REd Sea Snorkel Pictures

Check out my web album to see Red Sea Snorkel pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/colmac27

Friends in Cairo

Top photo: Nora and a shopkeeper in Coptic Cairo. Bottom photo: Alice. Colleen, Nora, Peggy at the Citadel. Alice and Peggy arrived on Tuesday evening. Their flight was about an hour late and I had to take a tour of the 3 terminals at the Egypt airport before I finally found them, it was so great to see them. “Lucky’ for me I had eaten something that hadn’t agreed with me the day before and had to stay home from school the next day. Honestly I was sick, and was a bit under the weather for about two days but not enough to stop me from going out with the girls. We went to see interesting local spots in Maadi on Wednesday after school and we went out to dinner with some of our teachers in the evening. That evening we hired a van to go to the airport to pick up Nora. So wonderful to see her, We all stayed up till 4:00 talking and were able to sleep in next day since Thursday was declared a national holiday in Alice’s and Peggy’s honor, no school. Really it is Sinai Liberation Holiday and Mubarak declared it a national holiday, a real pleasant surprise. Friday we employed a guide and van to take us on a tour of the city. We went to Coptic Cairo, Islamic Cairo, The Citadel, Ataba, The Khan el Khalili, and a few other stops. The Khan was a memorable stop, never will you ever find such persistent, in your face vendors. They have jacked their prices up by about 80% of what they should be and expect to be haggled down, but not too graciously. Had the van drop us off at the leather shop and we walked home. After freshening up we took a taxi to a shop that sells fabric on Road 105 and finished up with a walk down the shops of Road 9. Nora had a quick taste of Egyptian Culture. I was offered 500 camels for the hand of my daughter several times by several young men. They were gracious enough to offer 10camels each for Peggy , Alice amd myself! It was a very full day. So glad they are all here. We pick up Linda at the airport on Sunday and early Monday we depart for Aswan by plane where we will meet the ‘Miss Isadora’ our cruise ship.

Snorkeling Hurghada

Photos: With Gabe, one of my Canadian students and our charter boat 'Tiny'. Thursday after school we were met at school by a bus/van to taking us to Hurghada. It was a 7 hour drive but the bus/van was comfortable and the company good. We arrived around 10 PM and stayed at the Santa Maria Hotel, impressive from the outside but not so swanky inside, but it was $20 a night for my share of a double room. Had a choice of going to the beach or going out to try snorkeling while the others did their diving. I opted for the snorkeling and it was an excellent choice. We had a charter boat with upper and lower decks and rented snorkel gear. The water was turquoise and although there was a little breeze it was very warm. We drove about 45 min to the first reef and the convoy of boats all anchored in a row. When the divers went down, I went in to have a look at the fish. The water was like Judique in August and very clear. The reefs have such beautiful coral formations, of all colours. The fish are unbelievable, flute fish, clownfish (Nimo), brilliant blue fish, yellow and black fish, yellow stripes, orange, rainbow, pink, turquoise, black and white, brilliant blue Angel fish and many more. The fish just swam around me and went about their business as if I wasn’t there. I’m not sure what they eat but they didn’t seem to be bothering each other just occasionally nibbling on coral, or what looked like coral. In all I was snorkeling at 4 different reefs and each was more amazing than the next. I felt safe for the area where the snorkelers were, was close to the reef where the boats wouldn’t go. The boat ‘Tiny’ was comfortable and we had our noon meal served on board, very good food all made in a small Galley. The whole 2 days was amazing and well worth the trip. We arrived home at 11:00 PM tired and well roasted, the Egyptian sun is strong. I’m sitting one sunburn area and leaning on another. The sun is magnified when you are on your belly looking down in the water. On the way home we had to go in a convoy (which is the norm) with a police escort. For photos see http://picasaweb.google.com/colmac27

Felucca Ride

Finally got my washer fixed, the repairman spent 4 hours putting it back together, now it works, mind you it takes more that 2 hours to run through a wash cycle but that is an Egyptian washer for you. The repairman Mohamed is a general fix it all so he was going to repair my 4th AC unit but when he took of the cover off the unit which is outside, a mother bird flew away. She left behind her just hatched baby and some eggs, so we put the cover back on and will wait two weeks. Today was in the high 30s and this evening we hired a felucca for a ride on the Nile. Lovely evening, the water was calm as it usually is and it is quiet out on the water. We rarely ever have wind here in Cairo, the seed pods from last years season are still hanging on the trees. I’m excited about Peggy Burke, Alice Campbell and my Daughters Linda and Nora coming to see me. We will take a Nile Cruise from the 28 for 4 days and 3 nights. Will have to visit the pyramids and see some of the sights in the city. I’m going to Hurghada this weekend, another beach weekend on the Red Sea.

