July 2, 2007

Travis' blog

Prepare yourself for a crazy day. Or rather, crazy afternoon/evening. But, let's start at the beginning.

I felt rather lazy sleeping in and not leaving our room until 9 or 10, until I realized that was still only about 6 or 7 hours of sleep. We took our time getting ready, then finally headed down to breakfast. While trying to find the place, we were met by a hotel worker who pointed us in the right direction and told us he would help us plan our trip. Then it was back to the quest of finding food to feed our angry and empty tummies. I braced myself for another Egyptian buffet. My dismay of being proved right was easily replaced by relief over having something more than cornflakes for breakfast. I suppose it's all about which memory you want to suppress. :)

Upon leaving breakfast, we were once again met by the incredibly helpful and friendly man. (That should have been our first red flag.) Pulling out a book with pictures and maps, we started mapping out our one day in Cairo. Have you ever had the moment when you feel like what you want to do is no longer of as much importance as what someone you don't even know wants you to do? Those people who can make you believe anything is better than what you had planned? Welcome to our state of mind. Next thing we knew, we had agreed to hire a driver to take us wherever we wanted (though we had a semi-structured tour already planned) for only $40 for 6 hours. He even went and purchased tickets for our bus ride to Nuweiba the next day. Thinking it was too good to be true, we obeyed Mouhli (the too nice guy) and waited in the hotel for him to return with our bus tickets and driver. So we went and got on the Internet to plan Jordan a bit better as well as to check email. Then we headed back to our room to wait. And wait. And wait. We went out and enjoyed the view of the very 5-star swimming pool, we watched TV (The Adventures of Braer Rabbit), and we slept a bit. We were only interrupted once when some guy knocked on our door and delivered two washclothes. Odd. Finally, around 2:30, Mouhli called to tell us he had our tickets and that our tour would start at 4. With an hour and a half to go, we decided to find ourselves some lunch, a little irritated that we had spent the entire morning of our one day in Cairo in the hotel. When we got down the the lobby, there sat Mouhli and our driver—Mohammed. So, we moved our trip ahead an hour and started on our way.

First stop, lunch/dinner. (We're getting really good about combining meals here.) He took us to a nice little kabob restaurant with a nice view of the pyramids (that is, until they shut the curtains). It wasn't even that bad of a price... until our waiter insisted upon a 20 LE tip. (That's $4, my friends. For a 50 LE ($10) meal.) Ridiculous. That's what that was. A quick jaunt to the top floor for pictures later, we headed back to the cab. Next stop, a papyrus shop. Haha! Saw that one coming. I warned Travis that this stop was much like a Tupperware party. Mohammed would get a commission off anything we bought, hence why he brought us here. We'd go in, get a little demonstration, with the intention that we wouldn't leave until we purchased something. Laughing, Travis stepped into sucker mode and we stepped inside. It was worse than I expected. Not having 44 people roaming the store, it was much easier for the sales reps to leach onto us and tell us what was what. They even got us separated, so we each had our own sales rep. Luckily, I was able to pull off looking knowledgeable enough to not need much assistance, as well as the, "I'm only here for my brother—I've already bought papyrus" card, so my salesman left quickly enough, so I joined back with Travis and helped him fall victim to not just one, but two papyri. I am happy to report that one that he bought was one I had been eyeing before, but hadn't had enough money to buy. So I'm glad to know that I'll still be able to admire it whenever I see fit.

Travis wasn't completely satisfied, however. He had wanted an Abraham facsimile papyrus like I had purchased. We tried to describe it to the shop, but they had no idea what we were talking about. So Mohammed tried to help us find it, but it really was a wild goose chase. All I could really remember was that it was a papyrus factory near a jewelry shop, somewhere on or near Pyramid street. Turns out, those are about the only two shops on Pyramid street—papyrus and jewelry. Haha! Needless to say, we never found it. Pity, really.

