EGYPT!

Got back from Cairo a few weeks ago…Once again another mind boggling trip. All the trips that I’ve taken so far have been expensive but soo worth it. I’ve been spending a lot more money than I anticipated since I’ve been here.
Anyways. We flew out of Amman on a one hour flight to Cairo International. I was officially in Africa, yeayuhh! The first thing I noticed was the humidity, It felt like a 110 degree night in Ohio.
We were picked up by a van that was bumpin reggaeton music the whole 45 minute ride to the hotel. It was a fun drive. There was 10 other students in the van with me and we were all bouncing off the walls with excitement. We were at our hotel by 10:30pm ish. You could see the Nile from our hotel which was pretty sweet. As soon as we got there we went out on the roof to see a view of the city. That’s where I smoked the worst hookah of my life, it tasted like plastic…
In the morning we went to the pyramids. Hearing our tour guide talk about the history behind the pyramids was so intriguing. It’s almost as if aliens made them! Everything is such a mystery. We went inside one of the pyramids and it was sooo amazing to think about who used to walk these narrow paths. The tunnels were only about 3.5 ft tall so we had to pretty much crouch at a 90 degree angle to walk through them. We got to an open tomb that was empty, it was creepy though to think that someone was once mummified inside of it. By the time we got out of the pyramid we were all dripping with sweat, all of our clothes were soaked…especially the guys on the trip, it was sexy…
We rode Camels at this panorama sight where you could see all three pyramids. I named my Camel Edward. He was cute and smelled like shit. The kids that were leading our camels were all like these 5 years old Egyptian kids, it was weird, they were all out to get money, but they were funny characters.
Seeing the sphinx was interesting, it was much smaller than I had imagined, nevertheless it was amazing. I didn’t know that the entire area had been through two earthquakes, so I give made props to the architects that made those colossal structures.
Next we went to a papyrus factory where we saw a dude make papyrus right in front of us. He cut off a piece of the stem of this plant, stripped off the outer green rind, and sliced thin layers of the inside that he then soaked in water and then laid down together on the table. He squeezed the liquid out of the sheet with a rolling pin, and then left the sheet of papyrus to be pressed for days so it could fully dry. He did it so fast, it was tyte.
Then, we went to a perfume factory where we smelled like 20 Egyptian perfumes. After a while we started running out of places on our bodies for them to put samples on and then everything started smelling the same. There were some scents that smelled sooo bloody good. I smelled there peppermint scent and it was so strong I started crying, but it cleared up my nose.
After that we went to the masjid that Obama visited when he was in Cairo. It was gorgeous. When we were there were there we ran into an Imam (guy that leads prayer) who said a line out of the Quran. He heald the note when he was saying “Allah” for over 20 seconds without taking a breath and it sounded awesome. Then he was like, “just like Frank Sinatra ay?!”….baahahaha.
We then went to the Egyptian Museum. It was by far the coolest Museum I’ve ever been to. Some of the stuff there is soooo cool, and just as mysterious as the pyramids. There are sculptures there that are carved out of this black stone. Archeologists don’t understand how the Egyptians had tools strong enough to carve into the stone let alone with that kind of precision, especially since even with today’s technology they have a hard time sculpting with that kind of rock! We learned a brief history about all the kings that once ruled and about all the drama between them. Something interesting is that a lot of the art that depicts some of these kings shows them with unusual characteristics, like elongated heads, which makes you wonder how different they looked from the average person today. Seeing King Tut’s tomb was unbelievable. King Tutankhamun was a very young king (he died when he was 18) whose tomb was hidden under another tomb, which is why it took archeologists so long to discover it. His actual mummified body was at the center of like 4 golden cases surrounding it. To see these ancient lavish tombs made out of gold was mesmerizing. How sweet would it have been to stumble upon a tomb from 14th Century BC!!! The last thing we saw in the museum was mummified bodies. This was incredibly eerie. To be in a room with bodies from over 6,000 years old was crazzzzy. They were very well preserved, their teeth were in tact as well as their hair and toe nails. It was wild. I was really creepy to just stand next to them, because they were so life like that sometimes it felt like they would open their eyes or move their creepy ass brittle fingers any minute haha.
In the evening we got on a dinner cruise that went up and down the Nile. It was only a couple hours long, but very relaxing and entertaining. Oh a little side note, the Nile is the only river that flows backwards in the world!! It flows North while all the other rivers flow South!
Anyways so there was a great buffet on our boat and some entertainment. There was a belly dancer that was busted, and had an excessive amount of fat. At one point she continuously sucked her stomach in and out… I guess she thought she was doing some attractive belly rolling action… but it made me want to throw up. After that there was a spinning Darwish act. This was sweet. It was essentially a man wearing a giant skirt, who constantly spun in a circle doing different tricks. He was spinning non stop in the exact same spot for like 25 minutes, and he was playing these finger clanking instruments to create a beat. He opened up a bottle of water poured it in a glass and drank it without spilling it or loosing his spinning pace. And he spoke like 10 languages… it was very entertaining.
After the dinner cruise we went to this outdoor club. It was sweet, it overlooked the pyramids that were off in the distance, there was stage with crazy lights where they were playing techno music. The rest of the club was floor seating with cushions where we could sit and smoke argila. Later in the night a newly wed couple came and were dancing the night away. All of the arab guys there started doing the Debkah (tradition Arabic dance). Some people look sooo sick doing it, cuz they throw their own style into sometimes and do crazy ish with their feet.
We got back to the hotel pretty late and we were all beat!
The next morning we went to another masjid, which was gorgeous as well. We climbed up toward one of the minarets and had a great view of the city. Out of all the masjids I’ve seen so far, Egypt has the most beautiful ones.
After this we went to Khan El-Khalili. This is one of the most famous markets in all of Egypt. We all had less than two hours to shop, so we went crazy trying to bargain and get good deals on stuff. I couldn’t believe how much people nag you about buying stuff and how much guys harass you haha….not physically but, there were quite a few people that will not leave you alone which was so annoying. I definitely wish we had more time to shop. When it came time to leave I saw all these other shops on my way out of the market that I wish I could have visited. We got on the bus and headed back to Cairo International. I was definitely sad to leave. Cairo is an amazing city. Egyptian history is so rich and has more character than any other culture that I have ever experienced.