Berber Shuffle

August 8

In my last blog- I meant to say ‘couscous’ instead of ‘kouskous’… oops.

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ doctor is cutting off my toenail tomorrow! First and foremost, I have another major foot injury- this is the worst one. Hiking in Africa made each foot's big toenail go into my skin. BOTH of my big toes are infected and ingrown. I cannot walk normal!! They are both red and inflamed and gross. Gross white stuff started coming out of both wounds and everyone steps on my feet. This morning someone stepped on my toe and it basically exploded. I decided to go to the doctor today (who is the doctor for the Pittsburgh Steelers) and she cut around each big toenail, drained it, bled everywhere, and STUFFED cotton under it, I can't describe the pain I am in right now. I was screaming, there has never been worse pain. My toes are severely infected and tomorrow she is cutting off part of my right foots big toenail. I have to get a shot on the top of my foot numbing my toe because it will be so bad. I have been in excruciating pain and can’t do anything about it.

Anyways, back to Berber…

Today we had a wonderful 6 am wake up call! Breakfast was served by the pool and was quite an interesting buffet. The only thing that looked decent enough to eat was these greasy tortilla bread things; I had about 5 covered in honey, what a great breakfast :) We hoped on 3 vans (holding about 10 people each) and started the hour-long drive to the base of the Atlas Mountains. Let me talk about the terrain- there were rolling hills with green bushes randomly spread out, fields with crops, some plateaus, tall trees randomly in desert parts, cactus, and just really unique landscapes- sometimes I thought I was in Odessa, but with more green. There would be valleys full of sheep and little mud brick houses next to fields of cactus and sand; oh and 4-wheeler rental places everywhere! Half way, we stopped in a small village at a shop and loaded up on snacks and water, which was super cheap! I bought 3 big water bottles, chips and cookies, and some band aids all for about 40 Dirham ($5)! We made it to the base of the mountain range and unloaded the vans. We were standing in a field next to a few adobe houses while little children were running up to us and donkeys were everywhere! I put sunscreen on, put essentials in my backpack, and put everything else on a packing mule! We loaded the donkeys too and then started our 3-hour hike to the first Berber village. It was cloudy and cool at 10:30am and we knew it would get much sunnier and hot! We walked down a steep hill passing houses with children and women peeking out of the windows. They didn’t come out but a few men were out waving at us. Once we got down in the valley the terrain changed to dry, cracked mud filled with bamboo and corn stalks. We walked up and down some more hills as the donkeys and mules began to pass us. There were locals on top of our luggage, on top on the donkeys. They would sing songs to us as they passed, clap, and make noises with sticks. It was really fun each time they passed us! The wonderful thing about this hike was the pace- we weren’t in a rush to get anywhere and the weather was perfect. We could stop if we wanted, sit and take a break, and take pictures whenever. It wasn’t rushed at all which was so nice. Most of the time SAS trips are rushed and fast-paced, but that is completely opposite of this trip. It was not SASsy at all! Haha.
We stopped under some trees for lunch, not knowing what to expect. I knew we had a personal chef hiking and staying with us but I wasn’t sure what kind of food they could serve us that was fresh after traveling on the hike with us. Surprisingly, this trip provided the best food EVER. The donkeys were let loose and were just chillin’ in the field eating hay while we laid out big mats to sit on, with bed cushions around the edges to sit on. We took off our shoes and all gathered around several mats. The guides brought us metal pots of mint tea. This mint tea was INCREDIBLE. It was so minty and natural tasting! They gave us sugar from their sugar canes to add to the steaming hot tea. Even thought it was nearly 90F outside, hot tea has never tasted so good! A few of us fell asleep under some trees for about 30 minutes then lunch was ready! We were served massive trays piled with sliced tomatoes, cucumber, olives, bell peppers onions, and oranges lining the sides. There were loaves of fresh bread along with bowls full of white rice. There was also this lemon zest sauce that I put on everything! We all got metal plates and loaded them up! It was DELICIOUS!

