Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Cairo

Cairo itself is an interesting city though not as old as you'd think. All the ancient egyptian stuff was based at Memphis and Giza nearby but they are now almost swallowed up into the expanding city. The pyramids really do have city on one side and empty desert on the other so you have to angle your photos to keep the ancient atmosphere alive.
Cairo itself is massive, with somewhere close to 20 million people by now (a lot commute in) and is by far the largest city in Africa. At first I was tempted to say it reminded me of India's huge cities, but after being here for a while, there is actually not that much in common apart from the size and a little colonial architecture. The air pollution here is horrendous and probably the worst I've seen on a consistent basis. Even then, one day it will be blue skies and clear, the next you can barely see across the river and then blue sky again the next day. I don't know how it can change so dramatically so fast. There is much less garbage on the streets than I had expected which is nice but it is all relative at this point. There is a bit of everything here too: modern buildings downtown, mega slums, european architecture, beautiful mosques (T0he minarets here are amazing and so inticately designed. There are so many different styles and most are unlike the standard smooth tower with a speaker on top.), coptic churches, little homes with laundry hanging from the windows and massive congested streets complete with flyovers (many of the roads in downtown are two levels) and the odd donkey cart to remind you where you are. Cars like Ladas, Tatas and Yugos, tuktuks (not common) and the kind you'd recognize from home. People walk everywhere and the drivers drive everywhere they can (though I've seen worse). Our sleep schedule is really messed up at the moment (waking at 5pm and sleeping at 6am or so) but it doesn't really matter because a lot of markets and shops around us are open 24hrs. 3am seems to be the quietest hour as the shops tend to be cleaning if they are still open and after 4am they have the Azan and people start getting up to pray. You'll still see families and children walking around at all hours though so it is perfectly safe.
The last few years has seen the local population becoming more conservative so that most of the women (nearly all muslims) wear the headscarf again. Honestly, I think westerners and the media make too much of that "symbol of Islam". What's nice here is that there are still lots of women on the streets, wearing jeans and lots of colour, smiling and laughing and generally looking alive and part of the community, even if they are wearing headscarves. I'd hate to see that stamped out in future years if the country continues to go conservative and become more like their neighbours. The men here are a little nutty though. So many of them have huge bruises and callouses on their foreheads from pressing the ground too hard when they pray. It is a sign of piety here but I don't recall seeing it in other countries. I think they are trying a little too hard to show their dedication......
There is still a lot to see and do around here and we are slowly getting to it. Most was done before we started working and now that we are on such whacked schedules, we may never finish. We've been to see the old Christian area, Coptic Cairo, where there are lots of churches still in use. The Copts are older than the rest of Christianity and broke away from the main body of Christianity very early on over theological differences and differ in quite a few ways still. I couldn't tell you really what it is about, but the original argument was over the definition of the divine nature of Christ and they apparently use a different bible, pope and music. It is also thought that they started the cults of the virgin Mary and using the symbol of the cross because they were borrowed directly from the earlier Egyptian cults that were already in place here. Who knows? I'm starting to think that all religion is fundamentally the same and 95% of all people in all faiths ultimately miss the point.
The ancient Egyptian stuff is really cool or just downright bizarre. The museum was awesome. Imagine all these original artifacts lying around that are 4000+ years old and you can touch them as you walk by. Some amazing pieces are just unceremoniously dumped in a corner and neglected because there is so much else. Other museums would kill for them as centerpieces. Truly mindblowing. Of course I have a thing for the Amun Ra stuff. We also made trips out to see some of the pyramids older and a little farther south than the ones at Giza. Everyone thinks that there are only the three great pyramids but there are tons of them kicking around many, just as interesting and almost as big.
We also went to see the whirling dervishes. You'd pay good money to see them in Turkey, where the sect is originally from, but the show here is free. I don't know how these guys can spin so long, I get dizzy just watching. Bre calls them the whirling napkins because of the traditional white costumes. Personally I like the sufi stuff in Pakistan better (better drumming and music). I've also discovered the best food ever, Koshari. It's a local "fast street food", a mix of little macaroni noodles, rice, lentils a few chickpeas, tomato sauce and garlic sauce. Filling, cheap (everything here is really), non-greasy, vegetarian and tasty. I have it everyday, sometimes at every meal.
Ammon

