You gotta rub me the right way

Egypt oh Egypt. How I love you so. Even though you have more trash than I've ever seen in my entire life covering every inch of you and your streets, you have changed my life forever. Seriously.

We wake up really early and head to the theater to gather with the rest of the people going on our excursion. Scope them out and they all seem like they are ready for a good time- And we're off. The lady holding the lollipop with the #1 calls to us and tells us our bus is ready. We walk down the gangway (I LOVE saying that word for some reason) and are greeted by Egyptian police checking for our Visas. We meet our Egyptian tour guide who's name is Amman. I think. Kind of ironic that her name is A-man and she's a Wo-man. :P Any ways, we are guided to our bus by our body guard who's carrying some serious gunnage and our 2 police escorts that will be surrounding our bus. This was the most frightening experience of my life. Guns everywhere and they aren't afraid to show them. We load up in the bus and head to Cairo which is 2 and 1/2 hours away from Alexandria where we ported. The whole time Amman kept talking and talking and talking about Egypt. She LOVES this place and wasnt shy about telling us. You know who invented the boom-a-rang? Egyptians. Altar worship? Egyptians were the first ones. Invented color? Egyptians did that too apparently! Basically, Amman thinks Egyptians are fantastic but I was too scared to have an open mind at this point. I can tell you one thing the Egyptians didn't invent Amman- TRASH CAN PICK UP! This place is literally the dirtiest place I have ever laid my eyes on. Trash was covering anything and everything. In the water, on the streets, and somehow- even IN the air!

So almost 2 and 1/2 hours exactly into our trip- BAM! There's a pyramid. In all of it's glory. For some reason I thought Amman would have a drum roll or some type of warning. Nope, just another day for her. I was in awe of it's size. The bus drops us off and we are free to wander about the pyramids for an hour in 100 degree weather. The place is crawling with vendors trying to sell you anything they have. They'll bargain with anyone for anything. At one point, they asked for Jareds hat in exchange for ...wait a second...nothing. They just asked for it. Oh well.

We get back in the bus and drive a minute (it was THAT hot) down the hill to the Sphynx. For some reason I thought it was all spread out but no- it's very close together and BEAUTIFUL! You can actually get a picture of yourself/2 of the pyramids/and the Sphynx all together. (I'll down load them when I get home)

Back to the bus and we are driven further into the desert and taken to a place where we loaded into 4x4 land cruisers and went off roading with a crazy (very competitive) Egyptian driver. These guys do this all day long so they weren't afraid to go very fast and over very tricky terrain. It was kind of like what we do in the Hummer at the top of Seqouia but on steroids. Serious steroids. We were driven into the desert where we arrive to find our camels waiting patiently for us to ride. I think it was a compliment when the camel helper dude said I was "good in the saddle." Thank you sir. Another dollar tip for you! At one point I looked around and could not believe where I was. I could hear the Muslim prayer they have blasting over the city all day and it brought me to tears. It was one of the most breath taking moments of my life. The camel helper dude kept asking me if I was happy. Yes, I said. Very happy.

The camels took us to a country club and we had the most delicious lunch ever! Good stuff. Back into the bus where we went to see tombs and step pyramids. We actually got to go inside these ones and see the different writings on the wall. If Amman didn't know what she was talking about- she did a hell of a job pretending. I LOVED it! I would come back again for sure. With my police escort and body guard of course!

13 hours later and Jared and I were exauhsted. Took showers and went to bed. Apparently our bodies aren't used to "doing anything." If you haven't ever thought about coming to Egypt- reconsider. This place was AWESOME!

We are at sea today and then back to Greece, sea day, then Capri Italy. (my favorite) THEN HOME! Love you guys!