We cleaned everything up, flicked tics off of the mats (they were everywhere), and loaded the donkeys again! We had about 1 more hour to get to the villages, and it was a hard, steep hike. We went through valleys, over hills, crossed dry rivers, and went up some steep, slippery slopes. When we would walk down steep slopes, we would have to shuffle sideways to get down and it was pretty funny. The tour guide called it the ‘Berber Shuffle’ haha, so it stuck the whole rest of the trip! Every time we were in a bind somewhere, we would say ‘just do the Berber shuffle’! Haha. We stopped in an abandoned village that was filled with working wells. We soaked our hats in ice-cold water straight from underground! It was so natural and clear, but we didn’t drink it since our immune system isn’t used to it. The guides drank it but advised us not to; it was so tempting but not worth getting sick! Some more donkeys passed us and one had my bag! I kid of felt bad for the donkeys carrying all of our stuff, but that’s what they were for and they were used to it. The guide said these donkeys carry groceries up to the villages daily because there is no way a car or truck can get to them, crazy!

After hiking further and walking through a few more villages, we arrived to the one we were staying in! There was one small dirt road that went through the village, lined with mud brick houses. There were no plants, no color, no nothing, just secret doors the led to people’s homes. We turned one corner and went through a big metal gate, covered in pink flowers. Inside was a dirt courtyard with red walls and blue windows and doors. We walked into a house with an outdoor patio in the middle, splitting off into 4 big rooms. In the center of this place, there were plastic and wooden tables and chairs. There was a small bathroom (hole in the floor with a door) and one sink with a broken mirror cemented into the wall! In each of the rooms were foam mattresses covered in colored sheets (no comforters or blankets) and old dusty pillows. While we were picking beds ad dusting them off, a tiny black kitten came in and greeted us! It was the cutest little kitten and kept meowing and trying to cuddle! It looked pretty clean and the guide said it was their pet, so I gave it a scratch behind the ears. I usually don’t pet any animals out here but it was just so tempting and cute!! Once we all got situated, we were served more mint tea as we sat in the courtyard and relaxed after hiking in the hot heat. The locals started to prepare dinner and a lot of the guys helped them cook. We headed out through the big gate and we wandered into a farm. There were donkeys, cows, chickens, bunnies, and turkeys! There were baby turkeys everywhere and they would follow us as we fed them bread crumbs- so precious! A few of us decided to walk around the village and explore past the farm. We walked down a pathway that was lined by trees and vines. Behind the tree line were open fields full of fig trees and sheep! While I was looking at the vines full of honeysuckle, I saw a HUGE, bright green chameleon!!! I remember in 3rd grade I did a report on chameleons and fell in love with them. I also remember reading a book by Eric Carl about a chameleon. Ever since I was little I have always wanted to see one in the wild instead of in a zoo or something. I can’t believe I found a wild chameleon in Africa!!! What a crazy memory that made! There were several more chameleons on these bushes and boy they were fast! I took several pictures but most are blurry. I touched a few but I wasn’t fast enough to catch them. There was a black trash bag stuck in the bushes and on it was a black chameleon! Ahhhh it was amazing. I still can’t believe that the day came where I found wild chameleons, I never thought it would happen! Throughout this summer I haven’t seen much ‘wildlife’ because we have been in cities, so I loved this aspect of this trip. We saw all sorts of wild birds, some sort of wild dog, cobras, monkeys, etc! I loved it.