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Stars in Egypt

Wow, what a life! For the past few days we have been working on a boat set for the Egyptian movie "The Passenger", an Omar Sherif film the first segment taking place in 1948. As you can imagine we've been having a lot of fun meeting new people and getting dressed up in old fashion clothes. Most of the guys were dressed up as sailors, including Ammon who looked really smashing! Mom had a funny little dress on and Bre thinks Mom looked like a muppet in it, hehe but I still think she's adorable! I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Dad's attire! For the first half of the filming Dad got to run around in blue striped Pj's which I thought was quite amusing since I've never seen him wear any before! His role was to run across the boat deck in a panic (the boat is supposed to be on fire) after frantically jumping out of bed. Fortunately for him, he got a promotion on Mom's birthday from pyjama freak to Admiral!! WHOA Dad!! He actually got to escort a very famous Lebanese singer off the boat and say a couple lines for the very last shoot!! You wouldn't believe it but I have a very dangerous job!! During the fire scene they shot off a bunch of wild fireworks. I'm shocked that during "ACTION" I got hit in the butt with a bottlerocket!! OUCH! Even through a thick coat, skirt and underwear I had a huge red spot on my bum!! I couldn't help but laugh with everyone else when we saw the mark it left! hahah. We three girls always got to go into the "make-up" room to get made all pretty =) before going on set. All of a sudden I felt like a total powder puff girl and totally helpless being pampered and having someone else put on my mascara. Sitting in the very nice, professional hair dresser room having my make-up put on, I felt like a white sculpture being painted to perfection. It feels so nice having my hair done up, played with and put into a cool style. I even got head massages included....but I think that's just because the guy liked me...eewww. Yes, yet another person has proposed!! It's funny because after a long 12 or more hour day at work, I let my hair out and it is sooo full of hair spray and looks like I have lion hair. We all laugh and have fun on set and it's great. I have to admit, I almost felt like I was at home being in a nice, air conditioned, clean beauty parlour. I say "almost" because I knew I was NOT at home when the guys closed the door and braught out a bag with something in it. "Oh great, what could be in this bag", right?! No doubt, a pair of cobras! Oh geez, I couldn't believe I was stuck in a room with a bunch of crazy Egyptian guys and loose cobras slithering around.....These people sure do have a weird way of passing the time and keeping themselves entertained!
We are having lots of fun and it's been a great experience! We plan on staying here a while if we can continue to work which would be cool! Who knows, we just have to wait and see becasue we never have a set plan or schedule. It's great and we're FREE.
Savannah

Monday, May 14, 2007

Filming

I'd assumed long before coming to Egypt that I wasn't going to like it. I'd heard so many bad stories of hassle and harassment that I almost didn't want to go. Egypt should have that great Arab/Islamic hospitality but I'd heard little evidence of it's existence from other tourists. I haven't seen all of the country yet but so far I have to admit that it hasn't been all that bad. Certainly not what I was expecting. But they are liars and incompetent here just the same. It doesn't seem much worse than anywhere else touristy and it's better than the worst of India. In part that is probably due to our low expectations but also to the fact that we are not putting up with or giving in to any nonsense from people. I must confess that due to my expectations, I developed a state of little respect for Egyptians and do not feel the slightest guilt in going pre-emptively ballistic on anyone that even looks like they are thinking about being retarded. And I am not afraid to tell them how I feel. There was even a large scene at the museum in our first days here. I've noticed that mom has often been right there with me too. Dad and Grady must think we are crazy but we aren't normally this aggressive (I don't think anyone here is going to break my ribs). I'm just trying to not show weakness and for the most part we've been largely left alone.
I do get the impression that the government has started to notice their negative reputation and have started to clamp down on some of the more obnoxious locals. The pyramids were almost hassle free and people (almost) quoted the real rates for camel rides inside for example. There are tourist police everywhere (actually, Cairo has more police per person than any other capital in the world, though there are half a dozen different kinds) and in theory they are always on your side. In the few instances where we've threatened or been threatened to have the police involved we always came out on top. At the same time, the police can be rather annoying (as in the museum incident). Don't ask them for directions or any bonus help. Most are young guys with no clue. Some make me totally crazy and get away with ridiculous rules under the quote "for (your) safety". Checkpoints in Sinai that don't check anything, not using the wall to write against for fill your form in (how that is unsafe I can't begin to guess), not sitting too long on the side of the road or closing the museum early. They're a little too obsessed or too lazy. But as I said, the government is trying to make it look like they care now. We've been in Cairo a lot longer than planned already (2 weeks) because we've been doing more filming work, including a commercial series for the ministry of tourism to help bring awareness of tourist issues to the Egyptian population. You'd think they'd've figured it out 100 years ago but then we are on Egyptian time here. Our filming schedule seems to change hourly too. Mom is too funny also. She and dad had starring roles in one long commercial and it was done in two parts, good and bad outcomes. In the bad they had to tell her to tone it down a little and not be so angry at getting ripped off in the market but you should see her on the street for real! They couldn't've picked a better actress for the part. I wonder what the locals will think when they see her on tv and recognize her as the one that attacked them before for real :)
We are now looking for a proper agent and will probably stick around here for a while doing this work. Long days but easy enough and they like us. Every foreigner extra is Russian or some ex-Soviet country and tends to have too much attitude and a certain look. I think they like having new blood in the industry. Of course Bre is very popular but we are all getting parts. It is kind of dumb because the schedules tend to keep us up all night and 15 hour days for $20 seems obsurd but I'm trapped in a logic that I can't deny. If I am willing to go through hell and discomfort to save a couple dollars, how can I refuse to go through it to make more? So here we are. But we should be able to pull in more money soon and it is making us a profit. To just sit here and live, it is costing between $3 and $4. The room is $2 each and food is really cheap. We have a stack of books and the card team is back together so we can't complain.
Hopefully we will still have more to write if we don't go anywhere for a while.
Ammon

