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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