You can barely see me but I'm to the left, and this is the smallest of the three Pyramids of Giza.
The Spinx at the Pyramids of Giza
Hello Pepsi Cola, I deceive you less here
The combination of the above phrases might be my favorite thing about Egypt, well not really but I think it's funny. I was never lucky enough to hear these two together but the Egyptians should really think about combining them for ultimate fun. I probably heard Hola Hola Pepsi Cola at least 100 plus times throughout the trip. The vendors knew the group I was with was Spanish and this was the greeting we received in the markets, hotels, cabs, and walking down the street. I really got a enjoyed it and probably said it 100 times myself. The "Te engaño menos aqui" I heard in a the Cairo market and thought it was very appropriate and a great way to lure people in your store. It shows that the Egyptians have retained some of the genius of their ancestors from 5,000 years ago.
Anyway I have a lot to say about Egypt so this post might be a little disorganized so bear with it. I thought I would by mapping out where I went. I flew from Spain into Luxor and took a four day cruise down the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. The first day was hardcore sightseeing (we started at 5:30 am and went until 4:00 pm) in and near Luxor including Karnak Temple, the largest but not best preserved, and the Valley of the Kings, where many of the tombs are including King Tut. I saw a lot of stone and hieroglyphics in one day, I am almost fluent. When we returned to the cruise ship we were greeted by locals in their rowboats ready to sell us chilabas (the long dress/shirts, of course I bought one but not off the boat) and other crap. This was highly entertaining and a bit of a shit-show. The vendors basically just start launching items onto the cruise ship and then from there you have to fight for your price like you do with everything in Egypt. The Spanish say "regatea hasta la muerte" which means barter to the death and it's true and actually a lot of fun.
The combination of the above phrases might be my favorite thing about Egypt, well not really but I think it's funny. I was never lucky enough to hear these two together but the Egyptians should really think about combining them for ultimate fun. I probably heard Hola Hola Pepsi Cola at least 100 plus times throughout the trip. The vendors knew the group I was with was Spanish and this was the greeting we received in the markets, hotels, cabs, and walking down the street. I really got a enjoyed it and probably said it 100 times myself. The "Te engaño menos aqui" I heard in a the Cairo market and thought it was very appropriate and a great way to lure people in your store. It shows that the Egyptians have retained some of the genius of their ancestors from 5,000 years ago.
Anyway I have a lot to say about Egypt so this post might be a little disorganized so bear with it. I thought I would by mapping out where I went. I flew from Spain into Luxor and took a four day cruise down the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. The first day was hardcore sightseeing (we started at 5:30 am and went until 4:00 pm) in and near Luxor including Karnak Temple, the largest but not best preserved, and the Valley of the Kings, where many of the tombs are including King Tut. I saw a lot of stone and hieroglyphics in one day, I am almost fluent. When we returned to the cruise ship we were greeted by locals in their rowboats ready to sell us chilabas (the long dress/shirts, of course I bought one but not off the boat) and other crap. This was highly entertaining and a bit of a shit-show. The vendors basically just start launching items onto the cruise ship and then from there you have to fight for your price like you do with everything in Egypt. The Spanish say "regatea hasta la muerte" which means barter to the death and it's true and actually a lot of fun.
We cruised through the night and then landed up in Edfu to go to another temple and check out some more stone and then we had a cruise during the day to reach another temple to view at night. The cruise down the Nile during the day was fantastic and beautiful. After the night visit to the temple we cruised again during the night and landed up in Aswan where I stayed up until 2:30 am to take a bus to go to Abu Simbel which is the best preserved temple in Egypt. It was quite impressive, even though they had to move the temple from it's original location because of the creation of a lake. I spent about two full days in Aswan and from there I flew to Cairo which is where the pyramids are located. I have been so lucky to see a lot while I have been traveling and living in Spain but The Pyramids of Giza are by far the most insane site I have seen. They are beyond impressive and it blows my mind that they are 5,000 years old. They are massive, even the smallest of the three is huge. I was able to go into the second largest one and that was kind of scary. There was a really narrow passage about 4 feet tall that went down and then back up and into the tomb. I got kind of a claustrophobic feeling but now it's worth it to say I have been inside a pyramid.
