here it is--missing petra

I've been home for nearly two weeks and haven't blogged about Petra, the Bedouin camp, the camel ride, Mt. Nebo and the Dead Sea. It was all wonderful, even the day we hiked back and forth in Petra covering close to 8 miles.

Traveling to Wadi Rum

We knew today was going to be a long travel day, with flights from Luxor to Cairo, and Cairo to Amman, ending with a drive to the southern desert of Wadi Rum. Since our connection in Cairo was a bit long, Moustafa met us at the airport and took us to our “home away from home” in Cairo, the Intercontinental. Although it is inconveniently located 30-45 minutes away from downtown Cairo, it is only 15 minutes from the airport. Besides sporting good food, wi-fi everywhere, pool and the fitness center, it has the best elevator system. Instead of choosing the up or down buttons to call it, you choose your floor destination from a panel of buttons outside the elevator bank. Your destination is shown on a small LED display screen and within moments the screen will flash up either A,B, or C which corresponds to one of the elevators, so you know which one to step into. The wait time for the elevator is no more than a minute, and usually you have it to yourself.

I watched the boys and Will swim and sunbathe from my perch on the elliptical machine inside the pyramid shaped fitness complex. Then while they ate their lunches, I showered in the ladies complex located on the second and third floor. This is where all those gulf state women feel free removing their black gowns and face coverings. They are safe from the eyes of men. There were massage rooms, steam and dry saunas, several whirlpools, and a beautiful tiled pool underneath the glass point of the pyramid. Several women with eyes rimmed in black eyeliner and dark hair streaked red and brassy blond lounged in the water.

After this two hour break, it was back to the airport for a 3:30 pm flight to Amman, Jordan. In contrast to the chaos of Egypt, Jordan seemed more orderly and calm. We got our visas and passports stamped and met Mohammed our van driver and guide for the next four days. Driving south on the Kings Highway, the Jordanian landscape looked bleak and monotonous. Chunks of caramel colored rocks stretched out from the edge of the road to the horizon. Apparently the Jordanians mine for potash along the road. The highway speed limit is 60 and when we approach residential areas speed is reduced and mandatory speed bumps appear to ensure compliance. None of knew why we had to stop at the scheduled late lunch at 6 pm at the tourist restaurant expensive souvenier shop. We already ate lunch at the hotel, then ate the sandwiches on the 50 minute Royal Jordanian flight, and we were planning on eating dinner at the Bedouin camp. Mohammed said its paid for so, we complied and ate the traditional oriental salads and grilled meats again. There wasn’t much difference that I could detect between the Jordanian and Egyptian fare.

Mohammed liked to talk which is both good and bad. He had attended college in Tallahassee and lived in Florida for a total of 13 years so his English had just a trace of an accent. Back in the car we rode for 4 more hours before arriving at the Captains Camp in Wadi Rum. We were all tired and grumpy. I thought we had missed dinner and the entertainment. Clearly I forgot we were in the middle east and in the low season. We pulled up to the camp nestled into a rock formation similar to those in Utah.

We were immediately offered tea and our bags carried into our tents. A small bonfire was going, and it appeared that we were the only guests. Within minutes were served the most delicious dinner. The light of the full moon obscured the star speckled sky.

Luxor - part 3 - on my own

It is hard to try to navigate a new neighborhood when there aren’t street signs, when the streets intersect at all sorts of angles and curves, and particularly when you are on your guard. I figured as long as I know where the Nile is in relation to where I am, I could get back to the hotel. I made the mistake of letting a young boy fall in step with me—he begged to practice his English. I told him I wanted to find the Fair Trade Cooperative of Luxor and showed him the street name. I don’t know why I bothered. Even though Egyptians have lived in a place all their lives, many people don’t know the names of their streets, much less the location of an unfamiliar shop. He offered to take me there, and offered to show me the fruit market on the way. Before I knew it, we were in a real back alley with bare bottomed toddlers and sleeping bodies. Baskets of colorful fruit artfully arranged were interspersed with plastic colanders, cheap shoes, bolts of fabric, and other stuff. The walkway through this market was less than six feet wide and was strewn with trash, fruit peelings, and muddy puddles. Hanging above us were blue plastic tarps designed to provide shade. I was in search of authentic—and found it. We marched past an empty lot festooned in tinsel. He remarked it will be the site for a wedding tonight. Before I knew it, I was back on the street where I first met him. He urged me to take a look at a shop, which he insisted was the one I was looking for. It wasn’t, but I went in anyway. It was good to cool off in the AC and there was no harm in looking around. However, these guys were so pushy they made my skin crawl and I just wanted to get out.. So I did, despite their efforts to make me buy something. My young friend then insisted another store would have the pretty Coptic cross I was in search of. It didn’t but the owner asked me to just wait a few moments. He dashed out of the store to some buddy’s shop and came back with plain silver crosses that were not Coptic. I drew what I wanted and he said he could cut one to my specifications. By this time I was more than ready to walk home to the hotel and call it a day. I know that unemployment is high in Egypt with 30 percent of people without jobs, and these guys see tourists as fair fodder. A little bit of money goes a long way for them. I have to remember than when their hawking becomes disturbing and remember to be grateful for the chance to walk through their market place.

