This past weeked a couple of us decided to hang out in Takoradie, a city on the western coast of Ghana. After work on Friday, I hopped a tro-tro and got on an STC bus to Takoradie. THe ride took about 5 hours. The bus was pretty nice- air conditioned and everything. When we got there it was already dark so we thought against going exploring in the strange town, so we just watched Spread with Ashton Kutcher which was a pretty good movie. In the morning we went straight to the beach. It was sooo nice and sooo clean and we were the only ones there. After swimming we went to lunch at one of the hotels on the beach which was really really good :) Then we went and explored the market. Unlike in Accra where there are stands and vendors EVERYWHERE selling stuff, in Takoride, people only sell stuff in the central market. Its a HUGE circle in the middle of the city. Its a lot cleaner and more organized than the ones that I have been to in Accra. Also there werent any tro-tros in Takoradi so we had to take taxis everywhere, and there was no traffic which was a huge change from Accra. When we were in the central market there were these 6 guys that all came out in jump suits with huge backpacks on and a hose thing coming out of it... I thought that it was the ghostbusters Im not kidding. But they stood on different road dividers and a ton of people swarmed them and got into a line in front of them. Turns out they had coffee that they kept warm in the big packs on their back so they would just fill up cups with the hose and people went wild for it... it was so weird. After the market we went to the harbor and saw all of the big ships :) That night we went to a club for dancing. After dancing for like an hour the power went out so everyone went outside and people blasted the music in their cars and we all continued dancing :) SOOO FUN! After that we went home and slept and left for home in the morning.
Monday, teaching at school was boring. The ICT teacher was writing the exams so I basically did nothing and left at noon. Then He told me it would be the same thing on Tuesday so I didnt have to come in til Friday... but then I found out theres no school on Friday because its a muslim holiday... so I guess I really didnt do much at my internship this week. Next week I'll just be correcting exams and then my internship will be over.
I have been using my spare time to write my papers. I have two done and one to go. I gave my presentation on the first one so thats over with. We also took our Twi test and the teacher let us use open book (such a joke) so im sure we all got 119.5% :)
Other than that have just been working on Thanksgiving. We got everthing together Tuesday night and started cooking Wednesday night when we ran out of gas... lol figures we are cooking for 30 people and the gas goes out. We had to wait until this morning to get more gas. I dont think there is any way that dinner will be done today lol. Hope everyone is used to Ghana time :)
Im getting really really excited to go home! Less than three weeeeekkkkkkssssss :)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Teaching ICT has been a little more intersting. They called in some computer techs to try and fix the computers so classes were cancelled for a few days and I just sat around feeling useless because I dont know how to make computers work lol. They ended up fixing 6 of the computers so we uploaded some software on them and then finally I got to teach with more than one working computer. It was glorious... unfortunatley the children dink around with the computers and push random buttons and click things that they shouldnt and by the end of the first day there was only one working computer left... and all that was working on it was Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing... in Spanish. Some kid switched the languages and now we dont know how to change it back because everything is in spanish. Needless to say we are now constantly trying to refix the computers instead of teaching the children on the one working computer... same shit different packaging :) The kids are preparing for their exams so we are mostly reviewing the stuff that we have been teaching them this semester. I also had to watch kids get beat with a computer cord/plug because the teacher couldnt find his cane- it was horrific and i never want to have to sit through that again- i felt totally helpless and taken aback!
This week we went to the mall a couple of times so that i could find an outfit for my birthday. The club that we decided to go to has a dress code and none of us brought party clothes or shoes so we all went shopping (the girls). It was so fun and after a full day of shopping we all had gelato (the best icecream EVER). It was like being back home and it made me kind of homesick :( We also stopped at the mall and saw 2012 which was really good- although I wish it had more of the history of the mayan predictions and the religious references- because Im a nerd like that.
We went out Saturday night to a club in Osu called Cinderellas. It was so much fun OMG we danced from 11-5 in the morning- my feet were numb from being in heels for that long but I looked like a rockstar so it was totally worth it :p Sunday was a day of recovery for most of us so we just chilled around the house and slept a lot.
My actual birthday was so nice. Everyone came over from the Aya center and bought me a bottle of sparkling wine :) and the people in the house got me a pink cake that said "Happy Birthday Princess" and had a ton of candles and it tasted SOOOOO YUMMY! and of course there was icecream too! I felt really spoiled. I also got some sour gummy worms, a chocolate bar, and a Chelsea jersey with my name on the back :) My family also sent me a bunch of cards and pictures which made me homesick but was really nice! I def felt special and had a great birthday. I don't feel like im 22 yet, hopefully it sinks in soon.
Now its down to crunch time... 26 days left. I have to write three papers and make sure I wrap everything up before heading home.
This week we went to the mall a couple of times so that i could find an outfit for my birthday. The club that we decided to go to has a dress code and none of us brought party clothes or shoes so we all went shopping (the girls). It was so fun and after a full day of shopping we all had gelato (the best icecream EVER). It was like being back home and it made me kind of homesick :( We also stopped at the mall and saw 2012 which was really good- although I wish it had more of the history of the mayan predictions and the religious references- because Im a nerd like that.
We went out Saturday night to a club in Osu called Cinderellas. It was so much fun OMG we danced from 11-5 in the morning- my feet were numb from being in heels for that long but I looked like a rockstar so it was totally worth it :p Sunday was a day of recovery for most of us so we just chilled around the house and slept a lot.