Markets and Beggars

On the street today on the way to the Metro, I saw an old Fiat Taxi as usual, with its roof rack piled high with cargo. The cargo was about two or three beef carcases cut up in quarters or more going to market. Just a small tarp pulled over to hold it on with most of the load or more exposed to the elements. On the Subway/Metro I rode in the ladies car, no men allowed. (The Egyptian men in close quarters tend to get too friendly, hence the ladies car).Got off at the Nasser stop in the downtown area and walked to Ataba, where there is a huge fabric market. The downtown streets are bustling with people and modern looking shops with trendy Muslim clothing and some Western looking clothes. It is amazing that even though we are in full summer weather they are just getting out the summer clothes, but a lot of corduroy still around. I had to do a lot of experimenting with routes and asking friendly Egyptians for directions but I found the fabrics. On the way there I had to pass through a HUGE Bazzar type street market where the streets were blocked off and jammed full of vendors selling about any type of clothing, pink ‘bloomers’, scarves, gallabayas, bedding, baby clothes, T-shirts and so on. The markets are often by type of item, I passed through an area where appliances were sold, hard ware, house wares, carpets and then I finally found the fabrics, upholstery and clothing. Some areas are only wholesale and sell by the bolt, with some searching I found the fabrics I could buy. Most of it is cotton made in Egypt. I bought three cotton pieces at $2.72 at meter. Found some sheets as well for $6.36 (no fitted sheets here, I could find). for a flat sheet and 2 pillow cases. Every shop I went into is about as big as the bed of a small pick up truck. No room to turn, with a big school bag on my back. The fabrics are plied high with a path through. It is the side streets that are very interesting. They are so narrow with delivery people running through with fabric bolts on their shoulders, huge boxes on their backs, small delivery carts and even when there is no room, small delivery trucks. I took a walk down one and it was full of spice stores, little tiny shops filled with every spice you can think off over flowing from burlap bags with the sides rolled over to form a rim. Curcumin, white ginger, red ginger, cinnamon, saffron, pepper, toothpick plant, hot peppers, dried lemons, a real yucky looking tennis ball (size) which looked a lot like bear poop (leaves berries, tarry looking substance), they told me put it in water it makes a good drink! Mixed in with this is dust, dirt and many flies. I didn’t venture in too far for I stood out very obviously, being the only person with a ball cap visor while the other ladies all were wearing a headscarf, or a veil and dress/skirt. No pictures on this trip, people were friendly but taking pictures would push it to the limit. The always ask where I’m from and always smile when I say Canada. The small streets wind in deeper and get odder and narrower as they get away from the main streets. Lots of food vendors but you leave your appetite home if you are smart especially when you see the conditions in which some foods are packaged and prepared. That was the interesting part and this is the ‘keep you awake at night’ part. This is where you see the beggars and you see why they beg. There was a man sitting on the sidewalk in the dust and dirt, cradling his approx 14 year old son in his arms. The boy is unable to sit up, is handicapped or injured, maybe burns. His hand has no skin on it and is a red open sore accessible to the flies and street dirt. There is a woman sitting on the street with her 3 year old who is playing on the sidewalk and climbing a fence watching the cars going by. She is calling to him to come to her for she has no feet. An old man with his hand held out, blind eyes covered by very droopy lids. There is a handicapped man in an antiquated wheelchair, very small, very deformed, who smiles so gratefully when I gave him money. Meanwhile people are rushing by them without a glance. Can’t forget it, be thankful we were born in Canada. “There but for the Grace of God go I”!

