Egypt Day 10

We started the day early but I was feeling great after the night I had before. It was truly the highlight of the trip! We had an unbelievable day today as well! We started out with breakfast and then we stopped by some sights on the way to Cairo. We saw the area where the Israelites wandered, where quiail and manna was delivered to the people and we saw the Suez canal. In face we drove under it. We stopped by some shops and I talked to the Bedouin girls that were selling hand made goods. They were asking me about my earrings and other jewelry and they were saying how cool it was. People looked at me very funny in Israel and some people even scoffed at me and gave me some static. At the time my guide was right beside me and told me not to worry about them becuase they were just "stupid," lol, but I think that my appearance ruffeled a few feathers while I was there. Kinda like going to some churches in the US, but I won't go there right now :-) Anyway, my fashion seems to be a hit so far in Egypt, at least with the Bedouins, who are some of my favorite people at the moment. We had a security guard with a gun the first day, which probably made me more nervous that we needed one than it made me feel safe. I don't think he spoke English but he stood outside and looked intimidating whenever we stopped the bus. More about him later.

We got to eat at McDonald's for lunch just as we were getting into Cairo because we were in a hurry and it was really good. Just a taste of some American food was great! I'm good for the rest of the trip now. Cairo is the second biggest city in the world with like 18 million people, second only to Mexico city which has like 20 milllion. While we were stopped, we saw this guy on a horse pulling a bunch of pots. The traffic was unbelievable and this dude comes riding along and all of his pots spill off the cart. Some people help him pick them up and some people give him money. We are parked basically in ths busy street, kind of pulled over, while our guide gets us McDonald's and a couple of us get up to go help the guy cuz it looks like he is going to get run over. Monty tells us that he knows the guy and he does this just so people will give him money. He makes more off of people's sympathy than he does selling the pots that break. We then see a guy on a motorcycle hit a car in front of him and they just keep going. Our guide said that when people get in a wreck, they get out of the car and yell at each other for a few minutes, then they shake hands and drive away! LOL, the dude almost flew off his bike, sat back down and shook his head and drove away. It was very funny! Almost right after that we hear and feel a thud and someone hits us from behind. Monty the driver goes behind the bus and the lady apologizes and drives off. There are no lanes or parking spots, poeple just drive and honk. It's unreal! We eat McDonald's on the bus and head to the Egyptian Museum.

The museum was amazing! We saw all sorts of artifacts and learned a whole lot... they had King Tut's face sheld and sarcophogus that were like 18 carrot gold. They were all shiny just like they were brand new and they are over 3000 years old. It was crazy to actually see them and be right there. There was a real mummy in a case too! I was thinking that when I'm mummified, they will find me one day in my awesome tomb and some tour guide will tell all about how their research indicates that United Methodist pastors had big earrings, lip rings and eye brow rings. They will tell of their imagained significance. Since I will likely be the only one that's mummified, they will think ever pastor was like me. I owe it to the future to get that done... note to self. We didn't stay long enough there, but I could have stayed a month and it would not have been long enough. While we were driving from the museum, we look over and see the Nile river right there. Then we look up and there are the great pyramids, just sitting there, not far from the city at all. Or maybe they are just that big and they are further than they look. I'm pumped we get to see them tomorrow. We stopped at this store on the way to the hotel and I was talking to Monty. He saw the security guard at the hotel and told me something funny. I realized this morning that he wasn't with us and I figured he was just there to get us across the border into the mountians. However, Monty tells me that they tried to wake him up in the morning and he didn't wake up. They told Monty and he went and tried to wake him up. Since he didn't wake up Monty just left him. So, apparantly we were supposed to have a security guard all day and didn't cuz the dude didn't want to wake up. LOL, I didn't know whether to laugh or be worried about what could have happened!

We stop at our hotel and it is the most amazing resort I have ever seen. It is very nice and there was a Muslim wedding going on and later a band was playing and it was really cool. Lots of people were dancing and the couple was marching around. In Egypt, when you get married, you get an acre of land and a bull from the government as a gift. Now that's incentive to get married! We should start that. When we get to our rooms they are super nice and have a really cool foot washing sink next to the toilet. I found out later it is called a bidday (sp?) or something like that. So now with super clean feet, I go to dinner ;-) After dinner I go to the spa and use the jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room. It was awesome! They had separate facilities for men and women and swimsuits were apparantly optional. I opted in... everyone else opted out. Yeah, uncomfortable...

Well, Brenden Frasier and "The Rock" told me to tell all of you hello and they hope you are all doing well... and you know they are serious, becuase they certainly can't act! We fly to the very south of the Nile river tomorrow and sail up it on a cruise boat for a few days. Internet is probably not going to happen, but I'll update when I can.