My actual birthday was so nice. Everyone came over from the Aya center and bought me a bottle of sparkling wine :) and the people in the house got me a pink cake that said "Happy Birthday Princess" and had a ton of candles and it tasted SOOOOO YUMMY! and of course there was icecream too! I felt really spoiled. I also got some sour gummy worms, a chocolate bar, and a Chelsea jersey with my name on the back :) My family also sent me a bunch of cards and pictures which made me homesick but was really nice! I def felt special and had a great birthday. I don't feel like im 22 yet, hopefully it sinks in soon.
Now its down to crunch time... 26 days left. I have to write three papers and make sure I wrap everything up before heading home.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Question Answering Time Again
I know that I havent answered questions in a while... Im sorry- keep em coming I love them!
*Im not sure how close you can get to the anthills but Im not going to find out lol. They are like termite biting ants... its like how many licks does it take to get to the center of the tootsie pop... but instead of not knowing the answer because the people bite the sucker... the people that try to find out are the thing getting bitten by 3,3482395728972357 ants lol.
*The shacks outside of my office in the picture have corrogated metal roofs... i love the sound when it rains.
*It costs money to pet the crocs lol - i was like eff that im not paying to get my arm bitten off.
*Yes, we as white americans get stared at ALL the time... and people shout Obruni at us lol.
*Aunt Dede, I want to see you in glasses!
*I dont remember if I ate alligator or crocodile that one time on vacation... I hope it doesnt come back to haunt meeee!
*Thank you to all who say that I look good/tan/skinny/adorable/happy in my pictures :)
*Ground nut stew is actually good. I know that peanut butter and tomatoe might only sound good together to a pgnant woman- but its actually really tasty. I can't wait to eat american food again though.... i miss salad and ranch dressing!
*Yes the core to African culture is centered around food/music and dance. I love it!
*Yes, I pinch myself often and I still dont believe that I am here.
*My room still looks like a jail cell lol... its so plain!
*The marketplace is just as much for the men as it is for the women which is really weird since I know that the men back home hate shopping so much- they would really hate spending an entire day in the market- its so hot and crowded and the men have to carry everything that the women buy :)
*The canoe ride on the lake was not as good as the one on the river with the Emeotts!
*The children were leading us to the bead village in the picture of us will all the kids.
*The sphinx does have some scaffolding around it... they were doing a dig while we were there... it makes me want to be an archaeologist!
*yes mom the pic by the pyramids was for you, and yes the camel was very alive
*I take notes daily so that I dont foget ANYTHING!
*The animals is Mole are wild- they are not socialized to humans at all so we had to be really quiet on the safari- if they see you they run away... except the elephants- they charge you. The monkeys came up to the tables where we were eating and took some sugar cubes off of it so I guess they arent really as scared of humans.
*The monkeys peeled the bananas that we held in our hands and ate them- it was so cute!
*The waterfall was pretty intense so I think thats why the girls were a bit scared. It wasnt too deep and it was the most perfect temperature in the world :)
*Im not sure how close you can get to the anthills but Im not going to find out lol. They are like termite biting ants... its like how many licks does it take to get to the center of the tootsie pop... but instead of not knowing the answer because the people bite the sucker... the people that try to find out are the thing getting bitten by 3,3482395728972357 ants lol.
*The shacks outside of my office in the picture have corrogated metal roofs... i love the sound when it rains.
*It costs money to pet the crocs lol - i was like eff that im not paying to get my arm bitten off.
*Yes, we as white americans get stared at ALL the time... and people shout Obruni at us lol.
*Aunt Dede, I want to see you in glasses!
*I dont remember if I ate alligator or crocodile that one time on vacation... I hope it doesnt come back to haunt meeee!
*Thank you to all who say that I look good/tan/skinny/adorable/happy in my pictures :)
*Ground nut stew is actually good. I know that peanut butter and tomatoe might only sound good together to a pgnant woman- but its actually really tasty. I can't wait to eat american food again though.... i miss salad and ranch dressing!
*Yes the core to African culture is centered around food/music and dance. I love it!
*Yes, I pinch myself often and I still dont believe that I am here.
*My room still looks like a jail cell lol... its so plain!
*The marketplace is just as much for the men as it is for the women which is really weird since I know that the men back home hate shopping so much- they would really hate spending an entire day in the market- its so hot and crowded and the men have to carry everything that the women buy :)
*The canoe ride on the lake was not as good as the one on the river with the Emeotts!
*The children were leading us to the bead village in the picture of us will all the kids.
*The sphinx does have some scaffolding around it... they were doing a dig while we were there... it makes me want to be an archaeologist!
*yes mom the pic by the pyramids was for you, and yes the camel was very alive
*I take notes daily so that I dont foget ANYTHING!
*The animals is Mole are wild- they are not socialized to humans at all so we had to be really quiet on the safari- if they see you they run away... except the elephants- they charge you. The monkeys came up to the tables where we were eating and took some sugar cubes off of it so I guess they arent really as scared of humans.
*The monkeys peeled the bananas that we held in our hands and ate them- it was so cute!