So once we made it to the main part of the village, women and children were everywhere. It was so strange not seeing any men, and we never really saw any until it was late at night. Our guide (who is a Berber) told us that the women stay in the village and do all of the work, while the children go to a small village school. The women, cook, clean the house, work in the fields, do the laundry, and do everything. The men go out into Marrakech for their jobs. He also said the men usually do not say they are Berbers because they are seen as second class. He said that he still tells people he is a Berber because he is not ashamed of his village, unlike most of its inhabitants. Berber also has 3 dialects, additional to speaking Arabic! We walked into a little hole in the wall where a local kid was selling snack and drinks so we stocked up on bottled water. We couldn’t buy too much because they need it for the village and the donkeys can only bring up a certain amount each week. In the village, there was a little boy by a well washing clothes, and some other women washing clothes in a bucket with scrubbers singing beautiful songs and harmonizing! It was so beautiful. The second they see a camera they shake their heads, so we respected them and didn’t take pictures or videos. We walked past a pretty blue painted wooden door with an Australian Sheppard and a little boy sleeping in front. I took some pictures and then we continued walking. On the way back, it started to rain and we had our cameras so we started running back. On the run back, we stopped by the same blue door, ducking under a small ledge until the rain stopped. Directly behind the door that we were leaning on, several women were peeking through and it made me jump when I heard someone breathing and staring through the cracks of the wood! We felt bad for intruding and standing in front of their door so we started to walk into the rain to find somewhere else. When we were walking away, the women came out of their house and were waving at us to come inside! This was the perfect opportunity to interact with the people and see how they live. Annie, Lauren, Kelly and I walked inside and there was the little boy and his dog! It was the perfect scenario. There was a grandmother, a mother, and her two kids- a 15-year-old girl and her 9-year-old son. Walking in, there was a courtyard with plants. To one side I peeked into a room and saw shelves with pots and pans and a small sink. There were no doors and some of the rooms had roofs. The grandmother led us into a small, cool room that had beautiful rugs along the floor and many pillows. Keep in mind that we don’t speak ANY Berber and they speak NO English. Lauren knew a little French and we could communicate slightly with the daughter who had learned French in school. What we got out of the broken French was that this was her home with her mother, grandmother, and brother, and the dad worked in Marrakech. The little girl was MARRIED and had a picture of her husband, who I think was about 18. They still practice arranged marriages and it was crazy seeing this young girl with a wedding ring on and a husband who she never sees. The mother came into the room with coffee and sugar cubes. She also brought these little biscuits and nuts that were toasted and delicious! I think the room we were in was where they sleep, but I’m still not sure. There was a small TV surrounded by flowers and a picture of the dad and son. It was so interesting being inside their home and being served coffee in their bedroom! What a crazy experience. The daughter put the TV on their music channel. It was like MTV but it was playing music videos in Arabic. We sat and didn’t talk much, but it was still easy to make hand signals and tell by expressions that they were happy for us to visit and we re surely thankful that they let us in! When we left, we hugged and said bye to the family. The daughter and son came with us and walked us into a pasture full of fig trees. The little boy would climb the trees and pick the ripest figs! We sat in the field and ate so many, feeding the peelings to their pet sheep that the dog was herding! It was an amazing experience that I will definitely not forget!!

We strolled back down the alleys and saw some more chameleons (!!!) and headed back into our little courtyard. When we got back, dinner was ready! We had plates full of couscous, carrots, tomatoes, and many other cooked vegetables! We also had this delicious soup that I have no idea what it was; I think potato and beans. Along with all of this deliciousness, we had more lemon zest sauce with fresh bread! For dessert- mint tea and melons! Mmmm. There was a small hamam (sauna/bath) inside the courtyard so we all went and took baths by pouring buckets of hot water over us and then we sat in the sauna. This little room had a fire underneath that was making the room super hot and almost burning our feet! The floor was covered in beautiful blue and green tiles with little windows where the sunlight came in. It was very relaxing!

