Today marks our official, first day in Cairo. We had some adventures and hiccups after leaving Istanbul. We arrived in Cairo around 1:30 am and deplaned to go through customs. We bought our $15 visas and stood in line. There was a group of 30 nuns from South Korea who were greatly struggling with the process and the major language barrier. We were directly behind them in line, but it took much longer than it should have. By this time, it was almost 3 and I was reaching my crabby point. I approached the customs official who was slower than molasses at processing. He took my passport, placed the visa in it, and swiped it. Instead of immediately handing it back and waving me through, he began making small talk. It was the traditional customs small talk. He wanted to know how I liked living in the US, how the flight was, and whether I was tired. I was a little flustered as I left and dropped my wallet. My hand-eye coordination has never been stellar and functioning on no sleep was not conducive to a quick retrieval of my wallet. A different customs official laughed at me, adding to my moodiness. I found my bag (so excited that it had made it through) and the group began congregating. Unfortunately, 3 members of the group had their luggage lost. It took another hour of waiting/ filing missing bag reports before we could load the bus. By this time it was 4:30 am. I hadn’t slept much on the plane from Chicago and didn’t sleep at all on the flight to Cairo. I was TIRED! Check in was uneventful, but by the time Gretchen and I got to our room, I had gotten my second wind. I skyped Katie to let her know we arrived safely and we crawled into bed. The 2 hours allotted for sleep went by way too quickly.
Our wake up call came at 7:30 and we crawled from bed to get ready for the day. Breakfast was the traditional European meal with bread, cheese, and hard-boiled eggs. Our first stop for the day was the Pyramids. I was excited to get back to the site and explore a bit more than I had last time. I took some pictures, but spent more time observing the people around me and watching Gretchen sketch. She attracted a crowd and they watched as she drew a woman vendor. We saw the Sphinx and the structure where the bodies were prepared for mummification. We had lunch at a restaurant right across the street from the Sphinx. The waiter got our order wrong, but it was still pretty good. The meal was a bit more expensive than we had thought, but nothing too outrageous.
After lunch, we opted to go to a bazaar downtown. Traffic in Cairo is notorious, so we spent 2 hours stuck. My sleepless nights caught up to me and I fell asleep without knowing it. I awoke to our guide telling us to get off the bus and to meet back at the bus in an hour. Gretchen and I wiped the sleep from our eyes and made our way down the stairs. We emerged to the central hustle and bustle of Cairo. I have never been on such a crowded street! The vendors desperately wanted business and forcibly encouraged you to look at their shop. The proposals and comments began as soon as we walked down the street. Two tall American girls stick out terribly. One kind gentleman informed me that he would kill his wife for me. If that isn’t devotion, then I don’t know what is. We had lots of men who wanted to be our Egyptian boyfriends, but Gretchen and I have rings on our left ring finger to allude to being married already. I don’t think it works very well, but it’s something.
We made it safely back to the bus and got back to the hotel at 5. I was pooped and wanted to crawl into bed immediately. Instead, the group got together to have formal introductions. I did sneak a little nap in between our meeting and dinner, but awoke feeling as if I could sleep for days. Tomorrow is an early morning, and we’ll be seeing more pyramids south of Cairo. I’m excited to get out of the city a little bit and see other parts of Egypt.
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