Harem, Khan el Khalili, and El Gouna

Have been sans internet for 3 days now so I have quite a bit of catch up to do. It has been an exciting start to the summer, beginning with a trip to the pyramids!

Maggie and I were awoken monday to the news that we had five minutes to be up and ready if we wanted to see the pyramids. Talk about a rush. The trip to the pyramids is always interesting because even just being on the road you are able to see so much of Cairo and the very interesting and different ways people live here.

The pyramids are of course awe inspiring and it is amazing to think that people thousands of years ago were able to construct something that we still marvel at today. Our pyramid trip of course included the token camel ride which is always fun. Maggie was even brave enough to kiss a camel multiple times for a photo op. I think she attempted about 5 times to get a good picture of it before we decided a video would be our best documentation.

I considered kissing a camel, but that was before I got a good look at its mouth that was covered in frothy, green, yuck. Blech.

After getting a good look at the pyramids Hamed (the driver here) took us down the road so we could get up close and personal with the Sphinx. There we were separted from Hamed because a guard who was on a bit of a power trip forced Hamed to return to the car and get our tickets, and then once Hamed was at the car said we could go ahead in if we wanted to... I will never understand the male ego. While trying to snap a few photos we were approached by two egyptian boys who proceeded to help us take all these great photos with the pyramids and the sphinx. My favorite is below. After they were finished helping us I felt terrible because lacking Hamed we were also lacking funds but we took photos with them and they seemed pretty satisfied with that.

Later that day after relaxing for a bit the whole crew took a trip to Khan El Khalili where we experienced a Souk, ate dinner, and saw some very beautiful Mosques. While at dinner we had a delicious drink Fresh squeezed lemonade with pureed mint. Soo scrumptious and I am definitely planning to make these once I return to the states. The only thing I would change is to remove the bacteria that gave us all rumbling tummies the next day.

After doctoring ourselves a bit, we packed up and headed to the airport. El Gouna is as always stunning and a completely different aspect of egypt. I was talking with Maggie last night and we decided that Cairo is where the nitty gritty real culture is and here everything is so surreal.

We've played very hard since arriving, swimming in the pool, taking walks around the lagoon, cruising on the boat, spying on the fish, and eating Mohamed's delicious cooking! I took my underwater camera out for the first time yesterday and I can't wait to play with it more.