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Going For It

I knew I was nowhere near home when I read the road sign exits- Saudi Arabia and Baghdad. I mused how well both conifers and palm trees grew together in this dry, rocky land riding together in the poorly maintained city bus just outside the Amman, Jordan airport. It was with great relief and satisfaction to know we'd finally rejoined Ammon after such extensive preparations. Everything I had was either in storage, given away, liquidated or crammed into my bulky backpack. For me a New Adventure BEGINS!
Living in constant danger and literally just out of reach beyond our horizon... Skylar safely joining us someday can't come soon enough. It was great having Grady join us for a month before his lamented departure (especially for Savannah) as we both shared the fully accepted designation of Newbie. As such, I found myself contemplating my body's apparently not so well "oiled" condition. Was I a complete slacker for bringing up the rear after a normal day treking 15km+ in 34 C heat? No, I had simply been thrown necessarily headfirst into being initiated into what I now know is a die hard, looks can be deceiving, shockingly tough, well experienced group of very closely knit world travellers!! Damn the body "squeaks" I feel the morning after....full charge ahead!
The past five weeks have had their share of surprises and the anticipated culture shock. Food and bathrooms easily come to mind with Breanna and Savannah energetically adding to the shock factor. Yes, I recall worms found in dried dates with my whine (of protest) but only AFTER said protein laden (thank you Shean) worms were deliberately sought after, plucked out and wiggling as they were nonchalantly tossed one by one down the hatch of my youngest female dinner companion!
Upon opening the door to the bathroom I initially wanted to pass out for fear the stark reality of it all would be my demise. In the next millisecond, I unfortunately envisioned the appropriate liquids associated with torture chambers mistakenly dripping on the sickly yellow tile of the small 5' 11 " tall room sporting a rotten board rigged into the cracked frame of a lone window to completely cover its broken glass. I imagine how this place somehow, in some way, surely resembled Frankenstein's lab or better yet where Sky was subjected to his nightmare tear gas training. I was afraid to use my own nose to check for ANY type of gas....perhaps Bre could do it for me???? Suffice it to say with a little coaxing from Maggie I did survive this room. However the next bathroom prompted a somewhat different reaction. For an instant I was sure that the shower was designed to be used standing with one foot in the toilet bowl (later it was pointed out that at least there was a toilet bowl). And why not? The shower head in the very small room (that barely accommodated a sink and toilet) hung just off centre above the toilet seat. Perhaps rotated 180 degrees and switching feet would facilitate the users best chance of successfully getting clean, squeezed between toilet and sink in a hunched over position (poor Ammon).
All in all I am having the time of my life and as promised, as the days fly by, I am more easily able to see past the uncomfortable differences to the luxuries I am accustomed to at home. I have easily found that the pluses far out weigh not only the minuses but everything else. The history to be easily found here boggles the mind, the people are generally very helpful and friendly and many things seen and done together with family have been truly incredible to me (a lot more on these topics later). I couldn't be more elated to be looking forward to more good natured "abuse" and adventure from this crazy gang I call family.
Brandon