After cleaning up and hanging out. We wandered some more through the village. One lady led us up some steps to her roof where her children were playing and she was making dinner over a fire. The lady and little girl brought out henna and started decorating our hands! I got ‘bliss’ written in Arabic on my wrist from the little girl. The mother was illiterate and could only make designs. She wasn’t very good at it, and it turned out to be pretty funny. Casey asked for a dragon and 10 minutes later there was a huge blob on her ankle! Haha we had to act like it was beautiful... When we went back, we wiped it off with wet wipes and it made a huge orange stain on her ankle haha, it was so funny! We all decided to move our mattresses to the rooftop to sleep.
We laid them all out and star gazed while drinking more mint tea and eating little butter biscuits! I saw so many shooting stars and the Milky Way looked like a giant cloud! We told ghost stories then we all fell asleep pretty quickly!!

Cobras and Monkeys on the Loose!

August 7th
This morning I quickly ate breakfast, packed, and met my group to head out to Casablanca, Morocco! I usually know most of the people in all of the groups I’ve been in, but this time I only knew one or two! We left the ship from deck 5 this time, so we had to go down some really steep stairs carrying all of our bags! There was a bus waiting for us at the bottom that took us about 15 minutes out of the port and then to the train station. Casablanca reminded me of Egypt, but less chaotic. It had the same crowd of covered women and robed men, with little kids everywhere too. The street traffic was much more calm and all of the traffic lights worked and were followed! It was also a lot cleaner than Egypt and there weren’t nearly as many random pedestrians weaving around. We pulled up to the train station and it was beautiful! The entrance had all sorts of designed carved in it and it was very clean. Inside was very nice, marble floors, restaurants, air conditioning etc. It was so much nicer than any train station I’ve been to this summer. Also, there were French announcements after the Arabic ones. In Morocco, everything is either in Arabic or French. There were 34 people in my group and 3 tour guides. They passed out our tickets and we hoped on the train! It made me think of the Hogwarts train from Harry Potter. The hallways were super narrow and there were little rooms on the side where 6 people could sit. A man would walk around with a cart selling cokes and candy while we rode 3 hours to Marrakech! The hallways of the train were as hot as outside, but the little cabins had AC, which was nice since it was around 90 degrees outside! When we arrived to Marrakech, we walked about 5 minutes down the (organized) street, which was very convenient! The hotel was called Hotel Oyuda and it was definitely a resort. It was really nice and decorated beautifully with traditional Moroccan designs and rugs. There was a huge courtyard with shops inside the hotel, and a big swimming pool with caves. We put our stuff in rooms then headed out to the market for our one day to shop! I met a few girls on the Egypt trip I took and they were on this one too! They are all from Colorado and go to UC Boulder- Annie, Kelley and Lauren. I plan on visiting them in Colorado sometime!
We got a taxi ride to the market because it was a far walk and we only had a few hours. I am a pro at getting a taxi and negotiating prices after all of this practicing in other countries! It’s crazy how much you get used to everything, which seemed so different and strange in Spain when we were still figuring out how to manage ourselves! When we walked up to the markets, there was a huge open space (like a giant parking lot) filled with entertainers. There were monkeys, women doing henna tattoos, and snake charmers!! We saw a huge crowd gathered so we went to check it out. It was several older men playing instruments and charming cobras! There were so many huge snakes everywhere, just slithering around! There were also these huge vipers that looked like rattlesnakes. These were some of the biggest vipers I’ve ever seen! The men would ask for money every time you take a picture so I would take as many as I wanted and then pay at the end when I was finished. Sometimes you have to be strict back with them or they will charge you each time you put your camera to your face! The men started bringing the snakes towards us and putting them around people’s necks. The cobras had their fangs removed but I still squirmed when they came near. We kind of ran away when they would bring snakes towards us. The old men thought it was funny and kept chasing us with snakes… what a scary memory that was!! Once we passed the massive crowding of people and cobras, we started shopping at all of the stands. At the first few places, things were picked though, expensive, and not that great. We decided that we would walk 10 minutes deeper into the market and then start browsing and bargaining! The market had the same atmosphere as a few other countries but very different things inside. One of the things that you can find everywhere here is the hand of Fatima (or something like that). It is the hand that represents good luck and everyone wears them in all sorts of forms- earrings, necklaces, hennas, shirts, bookmarks, paintings, anything! I bought some bracelets, shirts, and a few gifts, the typical market purchases! There was a local who was working in his shop with a