Walk like an Egyptian

I've returned from the Land of the Pharoahs!

 A little bit dustier, a little bit tanner, and a little bit more in love with another foreign country. Egypt, rough and tumble Egypt, has stolen my heart. Our guide, the magnificent Oswan, made this experience quite possibly my favorite trip we've taken so far.

February 27 - Arrival in Cairo

We left the Artemis after lunch for our 4:30 flight to CAIRO! I was in the window seat next to Kaleb and Megan and we just went crazy when we finally flew over the Nile delta and could see the desert beneath us. Once we arrived we went straight to our hotel, the Mövenpick Resort at Cairo Pyramids (website here) which was super nice. Along the way we could see THE PYRAMIDS sticking out on the Cairo horizon. We ate dinner, found our rooms, then just hung out until bedtime.

Fun facts to know about Egypt:
★ DON'T DRINK THE WATER. We drank bottled water the entire time because it's unsafe for us. I guess it's kind of like when you go to Mexico. The people there are used to it and their bodies can take it, but we're used to filtered water so it would make us really sick. Consequently, we
★DON'T EAT THE FRUIT OR VEGETABLES OR JUICE. Unless it's has a peel, has been cooked or is not "tang" (tang means it was made with tap water)
★BRING TOILET PAPER. No joke. There isn't any in the public bathrooms. Oh, and they make you pay too. (Luckily Osman took care of this for us so we never worried about it)

February 28 - The Egyptian Museum, Giza Pyramids, Sphinx  

Because the morning was a bit hazy, we put off the Pyramids till the afternoon. So we started the day at the Egyptian Museum (the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities) and saw some pretty cool statues and paintings, and KING TUTS MASK. Unfortunately they don't let you take pictures inside but it was saweeeet. We also got to see MUMMIES in the Royal Mummies hall. 
We were there almost 3 hours before we breaked for lunch near the pyramids. All the food we ate in Egypt was yummmmm. Mostly chicken, beef, fish, rice, pasta, vegetables, and pita. Lots of pita. 

 Next: the highly anticipated Giza pyramids! They're HUGE. Like you don't even realize until you're right up next to them how big they are. ALSO. At the pyramids and big tourist sites Egyptians will hang out trying to sell their goods to visitors. And by trying I mean following you around throwing their items in your face. "Piranhas" as Osman calls them. They also like to look at the girls in your group and call after you "Hey beautiful" "Ooh spicy" and "Hello shakiraaaa". My favorite is when a guy came up to me and asked: "Are you married? 10,000 camels! I'll give you 10,000 camels for you!" 

Inside the Cheops museum - they made us wear slippers to protect the floors

Besides the marriage prospect, the Pyramids offered plenty of excitement. As most people know there are 3 big pyramids in Giza: Khufu (the biggest and oldest), Khafre (the second largest) and Menkaure (the smallest). We went inside Cheops boat Museum right next to Khufu, and went inside Khafre. Sadly we couldn't take pictures in there either, but it was really neat climbing down the small tunnel into it. 

THE PYRAMIDS

Making a pyramid at the pyramids haha.

Then we saw the Sphinx (and took pictures kissing it of course!)

Khalid, reading the Qu'ran in our train car.

 After that we stopped at a few shops in Cairo and headed to the train station for our first night train to Aswan! The coolest thing happened on the train. Our porter, the guy who gave us dinner and breakfast and pulled our bunks out to sleep in, was really nice. His name was Khalid and we started talking to him, asking how he was doing, where he lived, etc. Then we started talking about Christianity and he told us about his Muslim faith. We talked for 2 hours that night about the Bible and Qur'an, and it was just an amazing experience to witness to a Muslim and in turn learn more about another religion first hand. We prayed over him, and he prayed in Arabic over us. I'm not sure what he said, but he was such a nice guy. My heart really goes out to him and his family and his whole country. They need Jesus as badly as we do.

Cori and me in our room on the train. They're tiny!

March 1 - Aswan and CAMELS

 The next day we immediately went from the train station to a bus to our CRUISE SHIP. I've never been on a cruise ship before, so the next three days just blew me away! 

After relaxing on the boat and eating lunch, we rode a sailboat with the funniest Nubian men steering. They sang and beat drums for us and they taught us and echo and repeat song. We then switched onto a motorboat that took us up the Nile river for sometime. It was beautiful, with the sunlight reflecting on the water and reeds lining the shores. You really could just picture Moses sitting there in his basket.

 And then CAMEL RIDE. I am in love with camels. They're just precious and have these derpy little faces that you can't help but laugh at. We rode them along the Nile River while several Nubians drove them along (Nubia is a region in southern Egypt and what the people there are called) When we got off we stopped in one of the villagers houses for drinks and to enjoy the culture. It was called the Crocodile house. One guess why. Yes. I held a crocodile. And it sat on my shoulder. It was so cool. The people were just so lovely to us.