After an Italian dinner by the pool where we swatted flies, we were taken to the Karnak Temple for the sound and light show. It is very cool to see the these ancient ruins at night, but the narration was a bit too Disneyesque and long winded.

Luxor - part 2

The Karnak Temple was built in stages as each Pharoah put his "stamp" on it. Built for the worship of their sun god Amun, the sheer magnificance of this site cannot be captured by photos or words. It is remarkable that without modern technology or machinery, enormous blocks of granite and limestone could be quarried, transported, decorated and installed and still be standing 3000 years later! It had a lake which the priests used to clean themselves before performing sacrifies and various daily rituals int the temple. There were buildings next the lake that housed the animals waiting to be sacrificed. When I asked the guide what the hieroglyphic symbols meant, he said we know some of them tell the story of the afterlife, and some represent stories of life as a Pharoah, yet others remain a mystery because the priests wanted to be the only ones able to interpret them, thereby increasing their job security in the court of the Pharoahs.

To cool off we stopped in the 10 year old Luxor Museum which details excavation and restoration of fragments and statues is conducted. The highlight of the museum were two mummies blackened from the resin that helped preserve them. The mummies brains, liver, lungs and intestines were saved in special boxes. The heart was left in the body because it is representative of man's character and would be weighted at the judgement in the afterlive to see if he perfomed more good deeds than bad. One of these had been bought along time ago by a collector in Atlanta and recently returned to Egypt.

We headed to the nearby Luxor temple which was bathed golden in the late afternoon sun. After the pharoahs, the temple was used by the pagan Romans, then the Christians and finally the muslims. In fact a medieval village with a mosque was built 8 feet on top of the ruins of Karnak. It was only 200 years ago that archeologists began to unearth Karnak. They left the mosque but took away all other buildings on the temple site.

We ate dinner at the hotel by the pool where a sumptuous Egyptian buffet was set out. We were pleasantly suprised to hear live music and to see a man twirling in a oversized colorful skirt. He represents the ancient Sufi sect who twirled, faster and faster as a means of connecting to God. He lifted the parachute like skirt over this head and as if by magic another skirt appeared below it. We wondered how this whirling dervish didn't get dizzy.

Next a round faced, ponytailed belly dancer stepped joined the three musicians on the small platform. She moved in a deliberate, old fashioned belly dancing style which was a pleasant contrast to the sultry, sequined dancer we watched in Cairo.

We all are enjoying the Egyptian food--the hummus, tabouli, babaganoush (sp?), and fresh soft pita bread. The variety of salads-- lentil, cabbage, beet, tomato and cucumber, all bathed in subtle spices and sauces are exactly my kind of food. The boys enjoy the spicy grilled meats and rices flavored with cinnamon and cardamon.

DAY TWO IN LUXOR

This mornig we drove thirty minutes from the East Bank with the temples for the living, to the West Bank, the necropolis with the tombs and funerary temples. Just like Cairo, Luxor has brilliant blue skies and no clouds. We passed farmers working in their fields, donkeys tied to the side of the road, and children herding goats. It looks as nothing has changed in years...the only sign that we are in 2009 is that everybody sports a mobil phone. They may be barefoot and living in a shack--they are connected.

Although the tombs in this valley are extensive and include the Valley of the Kings, the Queens, the Nobles and those of the craftsmen/workers, we only visited three in the Valley of the Kings. They were carved into the sides of the limestone hills, and the work on a tomb was begun as soon as a new Pharoah was selected. Therefore, Pharoahs who reigned for many years had tombs that were deep and long with careful, extensive designs. The Pharoahs who had shorter reigns, had tombs that often looked like they were completed in haste. The workers had 70 days to prepare it which is the time it took to mummify the body. The tombs we visited Ramses I, Ramses II and Ramses IX were some of the prettiest and longest that were open for viewing. Egyptian authories are worried that the sweat and breath of all the visitors will hasten the deterioration of the painting in the tombs, so they rotate which tombs are avaialble to the public.