*The waterfall was pretty intense so I think thats why the girls were a bit scared. It wasnt too deep and it was the most perfect temperature in the world :)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Volta Region
This weekend was amazing! We woke up at 7am and took a van 3 hours to Wli waterfall. We hiked for a while and then swam in the waterfall it was sooooo amazing (pictures to come)! It was def really exhilerating to say the least. Only me and the three boys were brave enough to go in (tee hee hee). After the waterfall we went to the hotel and swam until dinner... then we swam after dinner and went to sleep. In the morning we woke up and went to a monkey sanctuary. The monkeys and the forrest are well taken care of because they are believed to be sacred. The legend has it that the cheif of the village would turn the villagers into monkeys every time he left so that they could hide in the forrest and be protected from people who were trying to harm them. One day the chief left and turned everyone into monkeys but he was killed and so he never returned to change them back. To this day, the people in the park have never found a dead or sick monkey and they think that the chief gave his life to make them eternal. The monkeys came up to us and peeled the bananas that we held in our hands. It was so amazing to be so close to them, they are so cute I want one!!!!! (Pictures to come soon) After that we left for home and made it home pretty early like noon. We cleaned the house and swapped pics and all watched Superbad together it was pretty fun!! I think that one of the remaining weekends we are going back to the waterfall again and climbing to the second level :) I cant wait!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Girls Night In
Last night we kicked the boys out after dinner so that we could have a girls night in. We made smoothies out of frozen strawberry yogurt and bananas- they were soooooo good :) Then we read cosmo and watched Mean Girls and talked about girl stuff- we also at a ton of chocolate :) It was so much fun and it was def needed... the boys have been driving us crazy. We went to sleep at about 12 and the boys still werent home yet from their night on the town so I am assuming that they had fun too lol. Tomorrow we are leaving early in the morning for the Volta region where we get to see a monkey sanctuary and a waterfall so I think it will be a ton of fun!!! Missing everyone like crazy!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Mole National Park until present
So if travelling to Egypt was not enough... we landed and then went to sleep - our plane was delayed so we didnt get home until about 12 midnight. We went to sleep without unpacking or showering or anything we were all sooooo exhausted. We woke up the next morning and went to class pretty much all day... then we went home and ate some dinner before trying to do some laundry and going to bed. We had to be packed and ready the next morning at 5 am for the 12 hour bus ride to mole national park. The bus ride was horrible... I was so sick of being confined and travelling- restless is the word I would use to describe the feeling. Anyway we stopped a couple of times to stretch and get snacks. We finally got to Tamale at night and then ate at the hotel resturant before settling in... we had to be up at 7 the next morning to get on the bus for the tour of tamale. There were a bunch of kids from the university that went with us so i made some new friends which was nice. The tour of Tamale was intersting, we visited a chief who had 28 wives because he wanted to have a lot of daughters that he could sell into marriage so that he could be rich. He gave us all african names... i forgot mine but I know it means enjoy it lol. Then we went to a sacred tree that supposedly was cut down so that they could make the village and then grew back the next day so now its sacred. A few of us climbed it which was pretty fun. Then we went to a leather making factory.... puke in my mouth! We saw the entire process from like gutting the dead animal to soaking it, removing the fur, drying and dying the leather. It smelled so sick that I kind of wish I never would have went there at all. We walked through a bunch of what im pretty sure was a mixture of animal guts and fur... :( after the leather factory we went to a cultural center market where they sell cloth and wood and leather things- it was really fun to look through and i got to practice my bargaining skills which was fun. After that we drove to Mole National Park which took quite a few more hours!!!!!!!!!! When we got there we all settled into our rooms. Right outside our room there was a ton of warthogs fighting lol it was insane! Because it was halloween and halloween is a national college drinking holiday, when we went to the market all of the boys bought alcohol and since there was nothing really fun to do that night since mole is in the middle of nowhere... a ton of people all partied together- even people that we didnt go on the trip with lol. It was really fun everyone hung out in this one hotel room and we all had a blast. I talked the guard to letting a few of us swim in the pool so he let a couple of us girls swim that night which was super fun and nice because it was SOOOOOOO hot in Mole. In the morning we woke up super early and went on a safari. I saw waterbuck, bushbuck, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, and elephants- we were so close to the animals it was actually scary! but so cool. After the safari we went swimming for hours and I worked on my tan. Dinner was really tasty I had some mac and cheese :) After dinner we all hung out again at the hotel chop bar and sat and watched the wild life around us. The warthogs were not afraid of us at all and the moneys would come steal sugar cubes from the tables. In all it was so much fun... even though the trip there and back was horrible because I was so sick of travelling. I have been recovering for two days but I think Im finally better lol. I went to school and taught the kids some ICT even though the power was out lol... and the teacher that I work with told the headmistress that he was going to get all the kids to march to her office if she doesnt get some more computers soon so I think she is working on that which will be nice. Im making grilled cheese and tomato veggie soup for everyone for dinner tonight so I hope that turns out. :)
Day 9 and 10