Texas Rangers shirt on so I got some pictures with him. It’s always so strange seeing shirts from Texas and other places while we are in Morocco and they have never been to America. Women were everywhere selling yummy treats and nuts. There was one woman who we bought cookies from. The cookies were some sort of coconut that was roasted or something- delicious. Her face was completely covered so I had no idea where to look or how to communicate! I put a few coins in her henna-covered hand and she handed me several cookies, they were amazing! I bargained some more (which I LOVE doing). What I’ve started to do is when they give me a price, I say no and then name half of that price. They laugh, say no and I start to walk away. Then, I will get called back in with them saying, “Ok, what is your lowest price?” and I will say something lower than half of the price! It takes a good 10 minutes to get something at the price you want, but so far everything I’ve bought has been less than half the price that they started me off with! It is definitely a game and they try to take advantage of us. When the pick up the fact that I’m not some dumb bargainer who will pay a ton of money for something cheap, they realize they need to make a sale and I end up getting so much stuff because they work with me! I loveeeee bargaining, it is so much fun! One store had a pet chipmunk and it was crawling all over everything and doing tricks, so cute! I was in one shop and there were turtles and chameleons in wooden cages. I asked the worker if they were his pets and all he said was, “Kous kous”.......... He eats chameleons and turtles in his kous kous I guess!
So we walked around this market for a few hours and then it started getting reallllly windy. The spices were blowing everywhere and making us all sneeze and have itchy eyes. The bamboo roofs had pieces flying off and it started to sprinkle a little bit. We headed out of the market and into the giant area where the snakes were! As we were starting to run a little bit to avoid the heavy rain, oranges from the fruit stands flew off in front of us and were rolling everywhere. It started thundering pretty loudly too! We safely made it to the street and hoped in a taxi. When we were telling people about the rain ‘storm’ we were in, we said, “Snakes were on the loose, monkeys were running everywhere, it was pouring rain, a palm tree fell in front of us, oranges were everywhere, horses were getting loose!” etc…. Haha we told this story to everyone and exaggerated it so much each time! We still laugh about that one time there was a tornado in the market... with wild animals and falling trees…. Haha.
Once we made it back to the hotel, we dropped off our purchases and walked around the corner to a little café. I knew I’d be getting local, real Moroccan food when I went to the Berber villages so I decided to get a chicken Panini and French fries for dinner because I was craving it!! Another thing, I never get cokes at home but it just tastes so much better when you are in another country and tired and hot! Plus, their cokes and stuff come in glass bottles that make it taste so much better and it’s cheaper! The placemats for the table were pieces of butcher paper and there was a stack of smaller pieces on the table. We asked the waiter for napkins (not that he spoke a drop of English…) so we figured that the small pieces of thick paper were napkins… it was pretty funny and awkward to use as napkins, we laughed every time we used one! We got some Dirham at the ATM and headed back to the hotel. Outside of Morocco, you can’t get Dirham or trade it in anywhere. They have strict rules about their money and you can’t trade Dirham for American dollars or vice versa unless it’s inside a bank; thought that was interesting.
In the hotel, a few other SAS trips were staying there too so we all hung out in the courtyard and then went to Africa’s largest club- Pasha! It was about a 20-minute taxi ride and a little more expensive because the prices go way up at night and they won’t bargain. When we got there, the entrance was massive! It was like an adobe house, but much bigger with fire torches lining the top and a big fountain with stairs next to a long line to get in. It was pretty remote around and no other building was in sight, which I found strange. I would think that Africa’s largest club would be deep in the city in Marrakech and not 20 minutes outside of it! When we went in, it was huge! It was really nice and cost about 400 Dirham a person ($50). Yes, we all paid a lot, but I kept telling myself- when would I be in Africa again with all of my friends??? Inside was nice too, it was very modern and there were crazy decorations and lights. The crowd was a mixture of half Arabic, a third French, and a third Semester at Sea students, haha. There are so many French people in Marrakech! The DJ was amazing and played some great songs that we have been hearing all throughout Europe and some American music mixed with Arabic words. There must have been some glass on the floor and when I walked by a table, I accidentally kicked some. I ended up getting glass in the bottom of my toe and it wouldn’t stop bleeding- another foot injury, but this time in Africa! Each country is something new…. what did I tell ya. We left Pasha (and we got some cool t-shirts) and went back to the cozy hotel for a 6 am wake up call!
I was so anxious when I went to sleep because I couldn’t wait to wake up and head to the Berber villages!!!!