Standing at the entrance of each tomb were gnarled looking guards desperate to earn some baksheesh (tips). They handed out square cardboard pieces of paper so that we could fan ourselves in the stifling space. One followed Bear around, first fanning him, then directing him to a restricted cavity to one side of the tomb so Bear could see an underground chamber. This guard also gave bear a secretive thumbs up sign to take photos (which are strictly forbidden) in the tomb. Bear declined the photo opportunity but did give the man 50 egyptian piastres or about 10 cents.

We looked at two tombs in the Valley of the Queens, then moved onto the funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut (hat-cheap-suit). She was the only woman who ruled like a pharoah. She wore the fake beard that all the Pharoahs wore and dressed like a man too. She ruled for 22 years and designed this unusual temple that once had magnificent gardens and pools gracing its front. I discovered that this temple was restored and looked after by a Polish Archeologicial group whose offices were attached to the temple.

After trodding through the dusty cemetaries of the Pharoahs, we were pleased to step onto the St. George, our private felucca ( is a traditional Egyptian sail boat) for lunch. We were seated at formally set table with linens, china and a fancy floral arrangement. Our first course was a tomato stuffed with tabouli, livers and onions, minced vegetables. Delicated drumsticks and warm falafel were also served. Next, a big plate of mixed grill and rice, followed by a platter of sweets. Despite our misgivings about the heat of the Nile, it was cool floating on the water. Because there was no wind, a boat pulled us. For security we had a little police boat behind us.

TO BE CONTINUED

Luxor

Moustafa met us in the lobby at 830 am. This affable Nubia Tours representative took us into his capable hands and propelled us through aiport security in less than 5 minutes, bypassing long lines of families and businessmen. He offered to stow the boys’ squash bags in his home for the next week. The flight to Luxor lasted only 50 minutes. The ride from the airport to the Sofitel Old Winter Palace another 15 minutes. Our hoel was built in the late 1800’s and renovated in 1994. It has a refined British Colonial atmosphere, worlds apart from the cruise ships moored three deep across the street on the Nile. A mustached, uniformed waiter served us deep pink hibiscus tea, We are so happy that Ahmed our tour guide suggests we meet for the Karnak Temple at 3:30 instead of 1:00. We are exhausted after the Egyptian wedding and head to the pool for swim and lunch, then all take a nap.

The grounds at othe Winter Palace are generous and green. They are dotted with palm trees, an aviary, a shisha smoking terrace with sofas and oriental rugs, a ping pong pavilion and a large pool with swim-up bar, and various water fountain features. Only one middle eastern family lounges among the crowd of French and English guests. The sign at the pool said 105 F (approximately 42 C). In Egypt when temperatures reach 50 C, the government won’t report it., insisting that it is only 49 C. Apparently if the temperature reaches 50 C people are excused from reporting to work, but the government must still pay them.

Our guide in Luxor was an Egyptologist named Ahmed. He graduated 8^th in his class at the University and works exclusively for Nubia Tours. His English is easy to understand, he has just a trace of an accent, this is important because he is giving us a tremendous amount of information, names of pharaohs, dates, names of gods, roman invaders, etc. Karnak temple is an impressive comples of pylons, gigantic lotus topped columnts, rows of ram headed sphinxes, obelisks, smaller temples, open courts and hieroglyph carvings.

TO BE CONTINUED _WE ARE BOARDING OUR FLIGHT HOME

Egyptian Wedding

So, the Palace Hotel staff pressed our rumpled clothes and brought handfuls of toiletries to our steamy cabana room so we could emerge ready for the wedding at the super swanky Four Seasons. Even though the invitation said 9:00 pm, Amr assured us that nothing would get going until much later. He told us he'd meet us at 9:30, as we were arriving at the hotel, he texted to say he'd be coming at 10:15 because he was stuck in traffic. We went to the bar and it enchanted Will and Willy with its over the top atmosphere and service

The boys particularly enjoyed having their coke poured from a can into a class pitcher than into a slender rectangular glass.In fact, they ordered a second round just to experience it again. .

