Cairo, Egypt

Egypt- We arrived in Alexandria, Egypt at 7AM. We were met by our guide Hamby Kamal, one of the 12,000 Egyptologists in Egypt. It is a very exclusive licensure and means you are important. We also met our driver Ibrahim, who was talented beyond words with his driving skills. We immediately loaded into our small four door car and headed out for the three hour drive to Cairo.

It was very quickly apparent the rules of the road are much different in Egypt. Lanes mean nothing and the average horn is honked over 100 times per day. Per the US State department, the number of fatalities per mile driven are the highest in Egypt of any country in the world. You don’t have to be smart to figure that out. On the average 2 lane roads there will be 5 cars, each simultaneously engaging in 2-3 games of chicken with the drivers around them. Luckily we were blessed with our driver Ibrahim. He missed every pothole, donkey, goat, car and small child who jumped out into our way.

Our first lesson was at a rest stop along the way to Cairo. We stopped to use the restroom. Hamby handed me an Egyptian Pound and said it was required to tip the toilet paper handler to use the restroom. Basically, if anyone does something for you, you are required to tip them. This is called Bucksheesh. If they smile at you, the hand goes out for bucksheesh. Ask directions, more Bucksheesh.

We arrived in Cairo and proceeded to our hotel, The Oberi Mena House. Excellent hotel with wonderful service and intense security. Each time we enterer the premises mirrors we used to check the underside of the car for bombs, and the trunk was opened and searched. We passed inspection, so dropped our bags and were off to see the Pyramids.

Cairo is a city of 22,000,000. It is dusty, dirty, and poor. From the looks of things they might be able to pool all their money and come up with $22,000… and that might be underestimating it. There is easily enough poverty among these 22 million to be liberally spread about 100 million souls.

6000 years ago civilization began here. The huge desert was transformed into fertile land by the annual flooding of the Nile and the overabundance of food produced allowed man to think of things other than eating for the first time in history. A highly sophisticated society developed and Pharos built pyramids in hopes of earning eternal life. The Jewish people left when Moses split the Red Sea and around AD1 a special Jewish family (Christ’s family) sought refuge from Israel’s King here in Egypt. Best I can tell, that might be the last event worth noting.

First stop was for Egyptian fast food….Fried chickpea or Falafel sandwiches. We were assured this food was safe in that 22,000,000 people eat it regularly without becoming ill. Based on this logic we ate the Falafel and I considered it quite good. Melissa did not agree but I think it was more of the thought of the food than the taste.

The pyramids can no longer be climbed. It is against the law. A local Egyptian proved this last week by climbing the pyramid at closing time (around 5:00). Apparently the trip up is the easy part and coming down can be hazardous. After multiple attempts to descend, the climber decided to spend the night up top. The next day in a panic he removed his shirt and waived it frantically to attract the attention of the authorities below. They called for a helicopter to remove him. Once in the helicopter, they flew him directly to jail where he will be for a while. Apparently the Egyptian police mean business.

The photos will never do justice to the majesty of the pyramids and the sphinx. I will try to give more details with the photos at a future time.

After an hour it was time to ride a camel. It never occurred to ne how tall these animals actually are. My wife was kind enough to video my initial (and final) camel ride. I will post it for a good laugh.

Next it was time to spend money. A cartouche is the way a King’s name was written and displayed on monuments. This was always done in Hieroglyphs and this was reserved only for the kings. Since they are not around to raise a fuss anymore, now these are mandatory for all foreigners to purchase. The cartouche shop seemed to be a traditional Egyptian experience. We discovered quickly that it takes 4 Egyptians to do what one American can do. The cartouche shop was no different. It only took 5 minutes for the cartouche saying Melissa in Hieroglyphs to be produced and we were soon on our way to the Museum of ancient Antiquities.