Alexandria was about a 3 hour drive away from Cairo- not too bad compared to the much longer amounts of transportation we had been experiencing. Our tour guide was awesome too- he was about our age and had just graduated with his degree in Tourism... yes in Egypt that is actually a 4 year degree. He told us that we could ask him any questions we wanted to so for abut 3 hours I asked him every question I could think o about Egypt and the religion and anything else that came to mind. I learned SO much on that road trip :) Alexandria was really really pretty omgoodness. The first thing that we did was go look around in some underground catacombs where they used to bury christians. It was really interesting because the carvings on the wall were a mix between the roman gods and the egyptian ones :) I loved it. Then we went to the citadel which is like a castle that they used to protect Alexandria from threats on the Mediterannean sea. It was so beautiful- but it really hurt to climb all of the steps because our legs were still recovering from the mountain. After that we went to the Library of Alexandria- there used to be one that was a 7 wonder of the ancient world but then it burned down. It used to hold a buncof papyrus scrolls that held all the recipies for the embalming fluid that they used to preserve mummys and everything- sadly all of that information is gone now. But they decided to build a new library which is MASSIVE and amazing. The website is http://www.bibalex.gov.eg/ you should really go visit it there is a ton of useful information and sweet things to check out. After the library we went to Starbucks and I got a vanilla bean frappachino OMG to die for. So I felt like a total princess because I found the two newest versions of cosmo from a street vendor (even though they are the British versions lol) and read those while drinking a cosmo and watching the sunset over the Mediteranean- I could def get used to this life!!!! After that the driver took us back to Cairo and we walked around town and shopped for a few souveniers before falling asleep. We woke up early and the girls went shoe shopping before getting driven to the airport to fly back to Ghana. In all I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to go to Egypt to experience everything. Its still breathtaking when I think about it and I cant wait for my next adventure!!! :)
Alexandria was about a 3 hour drive away from Cairo- not too bad compared to the much longer amounts of transportation we had been experiencing. Our tour guide was awesome too- he was about our age and had just graduated with his degree in Tourism... yes in Egypt that is actually a 4 year degree. He told us that we could ask him any questions we wanted to so for abut 3 hours I asked him every question I could think o about Egypt and the religion and anything else that came to mind. I learned SO much on that road trip :) Alexandria was really really pretty omgoodness. The first thing that we did was go look around in some underground catacombs where they used to bury christians. It was really interesting because the carvings on the wall were a mix between the roman gods and the egyptian ones :) I loved it. Then we went to the citadel which is like a castle that they used to protect Alexandria from threats on the Mediterannean sea. It was so beautiful- but it really hurt to climb all of the steps because our legs were still recovering from the mountain. After that we went to the Library of Alexandria- there used to be one that was a 7 wonder of the ancient world but then it burned down. It used to hold a buncof papyrus scrolls that held all the recipies for the embalming fluid that they used to preserve mummys and everything- sadly all of that information is gone now. But they decided to build a new library which is MASSIVE and amazing. The website is http://www.bibalex.gov.eg/ you should really go visit it there is a ton of useful information and sweet things to check out. After the library we went to Starbucks and I got a vanilla bean frappachino OMG to die for. So I felt like a total princess because I found the two newest versions of cosmo from a street vendor (even though they are the British versions lol) and read those while drinking a cosmo and watching the sunset over the Mediteranean- I could def get used to this life!!!! After that the driver took us back to Cairo and we walked around town and shopped for a few souveniers before falling asleep. We woke up early and the girls went shoe shopping before getting driven to the airport to fly back to Ghana. In all I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to go to Egypt to experience everything. Its still breathtaking when I think about it and I cant wait for my next adventure!!! :)
Day 6
Day 6
I love the fact that breakfast was included at all of our hotels :) We ate breakfast at 6:30 and then left the hotel at 7 to tour the West bank. The west bank is the side of death because that is where the sun set so that is where all of the tombs are located. They stopped burying the kings in pyramids because it was just a big beacon to theives like - here is all the gold you could ever want come and get it... so they decided to hide the tombs in a mountain. We first went to the valley of the kings. There were a ton of tombs! we werent allowed to take pictures sadly:( The tombs were so pretty inside- all of the carvings were painted so elaboratley it was breathtaking! We went into three of the tombs- they were quite a climb and it was so hot and stuffy inside... claustrophobic for sure. The tomb that was the most famous was Tutankhamen because he put his tomb underneath the tomb of another king unknowingly because even the kings didnt know where the previous kings were buried. Because of this everything was left in tact, nothing was raided from the tomb unlike all of the other tombs which were found pretty much empty. After that we went to Queen Hetchepsuts temple. She was the only woman who was "king" of Egypt. It was so beautiful and charming I loved it- it was set in a mountain side really high up... The weather was so nice thank goodness because climbing in the heat would have been deadly. There was a nice breeze and even a few clouds. After that we went to the valley of the queens and went into two more tombs. They were pretty much the same except smaller and not as decorated. The tour guide took us back to the hotel lobby and we waited there until 4 for our ride to the bus station. We got on the bus at about 4:30- it was like a greyhound bus only more crowded and not as nice. After we had been on the road for about 15 minutes we stopped on the side of the road and I was wondering if it was a bus stop but actually everyone got off the bus, smoked 2 cigarettes and then got back on... and that happened for pretty much the entire rest of the trip... at one point I actually wished that they would just smoke on the bus because we stopped so often and the lights went on so we couldnt sleep and everyone was rustling around and they all smelled like smoke anyways so there wouldnt be that much of a difference lol. After a while the people in front of us leaned their seats back the entire way and this guy was literally sleeping in my lap- it was so claustrophobic I didnt think I was going to make it... everytime he got off to smoke I moved his seat up lol and hoped he wouldnt notice. We rode to Dahab for 20 hours... I literally thought about getting off the bus and walking, but it was the middle of the desert and I saw a dead horse lying in the sand so I thought against it. 20 hours of pure horribleness later we arrived in Dahab to a man holding up a sign that said STOM- which we believed was for us (Tom was the guy that went with us) so we followed him to our hotel called the Alaska Camp.