Amr arrived at 10:45, and his 22 year old girlfriend Rowana (who we've decided is the prettiest girl in Egypt) entered at 11;30. As we walked into the wedding there was no recieving line, but a video camera filmed entering. On either side of the dance floor, which took up a third of the ballroom, were tables for ten set with silvery white tablecloths with tall three and four foot gold candelabras covered with flowers, votive candles and strands of crystal drops. Behind these were tall fabric covered cocktail tables for the latecomers. Behind these were enormous screens that would later project live video of the bride and groom, the guests, the dancing. Between the massive chandeliers, a rectangular fringe of silver beads hung over the dance floor. The ceiling was covered in theatre lights and a green laser beamed its light erratically around the room. Later it would project the name of the wedding couple "Kareem and Hager" on the walls..

At midnight the bride and groom descended a staircase in the lobby to the sounds of tamborines, bagpipes and singing. Men dressed in tradtional barb serenaded the couple while women in silver sheaths with candelabras on their heads with real candles danced in front of the them. The couple made their way onto the dance floor where their young friends, family and we surrounded them clapping and swaying to the arab music. Then they slow danced to Its a Wonderful World.

We met the groom's brother, father, uncle, and assorted friends who were all warm, gracious and elegant. At 12:45 they served the first course, salad, shrimp and salmon. We danced at the insistence of Amr and Rowana. Then when the elaborate buffet was set out we had to say our good byes at 1:30 am for our 3 hour ride home.

Alexandria

On Friday morning, we left Cairo at 8 am for our drive north through the Nile Delta for Alexandria. Fields of sugarcane, tomatos and wheat bordered the highway. Two and a half hours later we arrived at Amr's squash club which are part of a huge country club type complex. The complex has two huge gymnasiusms with the olympic rings and sports, clay tennis courts, golf course, soccer fields, two pools, basketball field house, horse track, a bank, supermarket, clothing shops and a handful of restaurants. Willy and Amr trained and I went upstairs to the locker room to change. The attendant was giving herself a pedicure..one foot soaking in a red pail, the other hoisted up with her long dress on the bench where she was intently filing away. The locker room looked like it came from the 60s. Tired gray linolelum with touches of peeling orange trim. The workout room featured three walls of mirrors and one wall of windows looking out at the horse pasture. There were four treadmills, a stationary bike and nautilus equipment. I started pedaling on the bike and within a few minutes the two teenage attendants wearing headscarves, long sleeve jerseys and very baggy sweatpants conferred and started blasting arab techno for me to work out to. The only other people working out were a 7 year old boy who had finished playing squash and his mother who strolled along on the treadmill in sandals, jeans and headscarf. The teenage attendents walked around, stopping to do a few situps on the machines every so often. When I went to take a shower I discovered you had to bring your own towel, which I hadn't. So Amr found one for me. This time the attendant was on her prayer rug doing her prayers since the call to prayer had been announced over the loudspeaker. This call to prayer occurs five times a day and is a wailing sound broadcast through the entire city. We often didn't hear it because we are inside.

We see people here with ash wednesday type smudges on their foreheads. These are actually marks from prostrating during prayers. Supposedly the darker and larger this mark is the more pious they are. We ate foul sandwhiches and watched Willy and Amr play. They hit the ball so hard, the ball broke, and Will said it was the hottest ball he had ever felt. After a hard workout and game, Amr had Willy run drills from one corner to the next. It was exhausting just watching him.

Just like Cairo, Alexandria is notorious for traffic, especially on the weekend which in muslim countries is Friday and Saturday. We drove to the Citadel , a fortress built upon an old light house. It is situated at the far west point of the coastline. Alexandria is best known for its literary history, not its monuments. Alexander the great for whom the city is named wnated to collect copies of all the printed books in the world. This was in 332 BC and he developed this place where ideas and knowledge were exchanged and revered. Several years ago a new fabulous library was built in Alexandria resurrecting its name as a cultural center. It is an architectural gem--looks like a disc representing the mediterranean sun rising. Unfortunately for us it didn't open until 3 on Saturday and our plan was to spend the afternoon at the beach, so we just drove by.