Dahab and Mt Sinai

Saini, Dahab We took an East Delta bus from Heliopolis at 8:00 AM. The bus is very similar to Acadian Lines here in NS except it has loud Arabic music and movies. The trip took 8 ½ hours to get to Dahab which is on the Eastern side of the Sinai Peninsula and on the Red Sea. On the way we were stopped about 5 times for the police to check our passports. They have posts probably every 70 -100 Kms. We left Cairo and drove to Suez where we went under the canal through the Suez Tunnel. Then we went South toward Sharm El Sheikh the very touristy resort on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula where we turned and drove up to Dahab the less fancy and cheaper resort town where many people go to dive. When we arrived at the bus stop the ‘taxis’ (small half tons with a carpet on the floor of the truck bed) were swarming trying to take us to our accommodations. We stayed at the Auski Camp. For Friday to Tuesday morning (4 nights) it cost us about $12 each total. The place wasn’t bad except the shower, which was nice and hot, but it was ‘SALT WATER’. The next morning I joined a group going to St Catherine’s Monastery and then on to climb Mt Sinai. The Monastery was built by Constantine’s Mother, Helena to honor St Catherine an early Christian martyr who was killed there. The ‘Burning Bush” (or a descendant of) as in Moses and the 10 commandments grows in the courtyard of the monastery. Our group started to walk up the mountain path at 2:30 PM in order to catch the sunset on top of the mountain. It is a grueling trek, with loose gravel, very uneven ground and thin air. We were lucky not to be crowded as we walked up but some camels and drivers came up with us waiting to pick up any people who couldn’t make it on their own. There were also camels coming down and I soon learned camels just keep coming, they don’t swerve to avoid, they just go straight on with their big feet, which look like a foot in a bag of jelly. So make way for camels. The path is up the side of a mountain, bare of vegetation, except for a few plants in cracks where they have found a bit of moisture. Along the way there are Bedouin ‘canteens’ where you can stop and get a drink or rest. The mountain is 2285 m high and the path snakes up for 7 kms. It has beautiful scenery, bare stark mountains in all directions, banded with different colored geological formations. The path is dry and scattered with dust, rocks and camel poop and winds back and forth. Just when you think you can’t go any farther there are the last 750 stone steps to the summit cut in rock by a monk many years ago. It is a grueling last portion and very steep. The top has a small church and Bedouins selling, geodes, crystals, food, drink and blankets for the people who come up at night to see the sunrise. The hurried trip back down was probably just as difficult as the way up. By now it was dark, I luckily had the small flashlight Susan Mallette had given me before I left and it illuminated the path ahead of us. (Thanks Susan). Now we were going down a sometimes fairly steep path in the dark and I had on sandals and there was so much loose gravel. I and a Dutch lady linked arms and held each other up, we both sprained our ankles (enough to hurt just a bit next day) and would have fallen several times without our supporter. It was long trip down and I smelled like a camel for didn’t care on the way down what I stepped in. Next day in Dahab we rented some snorkeling gear and found a spot in the sun. The beach where we went out was a bit rocky with coral growing very close to shore, The Red Sea doesn’t have tide extremes, so the sea urchins live close to shore and are easy to step on. I avoided the urchins but when I went to snorkel the jelly fish got me. There were little ones all around with stings just like ours at home. That wasn’t fun so I lay on the beach and read most of the day and waited for the back of my legs to recover from mountain climbing. Next day no snorkeling because there was a high wind and lots of waves. I spent the day browsing the board walk looking at the shops and getting so tired of aggressive street vendors who all have the same script. Considered going on a day trip to Jordan but it wasn’t worth it, only 3 hours in Petra for $200. As we lay on the beach we could see the mountains of Saudi Arabia across the Gulf. Tuesday caught the East Delta bus, and made it back to Cairo in 9 hours. Pictures up on web album http://picasaweb.google.com/colmac27

Bling Bling

Went for a walk tonight and went in looking at some shops. The jewelry here is something else. The rich ladies are flashing with bling, bling huge rings necklaces and ornamentation. It is hard to find clothing without sparkle, dresses, night clothes, socks, shoes, coats, scarves, pants, skirts, purses and underwear. I bought a silver scabbard beetle necklace and earrings for $18. Found a Bedouin craft store. The Bedouin women do very painstaking embroidery on clothing and other articles. They also do intricate beadwork. I bought a bracelet and necklace to wear on Arabic day at school tomorrow for 12 LE ($2). The store has so many beautiful articles. What ever you want they will deliver for next to nothing. That means there are always bikes and motor scooters on the road. The motor scooters you can hear but the bikes can surprise you coming from behind, almost got run down by an old no speed bike this evening. They are old put together bikes driven by men and boys, without reflectors and they deliver from grocery stores, laundries, restaurants and more. Spring is here, blossoms everywhere, trees and flowers. The birds are also singing so much in the tress near my house. This is sandstorm season, Nothing much here yet, but some of the teachers were held up at Al Fayoum on the weekend until the winds died down. Saturday I cleaned the house and scrubbed and swept the floor. I left the windows open to let in the breeze. Well the breeze came in but so did the dust, had to scrub all over again and dust. This weekend I’m going to Dahab. That is on the Sinai coast of the Red Sea.