Day 7-
The hotel was pretty nice- right on the red sea and the room was clean. We were told that we were only staying there for the day because we had to leave at 11pm that night to climb Mount Sainai. I put on my swimsuit right away and jumped into the Red Sea. OMG! it is the clearest cleanest most beautiful water I have ever seen and probably ever will see... it looked fake no lie. We swam for pretty much the entire morning and then got some lunch at a resturaunt on the strip. I got a really good salad :) After lunch we all went back to the hotel to shower and try to take a nap. The shower was really weird. There was like a sink and potty in the bathroom and a drain on the floor and the shower was basically like the whole bathroom... its hard to explain. There were only two beds so that was pretty intersting for 5 of us lol. I decided that I didnt want to sleep so I sat in the sun and played on the wireless interent at the hotel. Then when it was getting pretty late, Bethany a girl in our group who had been having stomach problems the entire trip (i wont go into detail) was like- I need to go to the hospital. I talked to the owners of the hotel and he told me exactly how to get there and what to do. None of the other people in my group seemed to care and they said they were still going to climb Mount Sainai that night regardless. so I told her that I would take care of her even though I was really bummed about not being able to climb the mountain. We went to the hospital which now looking back on it Id rather see than the mountain anyways because Im a dork like that lol. The doctors were wearing jeans and flip flops, the bed sheets were not clean at all, but they fixed her up and we were able to get back to the hotel in time to catch the van to the mountain. The van left at 11 that night was we got to the mountain at around 1am. A guide led us up and we climbed for a good 4 hours. We forgot flashlights so that was intersting lol. The climb was so tiring I am def out of shape. There were paths in most places and rock-stairs in others but all in all it was def a treck. There were some rest places to stop along the way where you could get tea and snickers bars lol and the camel men followed you up in case you were too tired and wanted a ride. We got to see so many shooting stars, I made about 40 wishes that night I think ;)
Day 8
It was so cold on top of the mountain I could barely unzip my purse to get out my camera. We waited for about 30 min for the sun to rise. It was one of the most beautiful things Ive ever seen. The sun rising on top of the mountains. It looked like it was coming up from the middle of the earth it was so weird but really beautiful. I thought it would be a more religious experience than it was, by the end I wish that Moses had found the 10 commandments on a warm beach somewhere lol but I loved it and Im so glad that I got to experience it. The climb down only took about 2 hours and it was a lot warmer and light out so that was nice. We got to see St. Catherines Monastary which is nestled nicely in the side of the mountain, and then we were on the way back to Cairo in a van for 9 hours. When we got back to Cairo a few of us went to eat. I got some pomegranates (YUM YUM YUM!) and then we sat on the roof of the hotel and enjoyed the sunset, just chilling and relaxing which was quite nice. We showered and went to sleep because we had to get up early to go to Alexandria the next morning.
I love the fact that breakfast was included at all of our hotels :) We ate breakfast at 6:30 and then left the hotel at 7 to tour the West bank. The west bank is the side of death because that is where the sun set so that is where all of the tombs are located. They stopped burying the kings in pyramids because it was just a big beacon to theives like - here is all the gold you could ever want come and get it... so they decided to hide the tombs in a mountain. We first went to the valley of the kings. There were a ton of tombs! we werent allowed to take pictures sadly:( The tombs were so pretty inside- all of the carvings were painted so elaboratley it was breathtaking! We went into three of the tombs- they were quite a climb and it was so hot and stuffy inside... claustrophobic for sure. The tomb that was the most famous was Tutankhamen because he put his tomb underneath the tomb of another king unknowingly because even the kings didnt know where the previous kings were buried. Because of this everything was left in tact, nothing was raided from the tomb unlike all of the other tombs which were found pretty much empty. After that we went to Queen Hetchepsuts temple. She was the only woman who was "king" of Egypt. It was so beautiful and charming I loved it- it was set in a mountain side really high up... The weather was so nice thank goodness because climbing in the heat would have been deadly. There was a nice breeze and even a few clouds. After that we went to the valley of the queens and went into two more tombs. They were pretty much the same except smaller and not as decorated. The tour guide took us back to the hotel lobby and we waited there until 4 for our ride to the bus station. We got on the bus at about 4:30- it was like a greyhound bus only more crowded and not as nice. After we had been on the road for about 15 minutes we stopped on the side of the road and I was wondering if it was a bus stop but actually everyone got off the bus, smoked 2 cigarettes and then got back on... and that happened for pretty much the entire rest of the trip... at one point I actually wished that they would just smoke on the bus because we stopped so often and the lights went on so we couldnt sleep and everyone was rustling around and they all smelled like smoke anyways so there wouldnt be that much of a difference lol. After a while the people in front of us leaned their seats back the entire way and this guy was literally sleeping in my lap- it was so claustrophobic I didnt think I was going to make it... everytime he got off to smoke I moved his seat up lol and hoped he wouldnt notice. We rode to Dahab for 20 hours... I literally thought about getting off the bus and walking, but it was the middle of the desert and I saw a dead horse lying in the sand so I thought against it. 20 hours of pure horribleness later we arrived in Dahab to a man holding up a sign that said STOM- which we believed was for us (Tom was the guy that went with us) so we followed him to our hotel called the Alaska Camp.