The public beaches we passed were the MOST crowded I had ever seen. People sat shoulder to shoulder on plastic chairs -- 10 under an umbrella. It took us 45 minutes to crawl along the beachfront to our "private beach". Amr had arranged a day room for us at a friend's hotel. This way we could sit by the pool or on the beach and have a place to shower and hang out in before the big wedding of his best friends brother, Kareem. As we've come to realize in Egypt, you must drop all expectations and just go with the flow. Once we checked in, we were escorted through the fake, luxurious lobby (read tacky and cheap), past the pool with every lounge chair occupied, through the scruffy garden with outdoor stage, to the beach area and our room in a cabana. It was a tiny room with a plastic lounger and a shower in the corner. The walls were stretched canvas. Witgh our duffels and suitcases and backpacks there was hardly room to walk. The only thing to do was to don our suits and enjoy the ocean.

The water was the perfect temperature and super salty. We were surrounded by people in bikinis, swim dresses and full black long dresses and headscarv es. One side of the beach was dominated by a stage with a dj in a speedo and three dancing Russian Blondes in bikinis. The music was American and Arab techno. After the swim I found our guest relations person who carried in a 2x3 mirror and attached it to a grommet hook in our cabana and brought me a hair dryer so I could get ready for the fancy wedding at the four seasons.

cairo sightseeing

Wi-fi and some downtime at last. We have been on the go, and getting home too late to get on the computer. We like the Intercontinental but it is a 30-45 minute car ride from any sites in Cairo. So for two excursions a day, we need to allow lots of traveling time. Fortunately we all fall asleep in the car, and enjoy our catnaps.

In Cairo, it turns out our mornings were spent playing squash either at the Intercontinental Hotel or at the National Squash facility, followed by a pool side lunch at the hotel. In the afternoons we would go exploring some neighborhood in Cairo. One afternoon we explored Coptic Cairo. The very first Christian churches dating back to the 9th centuryare here with all their elaborate wood carving, inlay work and stained glass windows. Egyptian Copts have their own pope and their own churches. One is called the hanging church because its foundation is built upon Roman ruins. People claim that Mary, Joseph and Jesus hid in it. This area is very tranquil and charming with its cobblestone alleys and twisting streets. It was a welcome relief from the traffic that chokes the rest of Cairo. To enter this little neighborhood we had to walk through a police guard and metal detector. The next afternoon we went to the Citadel, several Islamic mosques and the famed Khan al Khalili bazaar. We had Aida guide us through the craziness of the merchants hawking their t-shirts, mummies, boxes, etc. Aida is half Egyptian and half Austrian and provided us with history, practical information and perspective on life in Egypt.


One evening we met with Amr and his girlfriend, Rowana. They took us to a hip, white tented lounge called Sequoia on the banks of the Nile. We sat on white sofas and eating Egyptian specialties. The crowd was Egyptian but there wasn't a headscarf in sight. Another evening Will and I went to the top of the Hyatt hotel for drinks and a terrific view of the Nile at night. This hotel was slick with Saudis, Americans, Europeans, and Egyptians pulling up in Bentleys and Mercedes. The requisite German Shephards sniffed our car for bombs. Next to the hotel is the Hard Rock Cafe Cairo. While we went out, Willy navigated the City Stars Mall alone and Bear crashed. Bear has had the sniffles and a chest cold and has been a trooper going along with the program, though he doesn't feel 100 percent himself.

Pyramids and the Desert

We drove to Giza to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx this morning. It is difficult to describe the exhiliration of seeing the monuments peeking over the dusty, run-down buildings of Giza. (They are so dusty because it never rains!) Giza boasts the largest of the 130 or so pyramids still standing along the Nile in Egypt. The largest pyramid built by and for the pharoah Khufre is the size of 10 football fields at its base. The boulders making up the pyramid are placed so precisely, it is remarkable that they were built 4,000 years ago. I had thought the pyramids were built thanks to slave labor. Not so. The pharoahs employed skilled architects and artisans, and paid farmers in the off season to work on them.

We are here in low season, so there were just a few tour buses ahead of us. We declined our driver Mohammed's offer to drive us around, preferring to walk though the sand and rocks from one pyramid to to the next. I had read the warnings in the guide books about the many touts preying on unsuspecting tourists. Sure enough, five guys and their camels accosted us shortly after we entered pyramid land. They offered to pose for us. Will, Willy and I brushed past them, but Bear lured by the camel photo-op paused momentarily. Then, before we could say "Im-shee, or go away" a green cotton scarf had been jauntily affixed to his head and he was seated on top of the humped beast. While Will and I watched Bear on his camel, Willy was cajoled onto a camel, too. When I asked "how much?", the answer was "whatever you wish to pay Madame". OK. After the boys rode around for several minutes and Will and I had a photo taken, we were asked to pay 150 egyptian pounds per person for the privilege of this camel encounter. Will gave them 60 pounds and said good-bye. Little did we know that Bear had been negotiating on his own and handed over 100 egyptian pounds, so that he could get off his camel. When pressed why he gave so much, Bear shrugged and said "I had 300 pounds in my pocket, I knew I could spare 100 and be done with the guy."