?Yella bina, meshi meshi!?

July 30-Aug 1:

July 30
We slept in finally, until 6am.. which was sleeping in for us! We packed our rooms and went to breakfast for one last meal in the amazing resort. I had an omelet; excuse me, a DELICIOUS omelet! There was a chef who was making them made to order, flipping the eggs high into the air and doing tricks. The omelet was big and browned on the edges, perfection to me.
We then loaded the buses and stocked up on water, and headed to the Karnak Temple, a few minutes away from our Egyptian resort. Our tour lady said, “Yella bina,” meaning ‘let’s go’ in Arabic! She also says, “Meshi meshi,” meaning ‘okie dokie’ in Arabic. Fun phrases!
We arrived at the Karnak temple and went through some shops to get to a huge concrete parking lot with palm trees everywhere. The sun was slowly rising so it was a nice temperature outside! One thing- I haven’t put sunscreen on ONCE in Egypt, and I haven’t gotten burnt. Maybe because I’ve been wearing pants, sleeved shirts, and a hat! I figured it would be too much sun and heat, but it actually was enjoyable and no stress with the weather! I loved that.

So this temple had no tourists or anyone, maybe because it was early in the morning. This entire trip there has been absolutely no crowding of people, which is amazing. At the first few pyramids, there were no people except for us. At the sunrise at the Great pyramids, we were the only ones!! When we went to the Sphinx and temples, there were few people! I couldn’t ask for a better turnout.
This temple was huge and I liked it better than the Luxor Temple (which was a lot smaller, but still amazing).  By ‘temple’ I mean big walls surrounding sculpted columns and rocky floors, all covered in hieroglyphics. It’s not like a building or anything with a roof, It is all statues and broken, fallen down columns; beautiful in its own way. In the entrance, there were the mini ram sphinx that went all the way to the Luxor Temple (remember, I wrote about this in the other blog). None of them had heads because they all fell apart. Inside the temple, there were many dogs and men with robes trying to show you all of the cool things inside the temple walls. There were a TON of columns. I could see all of the smoothly finished columns that were build, and towards the end of the row, there were a few columns that were square rocks stacked on top of each other! These were columns that didn’t get finished! It was cool to see how the columns looked before they were sanded down and shaped. There was a sacred column that was placed in the middle of an open area, covered in more hieroglyphics, including the Key of Life and the lotus flower. It is said to walk around it 3 times clockwise, then 3 times back and make a wish! If you walk around one extra time, you get pregnant. So, we cautiously counted to 6!!! There was a cute calico cat following us around, and she did some circles around the column too, haha. We saw the Sacred Lake, which was a small body of water under a bridge with trash in it…
The sun was finally out, and it was getting pretty hot just in time as we left! We headed to the airport and our flight got delayed. Luckily, there was FREE INTERNET!!!! This is the first time this entire summer…. besides one night in Rome. So I used up my time waiting for the flight by uploading pictures and trying to email friends and family. Then, we got on a shuttle bus and headed out in the middle of a parking lot to a TINY plane, the smallest I’ve been on, which was kind of scary. Once we were in the air, there was a burning smell and smoke was flowing down from the front of the plane. We all started FREAKING out and people were pulling out their video cameras and such. I was getting pretty nervous too. Then, the flight attendant announced that she was cooking food for the pilot and she burnt it……….. WHEW. I kid you not- I thought our plane was goin’ down. What a scary experience.
We landed safely (and roughly), and took another coach bus to the same hotel where we had lunch in Cairo. As we entered the hotel, the same band from last time was out front performing music- but this time they were playing Jingle Bells! Haha I don’t think they understood the concept behind jingle bells… There was also a small restaurant next door called “Laredo Tex Mex”! Haha, we definitely got a picture in front.