Day 7-
The hotel was pretty nice- right on the red sea and the room was clean. We were told that we were only staying there for the day because we had to leave at 11pm that night to climb Mount Sainai. I put on my swimsuit right away and jumped into the Red Sea. OMG! it is the clearest cleanest most beautiful water I have ever seen and probably ever will see... it looked fake no lie. We swam for pretty much the entire morning and then got some lunch at a resturaunt on the strip. I got a really good salad :) After lunch we all went back to the hotel to shower and try to take a nap. The shower was really weird. There was like a sink and potty in the bathroom and a drain on the floor and the shower was basically like the whole bathroom... its hard to explain. There were only two beds so that was pretty intersting for 5 of us lol. I decided that I didnt want to sleep so I sat in the sun and played on the wireless interent at the hotel. Then when it was getting pretty late, Bethany a girl in our group who had been having stomach problems the entire trip (i wont go into detail) was like- I need to go to the hospital. I talked to the owners of the hotel and he told me exactly how to get there and what to do. None of the other people in my group seemed to care and they said they were still going to climb Mount Sainai that night regardless. so I told her that I would take care of her even though I was really bummed about not being able to climb the mountain. We went to the hospital which now looking back on it Id rather see than the mountain anyways because Im a dork like that lol. The doctors were wearing jeans and flip flops, the bed sheets were not clean at all, but they fixed her up and we were able to get back to the hotel in time to catch the van to the mountain. The van left at 11 that night was we got to the mountain at around 1am. A guide led us up and we climbed for a good 4 hours. We forgot flashlights so that was intersting lol. The climb was so tiring I am def out of shape. There were paths in most places and rock-stairs in others but all in all it was def a treck. There were some rest places to stop along the way where you could get tea and snickers bars lol and the camel men followed you up in case you were too tired and wanted a ride. We got to see so many shooting stars, I made about 40 wishes that night I think ;)
Day 8
It was so cold on top of the mountain I could barely unzip my purse to get out my camera. We waited for about 30 min for the sun to rise. It was one of the most beautiful things Ive ever seen. The sun rising on top of the mountains. It looked like it was coming up from the middle of the earth it was so weird but really beautiful. I thought it would be a more religious experience than it was, by the end I wish that Moses had found the 10 commandments on a warm beach somewhere lol but I loved it and Im so glad that I got to experience it. The climb down only took about 2 hours and it was a lot warmer and light out so that was nice. We got to see St. Catherines Monastary which is nestled nicely in the side of the mountain, and then we were on the way back to Cairo in a van for 9 hours. When we got back to Cairo a few of us went to eat. I got some pomegranates (YUM YUM YUM!) and then we sat on the roof of the hotel and enjoyed the sunset, just chilling and relaxing which was quite nice. We showered and went to sleep because we had to get up early to go to Alexandria the next morning.
Day 2-5 :)
Egypt Day 2
We woke up pretty early and went to breakfast on the roof of the hotel We ate some bread rolls that were really good… they had like baked tomatoes and peppers and cheese into the bread rolls (yum) and we also drank some Egyptian tea. There was a car waiting for us around 7 am so we all headed to it and went to Geeza. The pyramids in Geeza are the only left standing of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. All of the others haven’t survived the time so that was pretty cool to see. The pyramids are huge and sooooo beautiful. We got to climb them a little ways, and we got to go inside one of the smaller ones (it was basically just an empty room). There were a ton of men offering camel rides but no one was brave enough to take one and I had forgotten to take my allergy pills that day lol. Then we went to see the sphinx… it was a lot smaller than I had pictured it, and it was sort of damaged like the nose was missing and the lion legs weren’t in tact… I don’t know I guess I just pictured it to be different- but it was really neat to see anyway. After that we went to an Egyptian cotton place, and a papyrus place. Watching how they used to use the papyrus plant to make paper in the ancient times was really interesting. The plant is also really symbolic, its on the top of a lot of the columns in the temples that we went to see. We ate lunch which was amazing! A lot of the food comes with the meat on the side Lunch consisted of fresh baked pita bread and things that you can put inside it like hummus and veggies and feta cheese- it was so tasty. The served figs for desert which I think I like as well. After lunch we went to Memphis to see the statue of Ramses- it was massive I have no idea how they carved the single piece of granite so perfectly. It was definitely a work of art. After that we went to visit the step pyramid Saquarra, took a couple of pictures, and then went back to the hotel. Our train to Aswan left at 6 pm that night so we packed our things and headed to the train station. The fact that train stations smell like urine is universal btw lol. The train wasn’t too bad… the seats were nice. It smelled like smoke which was pretty gross, and the bathroom was SO disgusting… I held it for like 13 hours! I slept and read most of the train ride which was pretty nice.