Last stop—and main stop—camels to take us to the pyramids to a panoramic spot to photograph. We had been told that everything was paid for except entrance fees. Assuming that meant the entrance fees to get into the pyramids and the sphinx, I really didn't expect too much. Especially since we both had student cards. Oh, plus a little for camels and a tip for the guide. Oh, no no. What he didn't tell us was that we weren't even going to go into the pyramids at all... nor get near enough to touch. Rather, we were going in the back way, to, admittedly, a beautiful spot to photograph. More importantly, what he didn't tell us was that the cost for this trip was going to be $200!!! Yipes! Of this we were not fans at all. But what could we do? We had spent a fortune to get us to Egypt for one day, we only had hours left, and we had to see the pyramids. So we swallowed our annoyance and mounted the camels. The camels spent half of the trip wandering around the older parts of the city before ever even entering the desert sands behind the pyramids. Before long, a guy came up and quickly opened two bottles of soda, shoving them into our hands, telling us it was Egyptian whiskey. (It was 7 up and tangerine soda) Not knowing what else to do with an open bottle of soda, we drank it. Then, before he'd let us leave, we paid for it. Honestly... I didn't even want it. I had told him so before he had shoved it in my hands. Grrr...

After a longer bit of travel, we stopped at our first stop—a panoramic view of the pyramids. Here we could see all 9 pyramids, and in that right, it really was beautiful. However, they were all spread out, and honestly, not really picturesque. So Travis asked if we could go further where they'd all line up together better. It took a bit of persuasion, since the sun was going to set soon, and our guides were convinced that this was a much better sunset spot. We couldn't get them to understand that it wasn't the sun setting itself that we wanted in the pictures. It was the softer light that the setting sun gives off that we wanted for the background—we didn't even care if the sun was in the pictures. (Especially since several would be black and white.) Finally, we convinced them that the customer is always right, and we headed back to the camels. Enter a yelling security guard. My guide (there was one adult per camel. There was also a small boy per camel, but they only play a small part in this story.) headed him of, yelling back at him. Travis's guide, Ali, soon joined up, put his arm around the guard while my guide (I forget his name) took us back to help us on the camels. I couldn't help but notice, however, that Ali slipped the guard something first. I laughed and joked around that he was paying off the guard to let us stay there. After I mounted my camel, I looked back, and sure enough, the security guard was counting some bills in his hand. Ha! At least our money was being put to good use. :)

On the next leg of the journey I heard Ali ask Travis, "Are you married or are you happy?" Laughing, Travis answered that he was happy. Chuckling, I hollered back that I didn't much care for the options. So he asked me if I was married or happy. Laughing, I said I was happy. My guide, not hearing the whole thing, asked what I was talking about. So I repeated the conversation. A while later, apparently forgetting, not having understood, or simply wanting to bring up the conversation again, he asked if I was married or happy. So I replied that I was happy. At that point, he offered me 14 camels to change that status. Laughing, I turned him down. He asked why. I replied, "I'm happy in America." We debated a bit, each proposal being shot down somehow by myself until finally he asked me, "Don't you like me?" To which I replied, "Not enough to marry you. I barely even know you!" So he kept at it, upping the stakes to a million camels and several nice houses. I told him that he'd have to get my dad's permission and that I seriously doubted my dad would approve. He seemed astonished that my dad would turn down such an offer. So then I called him on it, telling him I didn't think he even owned a million camels. He laughed and we went on. One memorable line was when he told me that he simply loved me too much. He also told me that he had several American girlfriends. That's right... perfect way to capture a girl's love... tell her about all the other women in your life.

We stopped at our next stop, which proved to be the most beautiful of the lot. Tragically, it also seemed to be the most problematic of the lot of them. The Gaza strip of the Pyramids, if you will. Everyone wanted that spot. And really, when it's us vs. the wife of the President of Egypt... well, you can guess who won. That's right, security guards started swarming all around us. It took both of our guides to lead them back to the top of the hill until Travis got enough satisfactory pictures, then they all disappeared just as soon as we had mounted our camels. Honestly, I'm starting to think all the yelling is just for show. It is fun to say, however, that we got kicked out of the pyramids by the President of Egypt's wife. :D

So we moved even further down. It wasn't quite as pretty, but it was nice in it's own right. When I dismounted my camel, it started rolling around on the ground. I was able to jump out of the way fast enough, but worried about the health and safety of the Camelbak that was still attached to the horn of the saddle, as well as Travis' tripod in the saddlebag. Two grown adults wrestling with the camel later, they were finally able to extract both items from harm's way. That adventure past, we sat, undisturbed for quite awhile. While Travis photographed, I sat with the two guides on the side of a sand hill. (Sand dune perhaps?) To break the silence, by guide started conversation by offering me two million camels. Ali simply rolled his eyes as if to say, Here we go again... I again laughed, and retorted that I simply didn't believe that he had two million camels to offer. So he changed it to $2 million. (Which, honestly, 2 million camels have to be worth more than $2 million.) After Travis' pictures, it was back on the camel to head back to the original panoramic spot.

