off! We were laughing so hard through all of this. Finally the camel made it up, slowly and scarily, and we gained our composure from laughing so hard! The camel driver was laughing too, I mean, it was pretty funny. We attached in a line with other camels and started walking towards the pyramids! The camel behind me was a little close and started making these weird grumbling noises. The driver started making a grumbling noise back at him and it made the camel stop and move back! So cool! The weather was actually perfect, the sun had just risen and it was a little cloudy. We walked down by the pyramids and the ‘driver’ (who walked the camels with a rope), took our pictures and then we stood for a while and walked back to the top of the sand hill! Some of the drivers were on little donkeys leading camels galloping. It was SO fun and I can’t believe I rode camels at the pyramids in Egypt!!! After we took some more pictures and everyone got a turn, we headed out! What an unbelievable experience.

We headed to the other side of the pyramids, which was nice because it was the side that the sun was on, so I got a few more irreplaceable photos. Behind us was the Sphinx, which we were going to next. 4 months ago, 4 MONTHS AGO, they found a tunnel/chamber connecting the Great Pyramid to the Sphinx! That blows my mind. They also found treasure chambers that will be opened some time this year when they finish excavating! Can you imagine what they will find?! And I was there!!!

So next we headed down to the Sphinx of Giza. Let me remind you- the weather is PERFECT. I don’t understand how lucky we got being in the desert in the summer and sweating slightly; perfect. We walked down a ways and there was the Sphinx. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen or pictured. It was massive and beautiful. We took silly pictures that looked like we were kissing it, haha! We could see the pyramids behind it so you can imagine that it was pretty astonishing. I love the Sphinx. I want a shirt or jewelry or something with a Sphinx; I just LOVE it.

Next, we headed to the Egyptian Archeological Museum. Our guide gave us earphones so she could narrate throughout the museum. She majored in Egyptian history or something like that, so she knew a LOT about it all, which was so incredible to hear and comprehend; so much to take in! She would say, “Put your whispers in Sunshine!” referencing to the earphones, and she called our group ‘sunshine’, haha. We went in, and it was beautiful and massive. This was the prettiest structure of a museum that I’ve seen. I don’t know if this is right or not- but I think she said it was build over 100 years ago, which is why it was so ornate and beautiful. We weren’t allowed to even bring a camera in so I can do my best to describe! First we saw old boats that were re-build for display. The Egyptians would use these during the Nile floods to assist their strength in lifting and building things. We also saw pottery (rooms full of it) and tables, beds, more boats, and jewelry. We walked into a jewelry room and it was air conditioned, unlike the entire museum, which really wasn’t that hot. There were queen’s and king’s jewelry. There were bracelets with the lotus, the beetle, the Sphinx, and many other Egyptian symbols made into bracelets, necklaces, bangles, earrings, and arm bands! Shea and I wanted it all, it would make great jewelry today. The Egyptians had good taste!! We then walked into another part and saw a fetus that was recently found in a tomb. This tomb was probably 4 feet long and solid gold. Inside was another decorated casing, containing the fetus, which we actually saw. It was weird but so amazing at the same time. If the fetus has this big of a gold tomb… you can imagine what King Tut’s looked like! We saw bows and arrows, and many other archeological artifacts that are still being found to this day. We then went into King Tut’s room. There were 3 giant gold chambers that were all inside each other, Tut’s tomb in the middle. All three gold rooms were on display, along with his tomb. Let me tell you something- this was incredible. I was 3 feet from King Tut’s tomb. It was massive and solid gold, with turquoise and other precious stones and decorations all over it. I bet that thing weighed so much. It was about 8 feet long and 5 feet wide, laying on it’s back (does that make sense?). I can barely put it into words- amazing, incredible, breathtaking, astounding, ridiculous! Whew. Google it, and look how amazing it is!! What a memory.