In Cairo we also saw the oldest pyramid in Egypt called Zoser. Also impressive but not as much as Giza. (pictured above)
My new Spanish Friends
On top of all of the sites being breathtaking I actually made some friends!! After I arrived in Luxor we took a bus to the boat and there happened to be a group of 8 Spanish people staying on my boat and we were the first and only ones there so they immediately told me I could hang out with them and from then on I had friends. The first night I felt awkward because when 8 Spanish people are speaking rapidly, telling jokes, and asking you questions and everyone is silent for the answer, it can be a little intimidating. But I adjusted, although I still had some trouble with the jokes. I think that is one of the hardest things, when everyone is laughing about something and you can't because you don't understand. It's frustrating but hopefully with time I'll get there. They were patient and attempted to explain things to me and I attempted to understand.
It's hard to say what I think of the Egyptian people because most people I encountered wanted my money. But for the most part, the sincere people I did meet, I really liked. Our guide who was from Cairo and spoke amazing Spanish was great and very intelligent. He was really helpful and spent some of his free time just hanging out with us. The bartenders on the boat where also very cool, the Spanish people I met could not say one of the bartender's name, Chezley, so we changed he name to Antonio and he took it well. I actually think by the end he liked his new name. In Cairo I met a cool guy named, well take a guess...Mohammad in the street selling bananas, which were probably the best bananas I have ever had. They were small, but I think I ate like 10. Anyway he was eating something that seemed to be hummus like and I wanted in so he took me to another street vendor to buy it. Thankfully I got it to go because it was not at all hummus like and it tasted like ass so at least I did not have to pretend to like it. Overall thought, I liked the food. They use a lot of eggplant and spices. I think I ate eggplant almost everyday.
Traffic. Cairo has the most insane traffic I have ever seen in my life. Nearly 20 million people live there, about 4 million cars, and there are no traffic lights. OK well there are some but they don't work and everyone ignores them if they do so there is horn honking at all hours of the day nonstop. Many times you can't make a left hand turn where you want so you have to drive all the to the end of the street (sometimes really far in traffic) and make a u-turn. I took a few cabs and I thought I was going to die because on top of horrible traffic they don't know how to drive and therefore drive CRAZY. The one positive regarding the taxis is that they are cheap but you have to work for it. One always needs to barter with the drivers, but you can always find a good deal. We had one cab driver for almost 3 hours because he drove us out of the city to another pyramid, waited for us, then took us across town to the market and the total cost was about 3 euros per person, not bad. Pedestrians also have not rights. There are no cross-walks or anywhere safe for people to cross the street. You just have to walk across and hope people stop. I was not a fan of this and therefore only crossed the street 2 when I was went to eat with this Egyptian from the travel agency and he had to drag me across. Not fun. I thought the Italians drove crazy but they don't even come close to the Egyptians.
Temple of Hatshepsut in Deir al Bahari (Near Luxor)
Cruising Down the Nile River
At Abu Simbel (South of Aswan) in front of King Ramses's Temple
As it should be no surprise to anyone Egypt is poor and the result is everyone wants your money and tries to sell you stuff. Any time we left our cruise ship we were chases by people selling all sorts of crap from cigarettes to jewelry and more. A few times I said hi or waved to some of the kids and they would respond the same and then look at me and rub there fingers together asking for money. I usually just laughed, in fact I laughed at a lot of people because some of their methods of persuasion.
The City of the Dead is where people live in Egypt for free among graves and mausoleums. It's a huge part of the city, about 8 km. We took a ride through some parts in a taxi which was interesting but sad. I kind of wanted to walk through it but we were advised not to.
City of the Dead
Below is a good example of what a lot of the buildings look like in Cairo. Again this is where a lot of the poor people live but these are not free. The reason the top of the building looks unfinished is so that they can add on when they have kids, their kids have kids, and so on. So once more space is needed they add on to the top. The construction is not of very good quality It blows my mind that the Ancient Egyptians built the pyramids but the Modern Egyptians can's seem to figure it out.
So that was a rambling mess. I'm sorry!
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