Walk like an Egyptian...

Most people aboard the MV Explorer would agree our change of itinerary was a blessing in disguise. Due to the recent attacks in Istanbul the admin and staff had to reroute the ship and set up trips for all of the students onboard in less than 36 hours for Egypt.

Day 1 When we arrived into Alexandria, Egypt, forty of us boarded two busses on a three hour journey into the desert headed to Cairo. On board we had a great tour guide who knew every in and out of Egypt named Eman. Also accompanying us we had two armed security guards with fire arms every few feet of their body. It was a little worrisome that we needed them but reassuring that we were well protected. Our first stop was lunch at a hotel by the pyramids. After lunch we went across town to the National Archaeological Museum in Cairo. Minus the lack of air conditioning the museum was great. We got to see the famous 23 pound golden mask King Tut was buried in, as well as 143 different pieces of jewelry and hundreds of other artifacts found in his tomb. After the King Tut exhibit I got to check out animal and human mummies which dated back over 3,000 years ago. It was amazing to see how well the mummies were preserved with hair, fingernails, and other details still intact.

After the museum we went to check into our hotel and casino at the Marriott in Cairo which sat right on the river. After check in we headed for our dinner cruise down the Nile River full of entertainment with an Egyptian band and belly dancers. We called it an early night after dinner as we had a very early wakeup call on Thursday.

Day 2 The buzzer at 4:30am came a little earlier than expected. We managed to get out of bed and be on the bus by 5:15am. We had a boxed breakfast on the bus and headed to the Pyramids of Giza to see the sunrise. We took 50 different pictures in every tourist position possible. The camels arrived around 7 and we all got to take rides through the desert. They smelled unusually bad and I thought a few of us might get eaten by them, luckily we all survived. After hours at the pyramids we went to the other side to take more pictures with the sphinx.

After leaving Giza we went to the Citadel to see the Mosque of Mohamed Ali, the founder of modern day Egypt to learn more about the Muslim religion. Our morning continued with a two hour shopping spree at the famous Bazaar. It’s an area with hundreds of little shops with every magnet, t-shirt, jewelry, and Egyptian attire known to man. We finished the first half of our day with lunch at the hotel and then proceeded to take a very much needed 2-3 hour long nap. We congregated in the hotel to meet for dinner and then went back to the pyramids to for an interesting but a bit corny sound and light show. We all headed back to the hotel later that night and spent some quality time out by the huge outdoor pool and bar and listened to the live band play Egyptian music.

Day 3 We got to wake up a few hours later and got on the bus to head to Egypt’s first capital Memphis. The drive over was really different as we went through an old Egyptian village. There were more people riding goats and donkeys than there were driving cars. Once we arrive in Egypt we got to see an old temple with incredible drawings and hieroglyphics and an ancient cemetery of Sakkara. After checking finishing up all the sites Friday afternoon we got back on the bus to head back to Alexandria.

My time in Cairo was phenomenal. It’s was nice to cross another continent and one of the Seven Wonders of the World off the list. Unfortunately I didn’t get to check out the Lighthouse in Alexandria, but I didn’t miss much as it has been completely leveled by earthquakes in the 1300s. Egypt was certainly a world apart from the other European countries we have visited. It was great to step out of the common Christianity world and see the lives in the Islam society. It’s hard to believe they watch many of the same television shows as we do every day but when they step out of the house the women have their entire body and hair covered and more often than not are accompanied by a man at all times.

Today was our day at sea where we competed in our own Sea Olympics. The student body is divided into 6 seas (I’m on the Bering sea) and we had games like ping pong, basketball, synchronize swimming, lip sync, art sketch, jeopardy, iron chef, mashed potato sculpting, and many others. It was a lot of fun to take a break and have some friendly competition. Our team didn’t do so hot, but the faculty and staff (The Dead Sea) had some really great performances, especially the synchronize swimming.

Tomorrow we’re getting to Greece and we’re all very excited to get back on land and see some of the sites in Athens, relax on the beaches of Mykonos, and for me most importantly water ski. It will almost be two months since I’ve been on a ski so it will be very nice to get back on the water!
Hope everyone had a great weekend. Home in less than three weeks!