We then left the museum and headed to the Citadel of Saladin and the Alabaster Mosque. On the way there we were stopped on the street next to a prison bus. The prisoners were all hanging out of the metal barred windows and reaching towards my window and the bus. It was really scary and there were guards with huge semi-automatics were surrounding the truck. I quickly closed the curtain!! Creepy feeling- let me tell ya.
We arrived at the entrance to the Mosque of Mohamed Ali, the founder of modern Egypt, and made our way up a steep hill in the high, dry heat! We took off our shoes and put them in little bags. There were Egyptian kids on a field trip and they were all smiling and saying hi to us, it was cute! Inside was the most beautiful mosque that I’ve seen so far! The courtyard outside of the mosque was huge and beautiful too. We all sat down inside and rested, while our tour guide was throwing out facts and people were on the ground praying left and right.

Our tour guide sells jewelry through a company, and she showed us her catalog and samples. It’s like Mary Kay for Egyptians, she probably gets a pink camel if she sells a lot! Shea and I each got a gold pendant that has our names on it in hieroglyphics. I got my middle name because the symbols look pretty together and I never use my middle name on things so it was a fun change! We chilled there for a while and walked around some shops, then headed out.

We ended up on a bridge crossing the Nile and stopped for lunch! We walked up to this big gold entrance saying ‘The Pharrohs’ and it was very touristy decorated like the Egyptian times; it was really neat! There were mini statues of the Sphinx, pyramids, and other figures. We got on a pretty double-decker boat that was very resort-looking. It was decorated for tourists and was definitely a money maker! Inside was a huge buffet with great food, and a stage! We all sat and ate while we cruised along the Nile! Then, the musicians came out and set up the stage. There were a few men with drums, a keyboard, a singer, and an accordion. The music started playing and a belly dancer came out! It was so cool! Then a man came out in a very big dress-like thing and he was spinning in circles, and he has sparkly boots! When he would spin, his dress would poof us and make cool shapes. He would spin really fast and do cool moves! Then, the band played some more and we had desert while watching this entire show. It’s neat to think about the Nile and the part that we were on- this was the same waterway traveled by pharaohs, queens, and other people thousands of years ago. It was really fun and I met some girls that are going on my trip to Morocco so that’ll be cool to know some people going on the same one as me.

We went back to the hotel and had a few hours to hang out and rest. I tried to buy internet but something went wrong on my computer so I got my money back, thankfully. It’s so hard to get internet.
After resting, we headed to something really amazing- the light show at the pyramids!! It was at the Giza Plateau. There were chairs all lined up and a few cafes facing the pyramids and Sphinx. We took pictures as the sun set and then took our seats. Under a star-studded sky, the sound and light performance brought the magnificent history and achievements of the Ancient Egyptians to life as the illuminated pyramids and the mysterious Sphinx dominated the darkness! There was dramatic orchestral music playing in the background as a British voice would narrate things. It was amazing!! Some people decided not to go because they thought it wouldn’t be good, but I was not going to miss out on this. Yes, it wasn’t a Disney World light show, but it was pretty incredible! I loved it. We headed back to the hotel to sleeeeeep, my favorite. We have to wake up at 3 to drive to the airport to fly to Luxor!!