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Grady

Well, I have now parted from the Traveling Canadian Family, and to say that trip was worth the money I spent would be an understatement. From day one I was anxious to get started on my first traveling adventure with the Watkins family and from knowing them closely as good friends for several years – even before they started their world travels – I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed. Our first stop in Frankfurt, Germany was cool (even thought we spent the majority of our time there in a Starbucks), but things didn’t get interesting until we arrived in Amman, Jordan. The first hotel was practically falling apart; it was dirty, small, the closet door in our room fell off when I tried to open it, and the bathrooms seemed like something you would find in a concentration camp as Brandon had so elegantly put it, and yet, it was exactly what I was expecting it to be like. It didn’t take me long to get adjusted to this new type of lifestyle because I’m the adventurous type and after a long day of exploring and sight seeing, coming back to the hotel, flopping on a bed and going to sleep is enough to put a smile on anyone’s face, no matter what the bed looks like. The ruins of Jerash and Amman were really fun but the first highlight of the trip was definitely the Dead Sea. It was interesting to know that I was 1200 feet below sea level when I went swimming there. For everyone who’s reading this and plans to see the Dead Sea, I have done some extensive hands on experimentation of the Dead Sea’s waters and have come to a couple conclusions: It should not be taken internally, nor used as eye drops. I was probably using the beach shower as an ‘eye wash station’ for about 5 minutes straight after being foolish enough to take a nose dive right into the water. Tasting it was no better of an experience; the water didn’t even taste like salt, but more like a super concentrated extremely bitter acid (which is basically what it was). The beach however was pretty nice which, I guess, they had to make it that way because you really couldn’t do much in the water but float. The next highlight of the trip was Petra. Currently nominated as one of the next world wonders, Petra was quite a sight to behold and definitely has my vote! We spent 2 whole days there and still didn’t get to see all of the ruins. After Petra, we made our way to Dahab which is a hub for Scuba diving activity in Egypt and definitely where I had the most fun on the trip. While the Watkins’ were learning to Scuba dive, I decided to go my own way for a while and check out some of the other famous diving sites along the coast since I was already an open water diver. It was really fun and there were a lot of things to see in the Red Sea - including an Octopus which I had never seen before - but the best of my 5 dives was the one I did with the Watkins for their last open water dive. Seeing everyone and their antics from an underwater perspective was really entertaining to me which really goes to show that the diving experience is only as fun as the people you are diving with! Next, there was Saint Katherine’s Protectorate and the 3 hour hike up Mount Sinai. I enjoyed the hike but the best part of Mount Sinai was the view from the top! After just over a week in Dahab, we had our fill and moved on to Siwa. Spending 24 hours on bus on my 20th birthday was a new experience. The only thing I learned from those bus rides was that Hindi movies are Hilarious with a capitol H!!! In fact, I think I’m going to go rent one as soon as I am done writing this blog. Siwa was like no town I have ever been in; donkey carts replaced the usual sights of cars and scary black robed figures replaced the usual sights of women. Yes, it’s true, Siwanese men go crazy with desire when they see Grady in the lobby of their hotel. YUK! Every time I wanted to leave the hotel, I had to get Savannah to distract the owner at reception just so I could sneak past without him noticing me…awkward! The bikes we rented in Siwa were definitely the worst bikes I have ever ridden despite the fact that mine held together a lot better than most of the other bikes the crew had to ride. Being a sandboard on the sand dunes isn’t as bad as it sounds and is highly recommended for those who don’t mind having sand in their hair for a couple days afterwards. Cleopatra’s Bath was a life saver and doing crazy flips and ‘penguin dives’ will always be retained in my memory. The movie set was a waste of time, but at least the girls got a chance to be on camera and I can’t complain with getting 100 L.E. for doing absolutely nothing. Cairo was awesome and it’s been a childhood dream of mine to see the pyramids of Giza! I just didn’t think I would be riding a camel with my lovely girl friend at the same time. The last month has been full of adventure and fulfillment. Thanks for the memories you guys and I miss being there already! Savannah, you have my love; for the rest of you, good luck and best wishes! Look out for one another and keep each other safe!

Grady

P.S. I have to thank you again for the twinkie cake, that made my day!