Egypt Day 3, 4, and 5 1/2
Our train arrived in Aswan at 8 in the morning. There was a guy there waiting with a sign to pick us up. He lead us to a hotel lobby to wait until our tour started. I showered in the hotel lobby bathroom lol We sat around for a little while and then went on a tour of a dam that was built to stop the nile river from flooding and to allow irrigation for farming, and also went to a temple that was on an island. It was SOOOOO hot I really couldn’t even pay attention to what the tour guide was saying… definitely a scorcher. After that tour the guide dropped us off at a boat. As part of our 10 day tour we decided to take a boat ride up the nile river from Aswan to Luxor. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. When we arrived at the boat I thought it was so cute because it was a traditional boat that the Egyptians used to use back in the day. I thought that it was going to take us to our boat- one of the many cruise ships that line the Nile River in Egypt. How wrong I was… the captains introduced themselves and started putting our bags underneath the deck The boat is called a felluca… its basically a floating mattress with a sail Im not kidding… there is no bathroom, no kitchen, no below deck, no beds, no nothing. We (the 5 of us) were stuck on this floating mattress for three days, basically hardcore camping on the nile. The first afternoon we sailed for a while and took cat naps until the captain fed us lunch. We were starving because there was nothing to eat on the train!!! It was pita bread with feta cheese and cucumbers/tomatoes. Then we sailed for a little while longer. It gets dark pretty early in Egypt so we had to stop sailing pretty early. We docked at some village place along the nile and got off the boat. The captain led us to his house to have dinner with his family. I have to say that this is one of the most interesting cultural experiences of the whole trip. His house was more like a compound of a bunch of houses that his extended family shared. When we walked into the front gate I couldn’t help but thing of Willie Wonka. In the courtyard there were like 3 queen size beds with blankets spread over the spring and like 5-6 people sleeping end to end in them. Its so hot inside the houses at night that most people sleep outside. We helped his grandmother stir the meal and then all went to sit down in the eating room. They layed out a prayer mat on the floor and we all sat in a circle around the food and ate with our hands. It was pita bread (a staple like rice is in Ghana) and rice and there was chicken and veggies- it was really really good! I think I could eat Egyptian food everyday and not get sick of it! After dinner the family smoked hookah- a water pipe for flavored tobacco- and then we went back on the boat to sleep. The bugs were pretty bad, it got super chilly, and there was a donkey tied up on shore that made it his life goal to make sure that every time we were about to fall asleep he’d hee-haw, but other than that I slept fine lol. We woke up in the morning to watch the sunrise and then we all went on shore to pee- ikr! I told everyone no one would believe I lived like this for 3 days lol. Then we changed into our swimsuits and went swimming for a while which was pretty nice. I shaved in the nile river lol- princess ;) and then we got back on the boat to start sailing for the day. Breakfast was pita bread that was dipped in egg and then deep fired in oil and served with jam. We got down to swim again at like 5pm which they consider lunch time and met up with some other felluca goers from Holland and Canada who were doing the same thing. We also ate dinner (chicken and rice) with them later that night. After dinner the captain parked the boat and we played some games that you would play while camping, and told jokes and scary stories. The captain talked about all of his experiences (mind you Im pretty sure the captain was about 22-23 years old so he was a kid). He talked about being in the Army (In Egypt at least one son from every family has to be in the army for two years). But its really horrible so people try to get out of it by cutting off their trigger fingers and swallowing rope so it looks like they have intestinal worms- apparently its really really bad. Then we went to sleep in pretty much the same conditions as the first night. I forgot to mention that we ran out of bottled water so we were also REALLY REALLY thirsty at this point. The next morning we woke up and ate the same breakfast before heading to our final destination.
Day 5
Of course there was some random guy waiting on the banks with a van ready to take us on a tour of the east bank of Luxor. (The East bank of the nile was thought to be in the ancient days as the side of life because theat is where the sun rose, and the west side is the side of death-where all the tombs are and everything). I felt so gross, I wanted a shower soooo badly. We went to two temples and then they took us to our hotel called Emilio. It was really nice, to me it looked like at least a 4 star hotel. We ate some noodles called Kosherie for lunch, showered, and then went for our next tour to the temple at Karnac (62 acres, biggest temple in Egypt) and then to the Luxor temple. When we got to the Luxor temple it was getting dark so they had the lights on at the temple which made it look really amazing. After the Luxor temple we all grabbed some ice cream and then went back to the hotel to check out the pool on the roof- omg it was so nice I want one when I grow up! We walked around the city that night and explored a little bit which was really fun. We went to a bakery and got a bunch of cheap snacks, and then we went back to the hotel and went to bed.
We woke up pretty early and went to breakfast on the roof of the hotel We ate some bread rolls that were really good… they had like baked tomatoes and peppers and cheese into the bread rolls (yum) and we also drank some Egyptian tea. There was a car waiting for us around 7 am so we all headed to it and went to Geeza. The pyramids in Geeza are the only left standing of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. All of the others haven’t survived the time so that was pretty cool to see. The pyramids are huge and sooooo beautiful. We got to climb them a little ways, and we got to go inside one of the smaller ones (it was basically just an empty room). There were a ton of men offering camel rides but no one was brave enough to take one and I had forgotten to take my allergy pills that day lol. Then we went to see the sphinx… it was a lot smaller than I had pictured it, and it was sort of damaged like the nose was missing and the lion legs weren’t in tact… I don’t know I guess I just pictured it to be different- but it was really neat to see anyway. After that we went to an Egyptian cotton place, and a papyrus place. Watching how they used to use the papyrus plant to make paper in the ancient times was really interesting. The plant is also really symbolic, its on the top of a lot of the columns in the temples that we went to see. We ate lunch which was amazing! A lot of the food comes with the meat on the side Lunch consisted of fresh baked pita bread and things that you can put inside it like hummus and veggies and feta cheese- it was so tasty. The served figs for desert which I think I like as well. After lunch we went to Memphis to see the statue of Ramses- it was massive I have no idea how they carved the single piece of granite so perfectly. It was definitely a work of art. After that we went to visit the step pyramid Saquarra, took a couple of pictures, and then went back to the hotel. Our train to Aswan left at 6 pm that night so we packed our things and headed to the train station. The fact that train stations smell like urine is universal btw lol. The train wasn’t too bad… the seats were nice. It smelled like smoke which was pretty gross, and the bathroom was SO disgusting… I held it for like 13 hours! I slept and read most of the train ride which was pretty nice.