Hello Sunshineee

July 27
We woke up and met with our group for the overnight trip to Cairo and Luxor and headed out in Alexandria! We went through customs, which was an empty, nice big beautiful building that looked like a palace inside! There were guards everywhere with semi-automatics, this was the first time that I‘ve seen a bigger-than-normal weapon around and it was a scary feeling, kind of made me realize real quick that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. We stepped out of the building into a courtyard with a pretty fountain, greeted by coach busses. We loaded our bags and met our big Egyptian tour lady. She was decked out in hieroglyphic jewelry and other Egyptian stuff. The weather in Alexandria was very hot and humid, because it’s a port city (8 million people). When we got to Cairo it was much more dry/bearable. The bus ride to Cairo was very freighting! No one stays in a lane, everyone honks, people cross while we go fast towards them, donkeys are everywhere, there are herds of goats and sheep crossing sometimes, no one obeys ANY sort of rules; it’s chaos. There were fruit stands everywhere, bread sellers on the streets, palm trees (produce figs), people with baskets on their heads walking around, donkeys pulling carts full of watermelons and tomatoes, and many other cultural sights! Not one single woman was uncovered. All had head to toe black dresses and a majority had their faces covered, so much different than anything we’ve seen, even coming from Turkey. We passed bright green fields with people in the garden working and donkeys pulling things around. We thought we were seeing the poor side of this part but really it was the rich side. The ‘rich’ can afford land and the poor live in small mud brick houses or just on the streets o in empty buildings. There were a few really nice Egyptian-looking houses on pretty land, and those were really rich people. People were out everywhere, and the towns we drove through were simply something you’d see out of a national geographic magazine; everything was so natural and old. I had a hard time grasping the fact that I was in Egypt and I was seeing the way people live, it was so shocking and interesting at the same time. They have no technology, no electricity, no clean water, no real buildings, just barns with hay roofs and a few donkey carts. Now this was only a part of Egypt on the drive to Cairo, where it different than the rural side we passed through. When we arrived in Cairo, we went across a big bridge over the Nile! It was cool to see, but muggy and run down. I didn’t know what to expect when I saw Cairo, but it wasn’t what we saw. It made me think of the movie Wall-E, when Earth is just dirty, muggy, and everything is a shade of brown with little to no color. We went by a few big red brick buildings, which were schools. You can go to school up until age 15, then you decide if you want to continue or not. We also went by a military camp, which was a big wall with houses behind it, and men carrying huge guns guarding the walls. Women aren’t allowed to join or go in. Our tour guide said, “It’s a man’s world over here,” and told us not to look men in the eye for a long time.

First, we went to lunch at a really nice hotel, overlooking the pyramids! When we got off the bus, we were greeted with a band of men dressed as ancient Egyptians, playing fun music. The lunch was a yummy buffet. It was pasta with red sauce, chicken with bell peppers, potatoes, eggplant cheese casserole, French fries, chic peas, mixed vegetables, bread, rice, humus, beef, and all that stuff! It was delicious. For dessert there were many cheescakes, chocolate mouse, baklava, almond bread with honey, and bread pudding! It was a filling meal and got us read for the day.