Friday, May 04, 2007

Back

Wow, it sure has been a long time since I wrote on this last. No worries, they didn't just forget to mention that they had thrown my dead body into the Nile River. It's quite impressive to me that I am on the other side of the world again. It's fascinating to see how far I have come from being a 14 year old girl being dragged around the world to nearly 17 and having the time of my life travelling with my family! I couldn't be happier (unless of course Grady had a flight back to me tomorrow!!). I feel that I've grown so much from this trip.
When I arrived in Jordan, my 38Th country, I felt like I had never left the road or Ammon at all. I was adjusted, ready to bring out the adventure charts and get at it again immediately! So far the real highlights for me have been Petra, scuba diving and relaxing in Dahab buying milkshakes, getting back into a small town of Siwa, the museum and definitely riding camels at THE pyramids of Giza!! I am so happy with myself for completing the scuba course. What an awesome opportunity!
Yesterday, Grady's last day, was one of the best of not only this trip but the original one too!! We went to the pyramids and they are absolutely spectacular! I couldn't help but imagine what they would have looked like in their day! That would have been....beyond words. The fact that they have been standing there for about 4,500 YEARS and that people had to build them without cranes or even pulleys blows me away. Going to the depths and soul of an ancient tomb, sliding down the compact and narrow stairs on my bum was an adventure in itself. It's unbelievable how stuffy and hot it gets as you climb down into the chamber where a mummy used to lay in the silence of its encasement. Oh yes, I put the blame on Bre for breaking the lights inside....THAT was creepy and pretty unbelievable at the same time. Bre and I have found a new way of raking in the dough. As most of you know, Bre is really into the arts and crafts and we just realized how handy that is to us out here. There are always local kids trying to sell bracelets, postcards or other little souvenirs and we found their weakness!! Instead of money, Bre will make a trade. Most of them don't speak English and therefor it is too hard to explain what we want so Bre and I present our bargain and the kids ALWAYS give in. First Bre will take out her box of face paints and draw a cute flower or something on my hand and as soon as one sees it a dozen hooligans will come running over, wanting one for themselves. How can any little kid resist something like that?! Bre paints while I collect the pay one by one and tell them to line up. It's like a small business and now we have a collection of free postcards, anklets, bookmarks and so on. By the end we have to peal a whole load of them off us so that we can carry on with our sightseeing. They just want more and more and more all over their adorable little hands, arms and faces. Clever isn't it!?
Having dad here is definitely a change but great for more of us to be together, we just need Sky here to complete the family. Unfortunately, us four talk about the last trip so much that he must feel very left out. Dad has been doing an awesome job of being a good sport but I must admit he is quite a whiner. Almost everything out here shocks and grosses him out and he has the funniest reactions to things. Worms in dates, dirty bathrooms (which in my opinion are nice compared to Chinese toilets!!), cars nearly running pedestrians over (he thinks we've run a dozen people over already, ahah) and he claims that the "millions" of flies landing on him and tickling him during meals are "stealing" his sanity!! Not to worry though, we won't let him get away with this wimpy attitude for long. He'll be tough and worse than us in no time, muahah!! Bye bye Grady I hope you had a blast and will come back SOON...miss you already :( and I hope you like eating Canadian carrots :)!!
Savannah