 


The local women also did henna tattoo for us - like LEGIT henna. It's black, not brown like most henna I've had before. 






 


Then we played with the precious Nubian children and sailed back on the Nile River to our Cruise ship. We ate dinner and had a dance party with the cruise staff. It was the perfect day <3 

March 2 - Aswan Dam and Abu Simbel


Our day started early with a quick stop at the Aswan Dam.

After that we made a 3 hour trek to Abu Simbel, which I'm sure you've seen in a history book somewhere. They're the two temples Pharoah Ramesses II built for himself and his queen Nefertari. it was IMPRESSIVE. Like, wow. How did these people build these things? And this site isn't even the original site. Because the dam was built, the Nile water levels were rising and the temples would eventually be flooded. It was moved starting in 1964 to higher ground where it is today. Once again, no pics inside. 

 3 hour bus ride back to the Cruise ship in Aswan and late dinner at the hotel and sleeeeeeep.

March 3 - Kom Ombo and Edfu Temples and the Galabiya Party

Our cruise finally set sail at 4:30 in the morning and let us off at Kom Ombo at 7AM. 

  

They mummified CROCODILES too

  

We explored for an hour, got back on the bus and set sail again. We stopped at the Edfu temple, and had to take a horse carriage through town to get to it. It was fantastic. 

Riding through town

Edfu!

After Edfu we had a late lunch on the boat and then had a lesson in hieroglyphics from Oswan. We drank tea and hung out on top of the cruise ship. As we were sailing through a system of locks, several Egyptians on smaller boats attached themselves to our larger cruise ship and tried to sell us the items. They would hold up what they had and toss it up to us on the roof, then negotiate prices with us. It was the strangest thing and really tugged at our hearts. These poor things had to chase down cruise ships and desperately and quickly sell their things before the ships made it through the locks in order to make a living.
Oswan talked to us afterwards and told us a little bit about his testimony and how HUG helped him come to Christ 12 years ago. We all sang and cried together until evening. Wow. Just wow. The group just bonded so well while we were in Egypt. It was one of those moments I'll never forget. Osman had become like a father to us all, even though we had only known him for a few days.

Then: DINNER AND THE GALABIYA!!! 
We all bought Egyptian outfits and dressed up for dinner! It was so fun - we took pictures and had a dance party . The ship's crew had the best time teaching us Egyptian dances and playing foreign songs for us. (I know the pics are small, just click to make them bigger)

The whole group!

The girls and Dr. J

March 4 -LUXOR -The Colossi of Memnon, Kings Valley and Alabaster

The next day we packed up from the cruise ship and and went to the Colossi of Memnon, two
massive stone statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III.

We then visited the Valley of the Kings where many Pharaohs were buried during the New Kingdom and where King Tut was discovered. 

 Afterwards we escaped the heat in an alabaster shop. Luxor is one of the only places in the world you can get this alabaster. It was B-E-A-utiful.

Egyptian pounds!

Alabaster jars

 We visited even more temples after that. (We did A LOT of temples if you couldn't tell) Karnak, the biggest ancient religion site in the world, and then the Luxor temple.

Of course, we had to go to a Mcdonalds for lunch. Still good no matter what country you're in.

If you walk around 3 times you'll be rich, 5 times you'll get married, 7 times you'll have a family

I was so upset my camera died when we went to Luxor. We went at night and it was magnificent with lights everywhere. We sang in the temple and people would stop and watch us and take pictures and clap in between songs. It was amazing. Then 2 security guards pulled Osman aside and we all thought we were in huge trouble. Ironic enough, they just wanted to make sure we weren't worshiping the Egyptian god Horus.

The night we went to the Luxor train station for our night train back to Cairo!

March 5 - Coptic Cairo, Memphis, Oswan's House

The train was came an hour late at 11:30 instead of 10:30pm, and was delayed several hours in the morning so we were able to sleep in till 10 and finally got off around 12.

Trying to regain lost time we went through Coptic Cairo pretty fast, seeing the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church and the surrounding area. This is the place the Holy Family supposedly was when they were in Egypt.

 We then went to MEMPHIS. No, not Memphis, Tennessee. The original Memphis. There we went and saw a statue of Rameses II lying on his back. He was huge.

Our group looking down at him

After that we ate a late lunch of Egyptian falafels (which we all loved much better than Israel falafels. No weird vegetables in them)

 Next we drove to the Saqqara to see Djoser's Step Pyramid. I've seen this so many times before and loved getting to see it up close!

The funniest old man who rode his donkey around wanting to take pictures with us and offering rides.

The coolest thing next. We went to a PAPYRUS shop and saw how it was made. They cut the papyrus into strips and mash it and roll it out then soak it in water for a week. Papyrus has a lot of sugar in it that allows them to lay the strips on each other (weaving basket style) in however big of a canvas they want and they set it under a press for another week. The sugars hold the papyrus strips together and then they let it dry for a day. So amazing.
I love collecting maps of different places and so I bought one of Egypt on this papyrus. It's beautiful and I can't wait to hang it when I'm home.
We also went to a perfume place after this. The guy there had the best nose in the world. He could tell you what practically any scent was, and could recreate most mainline perfumes and colognes but without the alcohol so you got a purer product. I bought some that smelled like the lotus flower.  