We then headed to Mit Rahina Museum. We pulled through a driveway passing men in shacks selling pottery, camel rugs, and many other souvenir treasures. There were also guards and police carrying big guns on their shoulders. We walked into a building that was a statue that had fallen over and was on display; it was massive! It was the statue of King Ramses II, made out of limestone. Shea and I asked these guys to take our picture and they said they go to Bama, and weren’t on SAS, thought that was funny. We then walked over to the Alabaster Sphinx, a small one, but really neat! There was a small group of Asians that were taking pictures posing like cats in front of it, we took pictures of them taking pictures, haha. Then we went to Sakkarah to see the Titi Pyramid, Mereruka Tomb, and the Kagemnj Tomb. We walked through sand in the HOT heat to get to these. The king was buried in the small pyramid, and the women and children of the family were in the tombs behind him. This is how it always went with royal families. We learned all about it on the ride here, and it was so cool to finally see! They have found 114 pyramids total, and recently found one under the sand. It was so amazing seeing our first little pyramid! It was crumbling because they didn’t use anything to hold it together, but it was still pretty awesome. We first went into the mastaba (tomb for family) and saw many hieroglyphics and some still had color! It was mind-blowing to see these paintings and structures that they worked so hard on. I’ve seen so many Egyptian pictures in school and movies, but seeing it in real life was indescribable. Then, we walked out of the mastaba and across the sand into the King’s pyramid. While walking across, men in robes with white towels around their heads try to sell you postcards and Egyptian hats. They wont leave you alone! I was taking a picture of the pyramid and one guy tried to make me pay him for taking he picture, he wouldn’t leave me alone, but finally he gave up. We all lined up and started the descent into the pyramid! It was a steep, slick wooden ramp going down into the ground, with raised metal planks to help your step, which didn’t help much. We had to hunch over (4 foot tall ceiling) through tunnels to get to the tomb in the middle of the pyramid. Once we could stand up, it was beautiful. There were hieroglyphics covering the walls, and a large tomb at the end. It had been emptied during excavation and the body was taken to put on display in a museum, so we just looked at the big tomb and crawled through some more tunnels to see more hieroglyphics. We weren’t allowed to bring our camera in, because the flash can ruin the colors of the hieroglyphics. They were beautiful and it still amazes me how this all happened, and how there are many more things to be discovered and figured out. It was much cooler underground in the pyramid, but we had to crawl back up eventually into the dry heat! We trekked through sand and were greeted by some local dogs as we got on the bus to head to the next site. We drove over some hills and could see all of Cairo. It was covered in palm trees and then a definite line where the desert started, and the pyramids were in sight! We went up to another mastaba, with big pillars and columns. There was a camel by the ‘water closet’ so Shea and I walked over to take a picture. We noticed a man running towards us while we were walking to the ‘WC’ and then we quickly realized that he was going to make us pay to use the restroom. You can’t go for free around here, or anywhere we’ve been this summer! Thank you America for free bathrooms. So we walked through these pillars and out into a big field of sand (field of sand?)! There standing was one of the first pyramids ever built! It was beautiful and pretty big. We took jumping pictures in front and stayed there in the sun just staring at it! Some guys bought the long sleeve robes and Egyptian hats, so we got pictures with them, they looked like locals haha. There were men walking everywhere selling big turquoise and coral necklaces, but I’m pretty sure they were fake, so I resisted. After hanging out there for a while, we hoped on the air-conditioned bus (thank goodness) and headed to the hotel for a small break before the bazaar. On the way back, our bus driver was seriously honking every 5 seconds, we couldn’t even count to 6 before he honked again! We saw a lot of nice buildings that said ‘carpet schools’ and ‘papyrus schools’! We pulled into an electric gate, which was big with scary guards/gun. The hotel was beautiful; like a giant resort! It was funny seeing this nice place because on the other side of the walls, it was poor and dirty. The hotel had two part, an old part and a new one. I was put in the old part, which was very nice and antique looking, and I was on the 8th floor over looking the pyramids! Shea was in the new building, which was a little further away, and just as nice but more modern looking. The pool was huge, like one you’d find at Schlitterbaun or something. There was music, bars, palm trees, and people everywhere. It was all men and there were no women, so we decided not to go. When women swim, they were a body suit and still cant show their hair! We then got ready for the bazaar, and took a far drive to get there. It was a cool drive, because we saw the sunset through the great pyramids while seeing more of Cairo! It was so hard to soak in and realize. I actually got one of my best pictures through the bus window- two pyramids with the sun directly in the middle, perfectly round and visible! We passed a lot of brick buildings that had concrete pillars and metal chords coming out of the top. Our tour guide told us that it’s just as cheap to build one floor as it is two, so builders leave the tops open, in hopes that someone will buy it and build more. No one ever buys it apparently because every single building had concrete pillars and metal coming out of the top. We crossed the Nile again and saw some crummy apartments that had a good view of the Nile for $200,000. We passed by pottery lots, more fields, and more poor housing. When we got to the bazaar, it was already dark, making it a little more scary. It was not as touristy and safe-feeling as Istanbul’s. There were all men dressed in pants and long sleeves, and women again covered head to toe in black. There was absolutely no way of fitting in. There were shops after shops so I bough a few souvenirs, everything is SO cheap, it’s unbelievable! I didn’t get to do much shopping/bargaining as possible because we were all trying to stay together; it was scary actually. Then, we went and met our tour guide as a café before getting on the buses. I ordered hot hibiscus tea (recommended) and it was delicious! There were little boys that kept bugging us and trying to sell us jewelry and things while we were sitting. They were cute, but got annoying after 20 minutes. I would tell you the name of the place, but everything is in Arabic! Right now I can hear the call to prayer. This happens 5 times a day and I’m starting to get used to it and not realize when it happens! Anyways, we paid in Euros, American dollars, and Egyptian pounds; they take it all! They especially love $1 dollar bills. Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner. The dinner was really nice and was the EXACT same as lunch from the other hotel (this meal appears in every hotel this trip), haha. We went to sleep in our massive suit, overlooking the pyramids, and slept for a good 3 hours. Our wake up call was 4:15am to go see the sunrise on camels at the pyramids!!