Egypt part I

Well, I have just experienced my first encounter with censorship! There are sites that are blocked from having images uploaded in Egypt, and that, I think, is why I have been unable to put pictures to the words. But, as I am still technically in Egypt (through passport and immigration, but haven't boarded the plane yet), and the pictures are going through, maybe I am mistaken.

This is an easy "Where in the World are Ethan and Siena" as I am sure you will recognize the location. The huge sculpture was carved from the granite bedrock of the land, after the sand covering it was removed. It was meant to guard and protect the Great Pyramids behind it. This is the Sphinx. It is not a tomb, nor a temple, but a figure with the face of a man, the hair of a woman, and the body of a lion. This was supposed to give the creature brains, beauty and power, respectively. These were built in 2000 B.C., or, to use the vernacular, B.C.E. Hard to fathom, but this is not the oldest sites around. We arrive here using the same mode of travel as that used during the building of the Pyramids—camel. Riding a camel is, shall we say, interesting. They are quite tall, and to mount and dismount, the camel kneels down to make this easier. Unfortunately, the process of getting down and up is a bit like being on a mechanical bull. The animal pitches forward, then backwards. And then there are the sounds the camels make. They sound like Chewbacca from Star Wars, when he’s angry about something. The pyramids and the Sphinx are very close to the capitol of Egypt, Cairo.

Cairo is another world. We are fortunate to be met by a person from our hotel, who guides us through the throngs at the airport and delivers us safely to the front of the hotel. I have driven or been in the traffic of many cities. I have no problem driving in New York or Boston, have driven in London and around Paris, and taken taxis in various urban settings. But, I was completely unprepared for Cairo.
Image, if you will, a road 3 lanes wide in each direction. There are perhaps 100 cars attempting to be the first through the 3 lanes. With at least 6 cars squeezed into the width of the road, all accelerating into any gap, it is amazing we didn’t see any major accidents. On our first day, our driver was threading his way between the center median, and a police officer who had stopped a driver to write up a ticket. I thought there couldn’t possibly be enough room, but who am I to interrupt an artist? We clipped the cop in the backside with the side view mirror on our way by. The driver waved, but never so much as took his foot off the accelerator.
We are told most Egyptians speak 3 languages: Arabic, English and the first and most important language: the horn. You would think the cars’ accelerators were attached to the center of the steering wheel. At all hours of the day, the sound of various horns are everywhere.
We have problems regarding the other languages, too. As we looked at the signs, we realized, even if we had wanted to, there is no way we could drive here. Hungarian was hard to understand, and Russian and Greek used different alphabets, but Arabic doesn’t even look like letters to us.
To people from the U.S., Europe is old. But to Europeans, Egypt is old. Egypt blows our ideas of old away. We go to the oldest pyramids, in Saqqara. These are from the Old Kingdom, from 3000B.C. In the temples, the colors are still vivid. We learn that is because the "paint" was made from ground up stones, which were combined with egg white and glue before being applied to the artwork adorning the walls. We tour the Egyptian Museum, which is filled with artifacts from various tombs and temples, including much that was unearthed in King Tut’s.
It is truly foreign here. The people are all very nice, and many want to practice their English with us. There is a constant barrage of touts—people asking for us to buy things, to take cab rides, to stay in their hotel or buy water from them. The men dress either in Western style clothing, or in traditional dress, about 50% each, but the women almost all wear the traditional Islamic clothing, with long skirts and head scarves. We really look like tourists here. Which segues nicely into the reason it is hard to keep up the Beattie Beer Index. Our hotel does not serve alcohol. Most restaurants do not, nor is it sold in the small markets where we buy our bottled water. The larger tourist hotels have no problem selling it, though, and we sample both Sahara and Stella beers. We both like the former better, although both are a bit light for our normal tastes, this tastes good after being in the heat of the desert.. If the price of beer purchased at a resort counts, then we report an average of 15 Egyptian Pounds, or $3.

Sucaret! To Your Health, in Arabic
The Beatties