3 hours later, after sleeping on the bus, we made it to Alexandria and waited in a huge line to get back on the ship. Four coach busses were in front of us in line and customs had to search every bag, and then the ship had to search every bag before we get on; it took forever. Walking into my little cabin after a long, hectic week in Egypt never felt better. The cleanliness, the comfort, and the air conditioning were so nice to come back to! We were gong to stay in and sleep/unpack… but we heard everyone was going out for the last night here in Alexandria.. so we started getting ready! Before we headed out for the night, we stopped at a bunch of outdoor shops in the port. There were about 10 different ones, but they all had the same stuff! It was really fun because you could walk back and forth telling each store owner how much lower the other offered for. I bought some jewelry, shirts, and gifts! One in particular, there was a man who was very friendly (and a little crazy) who said his name was Jimmy Green, haha what an Egyptian name.. We bought stuff from him because he gave us the best deals and diet cokes! It was pretty fun!
Outside of the customs building there were blue taxis that are allowed into the port for cruise people (us). The yellow taxis outside of the port are hard to trust and they cost too much, we learned this from fellow SASers. What you do is walk up to the blue taxis, tell them your price, and when they say no you walk away and tell them that the yellow taxis are way cheaper. They instantly say, “No, come with me! Ok ok 20 pounds!” Haha we got around for about 1 dollar a piece! The taxi drivers are so nice and protective. They will sit outside of wherever you are and give you a two-way ride for $5. We went to a bar called Mermaid and it was ALL Semester at Sea students- so much fun. The DJ was really cool and let us plug in our iphones and play music that we’ve picked up from Spain, Turkey, and other countries! We had a great time there and then headed to the 4 Seasons hotel (super fancy). We went up to the 8th floor and there was a huge lounge with big ‘sultan’ chairs. The view of the city was beautiful and it was on the edge of the water too! We hung out there the rest of the night, got mcflurries at McDonald’s, and then went back to the MV Explorer!

July 31
We slept in until noon- yay!
I wanted to try a chicken pesto pizza at the pool deck bar so I got one and it was AMAZING. Why haven’t I discovered this earlier??
Ben, Jerome (Ben and Jerry), and Shea and I went out and got a blue cab and went to the Alexandria Library! We had to buy tickets down the street, then register our laptops to bring in. Once we got inside, it was huge! It was very modern and new looking, with a few museums inside, along with many international people. It basically looked like a really nice library, nothing super special. We had our laptops and a few hours until we had to be back to the ship to leave, so we facebooked and emailed, of course, then got gelato (first Italian gelato café in Egypt), then headed back to the ship!

