Cairo

Since the last time we checked in we have moved on to Cairo. Our flight out of Amman was interesting in that Jordan is the right next to Iraq so quite a few soldiers and other folks related to the war either travel through Jordan or spend their leave time in Jordan. So the airport was full of soldiers from various countries heading off back to Bagdahd. We felt very out of place amoungst the sea of soldiers, goverment subcontractors, reporters, diplomats, spooks, mercenaries, missionaries, and all the other misc. type of folks that gravitate towards a war zone. There was every type of person involved in the war business heading off to Iraq and it appears that business right now for them is good.

Cairo is another huge city full of energy that never seems to sleep or cool down. We are staying in a Hostel that is fairly centered in town. The Nile river and the Egyptian museum are just right down the street. We spent our first day just walking around getting a feeling for the city and taking it all in. The seccond day we spent at the Egyptian museum. All items of signifigance have been removed from the pyramids and are on display at the museum. It must have been quite a feat to bring all the large sarcofoguses ( or is it sarcofogi) and statues, carvings etc. into the building. Some items were excavated so long ago and placed into displays that the display cases are antiques themselves complete with turn of the century wavy glass. All I can say is it is very surreal to stare at 5,000 year old carvings, papyrus, jewelry etc. One of the hightlights of the museum for me was the room full of King Tuts jewelry. He was found in his tomb with his complete ensamble of headress clothing, gold and jewls.

Today we hired a driver to take us to 3 of the pyramid sights. Of course up until today the weather in Egypt has been OK. Today it was 107.....That is not a miss-print it was 107 today. I did OK, and Heather was quite a trooper even though she really hates the heat. The first location we went to was Giza with the 3 most famous and largets pyramids as well as the sphynx. It is such a large area to walk around we decided to hire a local guide and go horseback. It was really cool. Riding horseback in the Egyptian desert with our headwraps on around the pyramids. Needless to say we have quite a few awesome pictures. While on the plateau with the pyramids we heard the prayer calls from the numerous Mosques in Cairo (they are very loud and seem to go off every hour in every city of the middle east) They were all sounding in unison and added this hauntingly creepy element to the pyramid experience.

We spent around 3 hours at Giza and then headed off to Saquara. It is also known as the stepped pyramid. The pyramid is currently being stabalized so you cant get as close to it as the Giza pyramids, but the tombs around the pyramid is accessable and you can climb in and see what it was like to be laid to rest for a few thousand years under the desert.

The last sight of the day was Memphis. Not much remains of the buildings in this area it is more like a small museum with more various antiquaties. By this point in the day we were worn out. 8 Eight hours in over 100 degree weather is pretty draining. We drank bottle after bottle of water today and I dont think either of us had to use the toilet once.

Tomorrow we plan to explore the old parts of Cairo. The anchient Christian and Muslum sections of town. So much history exists in this city you could spend weeks here and not see everything.