Egypt Day 3, 4, and 5 1/2
Our train arrived in Aswan at 8 in the morning. There was a guy there waiting with a sign to pick us up. He lead us to a hotel lobby to wait until our tour started. I showered in the hotel lobby bathroom lol We sat around for a little while and then went on a tour of a dam that was built to stop the nile river from flooding and to allow irrigation for farming, and also went to a temple that was on an island. It was SOOOOO hot I really couldn’t even pay attention to what the tour guide was saying… definitely a scorcher. After that tour the guide dropped us off at a boat. As part of our 10 day tour we decided to take a boat ride up the nile river from Aswan to Luxor. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. When we arrived at the boat I thought it was so cute because it was a traditional boat that the Egyptians used to use back in the day. I thought that it was going to take us to our boat- one of the many cruise ships that line the Nile River in Egypt. How wrong I was… the captains introduced themselves and started putting our bags underneath the deck The boat is called a felluca… its basically a floating mattress with a sail Im not kidding… there is no bathroom, no kitchen, no below deck, no beds, no nothing. We (the 5 of us) were stuck on this floating mattress for three days, basically hardcore camping on the nile. The first afternoon we sailed for a while and took cat naps until the captain fed us lunch. We were starving because there was nothing to eat on the train!!! It was pita bread with feta cheese and cucumbers/tomatoes. Then we sailed for a little while longer. It gets dark pretty early in Egypt so we had to stop sailing pretty early. We docked at some village place along the nile and got off the boat. The captain led us to his house to have dinner with his family. I have to say that this is one of the most interesting cultural experiences of the whole trip. His house was more like a compound of a bunch of houses that his extended family shared. When we walked into the front gate I couldn’t help but thing of Willie Wonka. In the courtyard there were like 3 queen size beds with blankets spread over the spring and like 5-6 people sleeping end to end in them. Its so hot inside the houses at night that most people sleep outside. We helped his grandmother stir the meal and then all went to sit down in the eating room. They layed out a prayer mat on the floor and we all sat in a circle around the food and ate with our hands. It was pita bread (a staple like rice is in Ghana) and rice and there was chicken and veggies- it was really really good! I think I could eat Egyptian food everyday and not get sick of it! After dinner the family smoked hookah- a water pipe for flavored tobacco- and then we went back on the boat to sleep. The bugs were pretty bad, it got super chilly, and there was a donkey tied up on shore that made it his life goal to make sure that every time we were about to fall asleep he’d hee-haw, but other than that I slept fine lol. We woke up in the morning to watch the sunrise and then we all went on shore to pee- ikr! I told everyone no one would believe I lived like this for 3 days lol. Then we changed into our swimsuits and went swimming for a while which was pretty nice. I shaved in the nile river lol- princess ;) and then we got back on the boat to start sailing for the day. Breakfast was pita bread that was dipped in egg and then deep fired in oil and served with jam. We got down to swim again at like 5pm which they consider lunch time and met up with some other felluca goers from Holland and Canada who were doing the same thing. We also ate dinner (chicken and rice) with them later that night. After dinner the captain parked the boat and we played some games that you would play while camping, and told jokes and scary stories. The captain talked about all of his experiences (mind you Im pretty sure the captain was about 22-23 years old so he was a kid). He talked about being in the Army (In Egypt at least one son from every family has to be in the army for two years). But its really horrible so people try to get out of it by cutting off their trigger fingers and swallowing rope so it looks like they have intestinal worms- apparently its really really bad. Then we went to sleep in pretty much the same conditions as the first night. I forgot to mention that we ran out of bottled water so we were also REALLY REALLY thirsty at this point. The next morning we woke up and ate the same breakfast before heading to our final destination.
Day 5
Of course there was some random guy waiting on the banks with a van ready to take us on a tour of the east bank of Luxor. (The East bank of the nile was thought to be in the ancient days as the side of life because theat is where the sun rose, and the west side is the side of death-where all the tombs are and everything). I felt so gross, I wanted a shower soooo badly. We went to two temples and then they took us to our hotel called Emilio. It was really nice, to me it looked like at least a 4 star hotel. We ate some noodles called Kosherie for lunch, showered, and then went for our next tour to the temple at Karnac (62 acres, biggest temple in Egypt) and then to the Luxor temple. When we got to the Luxor temple it was getting dark so they had the lights on at the temple which made it look really amazing. After the Luxor temple we all grabbed some ice cream and then went back to the hotel to check out the pool on the roof- omg it was so nice I want one when I grow up! We walked around the city that night and explored a little bit which was really fun. We went to a bakery and got a bunch of cheap snacks, and then we went back to the hotel and went to bed.
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