August 1
Today is Sea Olympics! Remember I wrote in one of the first few blogs about how each floor has a ‘sea’? My sea is the Caribbean Sea, and we are pink! We have been letting the ship now just how loud and crazy we are with our cheers and surprise stomp performances. Well, today is the Olympics. There are many games and events going on and all of the seas compete. I’m in a competition where you pick up ice cubes with chopsticks and fill the bucket as fast as you can! I got second place… The other events include, pull ups, relay race, basketball, dodgeball, crab soccer, pie eating, flip cup with water, donut on a string, synchronized swimming, and lip sync! The whole day everyone just runs around and cheers their team on and wears their colors. Our color is bright pink and even the boys were covered in it. I watched the pie eating and it was sick. Jerome ate an entire lemon crème pie and then I saw it fly overboard… ew. We had delicious ribs, burgers, and hotdogs with corn and beans for dinner then the synchronized swimming! It was so funny to watch and some people’s routine was serious, most were just cheesy. We were close to last place during lunchtime, then around dinner, we became first place! I don’t know how, but we did. The finale is the lip sync, which wins the most points. Every group did such a funny job of picking songs and making dances/acting parts. We got third in this, but since we were first overall and received a lot for lip sync.. WE WON THE SEA OLYMPICS!!!! We cheered and screamed/jumped up and down in front of the entire ship. They started playing loud music and we all started dancing and cheering some more. All of the other seas left the Union and we had a big dance party! We all went in our hallway and just hung out and celebrated. We get a private party in the faculty lounge (oh lala) and we get bragging rights of course. The best part is- we get to get off of the ship first when we get home!! How awesome is that?!
“Caribbean Sea?! YA MON, WE BE JAMMIN!”

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!!

At Sea, passing Crete and Cyprus

Today I woke up and ate a big breakfast and a drank a big cup of coffee so I could focus in class! Yesterday I was having trouble focusing and staying awake from the crazy week we just spend in Istanbul with little to no sleep! In my 8am, we had a group presentation about Egyptians, Muslins, and Ramadan. It was really interesting and then in Global Studies, we talked about it too! It all related and intertwined, which made it more interesting because I was a little more familiar with it. I had a music test after those 2 classes, and it was actually a little tough! It was held towards the back of the ship, and today it has been rocking so much that it didn’t help taking a test in the rockiest part!
Tomorrow we will be in Alexandria, Egypt! That’s crazy. I can not wait!
We will wake up early and head out to Cairo and then Luxor! I don’t know what to expect… but tonight in the pre-port seminar, they will fill us in on everything we need to know.
By the library there is a sign that says something in Arabic, and it looks like a bunch of fancy cursive letters that all connect. It translates to ‘Hi You Are Here’. Wow how on earth am I going to read Arabic! It’s no even the same alphabet, it’s completely different!

Today in Global Studies we learned about Egypt, the past wars with Israel, and issue with the Suez canal. We talked abut the current president, Hosni Mubarak, who has been in his position for 30 years.
The issue with the Suez Canal is that Egypt built this with the French in 1869. This caused Egypt to go into great debt because it was such a massive build. The British stepped in and intervened and didn’t let the Egyptians operate it freely.
British then granted Egypt its independence in 1922 and Egypt was the first major country in its region to gain independence.
Nasser became president (1954-70) and was a socialist. He used state policies to control rents on land to poor peasants and created free health care and education. He had a strong agenda and vision for Egypt.
The Suez Canal became nationalized (which was a crisis with the British), and Nasser and all of the Egyptians now had complete control over it. The British and the French were upset when Nasser took complete control over the canal so they became allies with Israel to become enemies against Egypt. Nasser was going to invade Israel to take it over but the United Nation intervened. In 1956, Israel decides to make moves and invade Egypt and succeeds. They started moving towards Cairo but the United Nations stopped them, so they drew back to Israel. In 1973, Nasser and Egyptians attacked Israel, but they lost. These wars between Egypt and Israel caused land shifts to go back and forth. The Gaza strip was a settlement zone, full of Arabs and poor people. These wars have been a huge factor in relations between Egypt and its neighbors.
When Nasser died, Anwar Sadat took over the presidency and decides to sign a peace treaty with Israel, which shocked all of Egypt and caused major controversy. Through all of the hate and controversy towards Sadat, he got assassinated. Hosni Mubarak became the president in 1981 and is still the president to this day!
This is just a little taste of what we learned today about the country we will be arriving in tomorrow :)