At one point along the way, something spooked my camel and he started bucking. Several thoughts went through my mind, including, but not limited to, Hilary being bucked off her mule and trampled on back in Petra, the camel rolling on the ground at our last stop, Travis' camera lens in my Camelbak, and being grateful that the camel didn't have stirrups for my feet to get stuck in. The most prominent thought in my head, however, was simply trying desperately to stay on the camel's back. I am proud to say that I succeeded in that venture. The only damage done to me was a sore wrist acquired somehow in the clinging frantically to the horn while trying to keep myself up. The 10-12 year old boy leading my camel was not quite as lucky as I was. Apparently, a customer getting bucked off a camel is not good for business, and for some unknown reason, this was somehow the boy's fault. Odd... the two grown adults had a tough time keeping him under control earlier, and now the small boy was expected to keep the camel under control all by himself. My guide, the dirty rotten scoundrel that he was, immediately went over and kicked and hit the poor little boy, then sent him and the other boy home crying. (Well, the other boy wasn't crying, but he got sent home with him.) Jerkface slimeball. Grrr... I mean, let's be honest. I was fine. It was more of a shock than anything. The poor boy hadn't done a thing wrong. Grr...

So we got to the next and last point (which ended up being a little hill near where we had started) and Travis set up for the actual sunset. Having no little boys to watch the camels, my guide stayed with them while Ali came with Travis and I. We sat on the dune and talked while Travis moved about to find the perfect spot. By the end of this stop, Ali had given me his phone number to call him if I ever came back to Egypt. Haha! Ok, ok. He told me it was so that I could take another tour with him. But still. Two guides: One offers me 2 million camels and several nice houses, the other simply gives me his phone number. I'd chose the phone number over the camels any day. He was a much nicer guy.

We got back to where we started to pay our bill, finding out that not only is $200 required to pay for the camels, but also a tip for each guide and for each boy. Very poor at this point, we went for the low end of the range suggested and gave each of the guides $30 and the boys 50 LE to split. At one point, Ali came in to say good-bye, we apologized for being poor and having to leave a low tip, but then slipped him a $5, thanking him for being so kind to us for the entire trip. Finally, we headed back to the airport, walking really funny (we were told we were walking like an Egyptian... hahaha.), and completely exhausted.

Having invited John (a student from the Center now living in Cairo) to dinner, we immediately tried to find a phone to call him. It was getting late, we had been promised that we could use our driver's cell phone, but he was out of minutes, so we just went back to the hotel, only to find that their phone system was down. But, they were able to get us through using their operator's phone. Apparently, John, in his exhausted state, thought I was someone else, which caused a very confusing phone call. Especially since he didn't really figure it out until after the phone call. He kept asking me about work, which confused me, since I wasn't working. I felt for a bit as if I were talking to a native who didn't really know English and was completely confusing me with what he was asking. hahaha. But he ended up telling me a funny/scary story about a guy in the branch that was serving in the military. One day he was sitting on his horse in the street when he saw a camel running straight for him. He dived off the horse just in time for the camel to plow right into the horse, knocking them both over. ~whew! Guess I got lucky with only a bucking camel. Then, having both had a long and exhausting day, we decided to skip dinner and hung up.

Back up in the room, Travis turned on the TV. We entered the end of a rather depressing movie, yet felt compelled to finish it. It had several actors that we recognized, which is what drew us in, then we just kept watching. It had something to do with a doctor that helped raise orphans or something and trained them in medicine, then the one grew up and decided to leave, going to a small town and falling in love with a girl who had a boy off at war. Which is about where we came in. Or rather, we came in when the girl realized that her boy at war had been paralyzed and would be coming home soon. So the doctor boy had to come to grips with the fact that she loved the boy at war more than him. So he left (after having done some surgery to a black girl... I think an abortion? I'm not sure. Then the girl ran away, stabbing her father along the way) and went back to the hospital, after find out the original doctor had died, and basically took his place. Uplifting, eh? Though, I think I've seen the first part before. Anyone know the name of this movie? While Travis got ready for bed, I kept watching TV. Fraiser had come on to an episode I had seen before, but come to find out, I had missed the very end. Which sent me into a laughing fit that brought Travis out, wondering what in the world was going on. It was great. Finally, we went to bed.