Seeing the sights of Cairo, and then some

Hi all,

All over Egypt there are half-built buildings everywhere. Everything seems to be in a state of either creation or disrepair. There will be huge stretches of land, and then a tiny little hut, half-built, in the middle of it. Mudi says this is because the government will only sell/give pieces of land to people who build on it within a certain period of time. So they half-build something in order to keep ownership of their land.

Lots of fully-built buildings are crumbling and dirty and look totally unsafe for habitation, but you see the telltale signs of life all over: laundry hanging outside, A/C units fastened to the outside of the building, and satellite dishes. I thought it was strange that there were satellite dishes pretty much everywhere, even on the worst buildings in the worst areas of town (or at least the ones we saw - we probably never even got near the worst area of town!), but it's the way of life here.

I know I have remarked on the garbage here already; people throw their trash on the ground as easily as they walk. It's disgusting. Yesterday Tracy and I went for a walk down the street from our hotel, and we had to get off the sidewalk and walk in the street because there were huge piles of garbage blocking the way. As we did, an Egyptian man said to us, "yes, walk over here, it is much better. Sorry, but this is how it is in Egypt."

Pedestrian street traffic is primarily men and infrequently women. Mudi says that Egyptian women stay home with the kids while the Dad works, and when I asked if it was ever the other way around, he said that an Egyptian man would rather be dead than to take care of his kids all day and have his wife support him.

So we climbed up Mt. Sinai. It is the highest point in Egypt, and apparently has something to do with Moses?... hehe. There is a monastery at the bottom of the mountain that we had toured earlier that day and learned all about St. Catherine. That evening we got our stuff together and started the hike with our bonafide Bedouin guide. I compare it to hiking the Chief, because I thought I was going to die and it seemingly was never going to end. But then, when I thought I could take no more, it turned into the Grouse Grind and consisted of 750 slab steps to the top - what a nightmare. Tracy loved every minute of it of course, and kept saying, "This is so much fun! This is awesome!" People that were suffering (as was I) silently/not-so-silently cursed her at those moments.

Anyways, we made it and it took us only 2.5 hours to get there. We didn't die. And we got to the top and watched a great sunset with the most amazing views of the mountains all around us. It was rather heavenly. But then, as were starting to feel complete as human beings, we had to go down again. No chairlift - no gondola - no donkey - no camel. IN THE DARK. Ya, I thought it was a little nuts to be walking along this rock trail, along big dropoffs and sand and rocks and next to certain death or injury with only a flashlight. But hey, let's just say it was a bonding experience for us. I will also say that I need a wayyyyyy better flashlight than the one I have. Anyways we all made it unscathed, another 2 hours later.

And back to Cairo we came. Today we saw the Citadel, Alabaster Mosque and the Cairo markets. Oh, and an Egyptian hospital - but that wasn't on the itinerary. It was an unscheduled stop but well worth it and with good results (antibiotics). Tomorrow we have one more day in Cairo and then Tracy & I fly back to Milan before heading to Morocco!

Some random observations/thoughts/comments:
- The elevators commonly have level 0 (zero), and one we've seen even had a -1 floor.
- We get stared at a lot. Kids wanted to take our photo today cause they had never seen Westerners outside of TV before.
- Tracy has somehow earned the nickname of "angel" or "St. Tracy". Wonder what that makes me. ;)
- We saw a camel in the back of a pickup truck.
- We saw a guy riding a bike, while balancing a huge flat (maybe 8x5') of bread on his head.
- The billboards/advertisements that we've seen that feature women NEVER show women wearing the headscarf.
- Mudi says you have to give money evenly to multiple child beggars or they will kill each other to get the money from one.
- 5 hours is much too long to wait for a bathroom break.

Hope all is well at home. Any news going on besides the heat wave hitting YVR?
xo
Elaan