About Africa...

I'm really going to make this brief since it's so far after the fact now.

One of my favorite things was the “boat people”—the name we gave for those people that follow the ship in a canoe and yell “hello” “hello” trying to get someone’s attention. Then they started throwing the goods up and the negotiating began. It was a little annoying as they kept it up until 10 p.m. Butch said he wished we’d have bought something from them just for the experience of it. But, when we were enjoying our cocktails on the top of the ship, we didn’t have money with us. They had some pretty tablecloths. We weren’t able to open our drapes because of them, but then we weren’t in our stateroom very much anyway. 

My most favorite sites were the Valley of the Kings and the Avenue of the Sphinxes. I wish that all two miles of the sphinxes were unburied as I think it would have been fun to walk the entire two miles.

Another favorite was our own private guard. He stuck close to the 4 of us at the markets. Butch said it was because I’m not careful enough. Actually, he was the guard for our whole group but since we were the only ones shopping, he stuck with us. I prefer to think he took a liking to us. He didn’t speak any English, but he was able to make it clear to me if I was venturing somewhere I shouldn’t. 

Another section of the Avenue of the Sphinxes. Just amazing.

I loved ALL of the side trip demonstrations: alabaster making, herbs and spices, perfume, tea, rug making (similar to what we already saw in Turkey), and papyrus which I got picked to make it. They let me keep it. Believe it or not, it has not dried out yet! I thought I would use it in my scrapbook for my journaling, but it's too coarse. I think I'll print on a transparency and then add it over the top of the papyrus.

The tombs of the kings were so colorful---as if they were just painted. It was unbelievable that they were thousands of years old.

Stephanie and Nicky went for the full experience. They rode the camels, hiked, bent over into a pyramid, and smoked a hookah. We passed on all of that.

At the sphinx.

Steph and Nicky "walk like an Egyptian!"

The pyramids were unbelievable. You cannot imagine how huge they are. Let's put it this way, when Stephanie and Nicky walked in one, they walked, hunched over the length of a football field and that was only halfway! As I said, huge!

And now for my observations:

1. All the food seemed to have cumin in it—even the tuna salad that was a cross between tuna and potato salad combined. One day I had what I thought was a tomato salad. Turned out to be sweet potato salad—cold, cooked sweet potatoes with mayonnaise. I really liked it. All the salads were good—very unusual—beets and corn salad—good, cucumbers with yoghurt, calamari and potatoes, corn and carrots, beets and pomegranate, broccoli with tuna—all cold and most with mayonnaise.

2. Traveling with your kids—doesn’t matter how old they are--they revert to kids: “Mom, do you have (insert any of the following: a kleenex, money, Equal, etc.).  Dad, do you have any bandaids?”

3. Everyone in Egypt smokes—and not just cigarettes! They have hookahs everywhere. I don’t know if you call them hookah bars or what. But, the entire country is smokey! 

4. There are cats and dogs everywhere.

5. Everybody yells at each other like crazy! Traffic is mass chaos. There are few stop lights—and people don’t pay attention to them anyway. Our tour guide said the stop lights and signs, as well as speed limit signs, are just suggestions! The roundabouts have every mode of transportation all piled in together—scooters, bikes, horses and carriages, motorcycles, cars, and even tractors. It’s a sight to see. Everybody going any which way in any direction. Just chaos. Honking and yelling. Then, people just cross the street anywhere they want—-even the highways! There are no crosswalks, none! It was crazy seeing people and families crossing 3 or 4 lanes of high-speed traffic! It made me a nervous wreck. I even saw a family of 5---yes, 5--dad, mom, and 3 kids hanging off of ONE bike. I've never seen anything like that.

6. It’s hard to believe that Egypt is the oldest civilization, yet living in this overcrowded, dirty, chaotic rubble! It just seems like it should be more advanced than that! Oh, and one thing I learned in geography class (okay, social studies today) when I was in “college” for those 3 semesters, 95% of the population lives within 5 miles of the Nile! Outside of that, it’s a completely brown, desolate, godforsaken place! I witnessed it. I think I only want to go to pretty places after this!

7. The only time I want to be walking in sand is barefoot at the beach. Definitely NOT with shoes on and near ankle deep! I have a personal aversion to getting sand in my shoes!

8. Our tour guide offered the best merchandise deals. He would take the goods from someone--including a kid and then hawk them on the bus. He sold a boatload (or I guess I should say “busload”) of those for the guys. He sold scarves, maps, and pictures too. Actually, it was pretty nice NOT to have to do the “haggle” dance! It’s kind of hard to be harassed by overzealous merchants every day, everywhere! 

9. Being an elderly person (gosh, I hate saying that) with balance issues, I stumble and trip on just about anything. There are many tripping hazards on the ship AND in the ancient city with uneven stone pavement full of holes here and there. I stumbled through the whole country!

10. The dust—unbelievable. The streets are just dirt in many places. We were told to wear masks on the horse and carriage ride because the dust it so bad. It’s true. I felt like I was choking a lot and always drinking water to clear the dryness out of my throat. My shoes and dark pants were covered in dust.  The dust covers everything! All of the palm trees, bushes and what little landscaping there is--is covered in dust. I couldn’t believe all of the markets and food places with food just sitting out in the open with no coverings! Even loaves of bread, just sitting on racks. The cafe tables and chairs are just sitting in the dirt. I guess the people are just used to it. I couldn’t live here!! Considering Tanzania was like this, I’m beginning to think it’s ALL of Africa! Just full of rubble, dust, and trash.

When I got home, I washed everything I brought including ALL shoes and packing cubes. If I could have fit the suitcases in the washer, I would have washed them too!

We had a great time and many new experiences. But, been there, done that, don't need to go back.