Dear Egypt: I Love You.

Our flight from Madrid to Nairobi had a layover in Cairo and thanks to a suggestion of my cousin, Becca, Dad arranged it for us to spend an entire day in Egypt.

I have to admit that due to current events, I had a few safety concerns myself and so it was good that it was not until after we were safely settled in Nairobi that Dad told us that Egypt was still on the U.S.’s list of countries that its citizens are currently not advised to visit. I really am grateful for that and for the fact that we took the risk because Egypt was AMAZING!!!! And most of that credit we probably owe to Khaleed (our Egyptian homeboy who I will tell you more about in just a second).

The only sketchy thing that really happened while we were in Cairo occurred within the first 10 minutes of landing. After picking up our bags, we exited the security area and were greeted by more than 100 “cab drivers” one of which just basically came up to us, asked Dad which hotel we were staying at, grabbed my bag I was rolling and started leading us to a van around the corner. Luckily the van he hooked us up with wasn’t anyone too scary although it definitely was not a legitimate or legal taxi.

Of note: over the next 24 hours and actually within the first 60 seconds of being out on the streets of Cairo, I decided that it is a city that I would NEVER like to drive in. You could start by saying that they were fitting 6 lanes of cars on roads only built for 2, but even that does not begin to describe the chaos. No one even really tries to stay in a lane, it is just a mass swarming and you just try to stay on the side of the road that is moving in the direction that you want to go. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before. It made driving in Boston look as easy as driving around downtown Manti, Utah or something.

Anyway, we did arrive safely at our hotel, even if it was in some shady black market sin wagon. The hotel was lovely. It was the InterContinental CityStar Hotel. The lobby and rooms were so stunning that I almost instantly forgot about the worries that had so recently been occupying my mind. And a wedding was just about to start in the basement of the hotel and so we got to see a beautiful Egyptian bride and her father and maid of honor descend the stairs in the main lobby before disappearing into the ceremony. So cool.

Walking like Egyptians in the lobby of the hotel

I digress. Egypt was awesome and this is why: KHALEED.

My dad found out about this amazing young Egyptologist online and I am almost 100% certain that it is because of him that I think that I might be picking up Egyptology as a new hobby for myself. He was a wonderful tour guide. With him we felt super safe and were able to learn more about Egypt in the 12 hours we were with him than I ever did in the 3 months we studied it in 6^th grade or even from classes in college. It was awesome.

We first visited the Mit Rahina Museum.

 The fam in front of a sphynx at the Mit Rahina Museum

 Check out how ENORMOUS this thing is by scaling it to real size using that man down there.

Also, check out the Egyptian's incredible knowledge of anatomy by looking at the leg muscles. Awesome.

After the Mit Rahina museum, we went to visit Imhotep and Saqqara. Saqqara is likely the world's first pyramid or pyramid prototype as Saqqara is really more of a step-pyramid. And Imhotep was the genius behind the whole thing.



These are believed to be some of the first columns ever built.

They were built in approx. 8 inch layers laid on top of each other. Can you see that?

And then because they weren't sure if the columns would be able to hold themselves,

the columns are actually anchored to the walls.

 The family in front of Saqqara.

 Khaleed educating us about the evolution of the pyramid

 After Saqqara, we went to visit the Giza pyramids.

This is the guy that Sean tried to take a picture of him and his camel in front of the pyramids and within 30 seconds, the guy had Sean's (actually my Dad's) camera in his hands and was asking Sean for money, which Sean likely would have given him, along with just about anything else (his passport, his soul, etc.) had Khaleed not swooped in and rescued him.

 Pyramids of Giza

The Syphnx.

Until today, I didn't know that this was basically buried in sand up to its neck until only recently.

After Giza, we went to the Citadel, which was really awesome to go to with Khaleed because he is Muslim. And he helped us understand a lot more about the mosques and their decorations (or lack thereof in one of the mosques).

 Shoes off following Khaleed across the center of the mosque

My only regret is that we were not able to go to the Cairo Museum because it closed early that day due to some MILD MILD protests/demonstrations that were happening in the square in front of the museum.

 The small protests in the square.

Many of you will likely recognize this area from the shots on the news over the past month.

After being turned away from the museum, we went to the GIGANTIC open market. This was another time that I was glad to have Khaleed with us--both for safety and for help in bargaining.

 In a little local cafe Khaleed took us to

 In the market Khaleed told us to try to go for 25% of the price they were asking.

This is the scarab beetle bracelet I bought from a SUPER cute little boy for $1 USD

He initially asked me for 5 Egyptians pounds.

1 USD = approx. 6 Egyptian pounds.

125% of the price.

I am apparently not the best bargainer. And I will likely never hear the end of it from my brothers. 

And because we just couldn’t get enough of Cairo, after Khaleed and the driver dropped us back off at the hotel, we spent over an hour and a half just lounging around the lobby and roaming around in the COLOSSAL mall connected to the hotel, to arrive at the airport only 20 minutes before take-off, thinking that we were arriving 2 hours early. Luckily enough though both we and our bags (miracle of all miracles) made it.

Taking a quick nap in the lobby after a jam-packed day of Egyptian wonders.