We headed back to the hotel after this to drop our things off before heading to Osman's house for dinner. Osman is the best tour guide in the whole world (I'm probably biased) He was like my 2nd daddy. He made sure we were always taken care of, protected us from the piranhas, and just loved loved loved on us.  He really was like a father figure to us all, buying us all scarves and ice cream and giving so generously. You could definitely see Christ in him. His family was beautiful too, a wife who was raised in Greece and 3 sons. (She was happy I promise haha, she just didn't smile in the pics we took of her.)


March 6 -Journey to Sinai

Today: SINAI!!! We left at 7 AM and us students definitely underestimated the amount of time it would take us to get there. We were on the bus 12 hours. TWELVE HOURS. The most direct route to take has a road that is closed so we had to go a longer way around. Plus side: we got to see the Suez Canal and the RED SEA. The one and the same that Moses parted. We also left the continent of Africa and crossed back over to Asia (it's weird. Sinai is part of Egypt but it's in Asia) 

We stopped a few times on the way, mostly for bathroom breaks and coffee stops, but we also stopped once to look around at some jewelry stands women had set up it what seemed like the middle of the desert. 

We finally got to our hotel in St. Catherine's around 7-7:30ish PM, ate dinner, then went for a quick nap for a few hours before our HIKE UP SINAI.

March 7 -Climbing Mt. Sinai

Before the hike up!

The ideal time to climb Mt. Sinai is early in the morning so you can catch the sunrise, so that's what we did. We got up at 12:30 and started our hike at ONE IN THE MORNING. Bleary eyed and tired, we were excited all the same. It was hard though. Like, one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Oh my goodness, Moses must have been in the best shape ever for an old man. It took us almost 4 hours to get to the top (albeit, our group stopped several times to stay together and not get run over by camels) but we did it. The path up Mt. Sinai is 60% uphill path and 40% steps (700 of them). It was amazing how many people were there though in the wee hours of the morning, all going to experience the mountain. It had to be hundreds of people, all there for because of the same beliefs and desire to see where Moses got the 10 Commandments. 
 

At the top of Mt. Sinai

Once we got to the top though, it was worth it. Although it was still dark out, the moon was out and the energy was amazing. We sang "We shall assemble on the mountain" and prayed and ran into a group of Malaysian Christians who wanted to sing with us too. We sang Silent Night, them in their language, us in ours, and it was so beautiful.  I tried imagining what it must have looked like to him and the Israelites when God enveloped this mountain in a cloud of smoke and fire. Wow. Just wow. 

Mt. Sinai once the sun rose!

Sunrise at the camel stop!

It took 2 hours ish to climb down, and we were exhausted at the end of it. Someone told me it was 8 miles round trip, I'm not sure if that's true but it felt like it. The bus picked us up at 7:30AM and we went down the road to the hotel to eat breakfast and shower before going to St. Catherine's Monastery (where the burning bush was) No pictures allowed inside, but I got some of the outside.

Supposedly the original burning bush

After the Monastery we loaded back onto the bus for another 12 hour drive back to Cairo. It was a grueling day, but definitely worth it. We stopped for lunch at an outdoor restaurant called Ali Baba in a cute little town by the Red Sea called Dahab. I also bought some bracelets from a local girl there, 2 for 10 pounds. Dinner when we got back to the Mövenpick, then bed!

March 8 - Return to Athens

Saying goodbye to him at the airport :(

 We left for the airport at 7 in the morning, all of us really sad to be leaving not only this amazing country, but also to be leaving Osman. I know I didn't want to leave. The trip was such a different experience than the Israel one. I feel like our group bonded so much more on this one, and the relationship with Osman made is that much more special.




Now we're back to Greece. And while I loved every minute in Egypt (yes, even those desperate hours climbing that ridiculous mountain) Greece feels like home now. The Artemis was such a welcome site, a place with wifi (I was off the internet for 9 days. I was pretty impressed with myself.) and with water we could drink ;) But I would love to go back to Egypt again. There's so much to see and do, so much history and hidden wonders. I just know I left out things that we did and I wish I had a novel to write about it.

The next adventure begins in 3 DAYS. Get ready Italy!!! Time is flying by and I have only about a month left here. Still can't believe it. Anyways, I'm sure I've said this before, but I'm so blessed to be here. To go to Egypt, to Israel, to Italy. To feel at home in Greece. My eyes have been opened to the world and nothing can replace these experiences and encounters with these cultures and people. In the midst of so much turmoil and sadness in the world I have been shown so much joy by people who have nothing compared to the United States. We can learn so much from them.

xoxo
Rachel