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Breanna

Hey Guys! To me the best part about Siwa was definitely the outing on our crappy bikes. Total pieces of crap. Well what do you expect for 2 dollars a day in a little town like that? So funny though. My bike's chain came off a few times. Mom's handle bars were basically falling off and the chain was so greasy that she tied a plastic bag around her leg to protect her pants. Most of the bikes weren't even straight aligned with the steering, had no breaks and bad tires. Half way through the day mom's bike totally was a bust and we took turns rolling it home, balancing between two riders (a tricky task indeed) while mom doubled up with someone else. Good thing we had Grady the handy man, he did a great job of fixing up as much as he could which really helped. I still was doing tricks and having a blast! We had so much fun at the spring. The best temp ever. I never wanted to get out. We were doing flips and creating funky stupid looking dives and laughing our heads off. Our favourite dive is called the "Penguin Dive". You do a front dive with your arms along your side and wiggle your body like a worm, its hard to explain but it looks ridiculous. Dad was racing with some locals and trying to teach one of them how to swim. The sand dunes were fun too. I am always coming up with new ways to fling my body into the air. Pretty crazy. We had it on video but mom lost her camera chip. Dummy. Good thing we have a few cameras and not too much was lost. There are some good videos coming up soon for you.
Anyways, here in Cairo we were once again asked to join a movie set as extras along with a few other westerners from our hotel. It was actually some what of a failed attempt. We were headed to Sharm el-Sheikh near Dahab again. Usually it's a 6 hour drive but it actually took us 11 hours to get there. Yuck. We spent most of the day hungry since we were supposed to be fed all meals and have everything taken care of but that didn't happen. The set was so cool though. Kinda out in the middle of nowhere was this huge stage set. We were to be as guests at a concert type thing. Felt like being at a Grammy awards or something. Only everything was so disorganized, we had no idea what was going on. Good thing we had made some Egyptian friends on the bus. One girl helped us girls out, finding us costumes and taking care of us even though she didn't speak English. We were all done up with hair, make up and costume. I thought it was fun! The boys actually didn't get to do anything. Again it was so disorganized and everyone was running around like lost and confused sheep. We were told in the beginning before we left that we would be on set for 3 days but we ended up leaving the next morning at 6 am. I don't know how that happened, someone said we are leaving and all of us hopped on the bus. Later we found out that that was actually the wrong set, and were supposed to be taken to the real set where everything was ready for us to do for the next couple days so yeah that sucked. But now we have a few more things set up for us that we will be doing in the next week. That's cool and this time we will make sure someone knows what is going on. lol
Yesterday we went to the Pyramids! Holy cow it was cool and to think it was all built almost 5000 years ago. Insane alright. When we went down into the pyramid I was kinda breaking the rules by climbing up this secret closed off passage when all of a sudden the lights turned off. It was funny because we were joking around earlier saying how "What would you do if you got lost in this place and the lights all went out?" or wouldn't it be scary if the lights went out" etc etc and the air down there was so thick and hot. The pyramid was so cool cuz you had to crouch down and climb down down down and then up up up to reach the chambers. Wicked! Anyways. There I was, basically stuck and had to jump down into the nothingness of black and hope not to land on anyone. It was great. I was going to lie on the ground and grab at someone's feet and growl or make scary noises but then I thought I might scare someone to death and cause a heart attack or something but then again I do have my first aid. It was a tough choice. lol I usually do that kinda thing all the time but this one I let slip heehee. Think about it, the lights go out and you are stuck in this little passage way like in Aliens vs Predator and knowing you are in a pyramid in Egypt where all the curses and scary mummies with crooked hands may come and get you for walking on their turf. ahahahah cool! Wouldn't you be freaked out if something all of a sudden grabbed you like that. AHHHHH
When we were riding the camels there was Savannah and Grady sharing one and Mom and Dad sharing one and then there was me.. all alone. pooopy fish. Not fair. Where is Darrin when I need him. But it was so cute for them and that makes me happy too. Plus Ammon is kinda in the same boat as me. That's one thing ticked off my to do list. Ride camels around the pyramids in Egypt. Wow, I can't believe how lucky I am. What an experience all this is. I am gaining so much knowledge about the world. It's history, culture and so much more. What a gift. Its really great how our family can be together all the time and get along. I mean things are going great and I am super excited for Sky to join up with us. I can't wait to see his face and the kind of life we live out here. A whole new world compared to the military. He is doing a great job and we all miss him so much. Anyways, thanks for reading the blog you guys, it means a lot!
Breanna

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Not too old.

Lisa, I hate to say this but no matter how old Gord is, I will always be older!! He will just need a quick refresher course and be as good as new. Now that he is older and fatter it won't be as cold either, haha. Really you should join him and then we can all dive together yeah! Come find us in a warmer country (Sarah's 29C Australia water sounds good) because snowy beaches are not for me. You could actually die from a heart attack doing that!
We are in Cairo and starting to expire due to the pollution. We will have to limit our time here for our lungs' sake. Seriously it is terrible. The pollution clogs lungs and gives us a cough which I know will not go away for weeks after we leave. We have been moving slowly thus far on our trip even though we have missed three nights sleep in the last week due to overnight buses and such. We will hang out in Egypt for the next few weeks probably. Grady is due to leave tomorrow late and we are always hoping Sandra and others will come and join us soon.
Today we went to see the Egyptian museum. Wow what a place! I love Egyptian stuff. Seeing the oldest artifacts around is amazing. This is one of my dreams to see and tomorrow we go to see the pyramids.
Maggie