Trudging along the pyramids we all were overwhelmed by the perfection and immense size of them. We kept wondering how could they create them way back when. Looking in one direction we could see the city of Giza covered in smog. Looking in the other, we could see tiny groups of camels and horses in the rolling dunes of the desert. In addition to the three big pyramids there are a few smaller ones and ruins of funerary temples.

After walking in the 100 degree desert, we cooled off in the air conditioned solar barque museum. We slipped on canvas slippers over our shoes (to protect the floors from the desert sands), and admired the cedar wood vessel which they claim is the oldest boat in existence. It was restored from 1200 pieces of wood found in a pit near the Great Pyramid. It is believed to have been one of the boats that transported the dead Pharoah down the Nile to the pyramids. It was buried along with the mummy of the dead pharoah because it was supposed to transport it into the after world.

Finally we saw the Sphinx. It is such a familiar image -- regal and quixotic. Heading back to the parking lot to meet Mohammed, we spotted a small doorway in the ruins. It was the tomb of some queen and the boys eagerly descended the nearly vertical ramp to the burial chamber to see the mummy.

Amr set up matches for the boys with members of the Kuwait national team. Willy beat his opponent soundly. Bear played well, but lost to his. While they were playing, I planned to work out. The fitness schedule said Taebo class, and I went in with apprehension. Turns out it was a subsitute instructor, Valentyna. She led her own undefinable class which I called double-time cardio/total body conditioning class. She was manic -- trying to work out super hard since she had just returned from a week in Croatia.

The boys wanted to stay home and go to bed early this evening, so they went to the mall, drank iced coffees from Starbucks (forgetting that drinking the ice might make them sick), and ate a pizza for dinner. Will and I went to the Lebanese restaurant at our hotel because of the promise of lebanese music and a belly dancing show at 10:30. The food was superb and served on a mini-grill placed on our table. Many patrons of the restaurant knew and sang along with the three lebanese lounge lizards, while Will wondered why all the lebanese pop songs sound the same. We discovered how the burquaed ladies eat. They move a hidden flap in their veil to the side of their mouth with every sip and bite.

At 10:30, thirteen musicians attired in black turtlenecks began playing their tamborines, violins, and drums. Soon two vocalists chimed in with some Arabic songs, and finally the belly dancer emerged. There is a lot of hype about this belly dancer--apparently she is one of the best. We are not qualified to judge, but we thought she was mediocre. Shakira is much better and prettier. As the besequined belly dancer seductively motioned to the audience, the men from the gulf states were visibly getting into it. We saw enough so we left.

squash and smoking

No one hopped out of bed this morning despite the wake-up call. Amr and assistant Beeso (sp?) were meeting us at the squash courts at 10:00 am and Will wanted to make sure everyone had time to digest their food before playing. When we congretated downtairs fifteen minutes after the agreed upon time, he was grumpy. The hotels only restaurant open in the morning offers a hot buffet for hefty $25 a person. The same restaurant's a al carte option adds up to nearly the same ridiculous amount, which made me grumpy. Unfortunately Egyptians aren't early risers, and there are no other options. The Starbucks in the mall opens at 10 am.

There are four squash courts in the fitness center. One is a great looking glass court with 8 rows of stadium seating. Amr and Beeso each trained a boy for 45 minutes, than switched. The morning's training was physically demanding and hot. In the States they may do a single drill for 20 shots, whereas here they repeat a shot at least 40 times. Will monitored the squash action and videotaped the boys playing. After two hours both Bear (Will) and Willy were beat. Willy's forearm hurt, so Amr suggested a shot from the pharmacy in the mall. Apparently Amr and the others in the squash world keep pain at bay with these shots. So, Willy got a shot in his bottom and then iced his arm.

Never one to just hang out, I had planned on working out while the boys played squash. On the hotel website, which was confirmed by the concierge who I emailed, the fitness center offered yoga and oriental dance (belly dancing). On arrival, I found out that in fact this is not true. There are stretch and toning classes, taebo, kickboxing, step and crunch classes, but not what I had wanted. No use wallowing in disappointment, so I decided to try the stretch and tone class. Even though I was late to the studio, there was no one there. Upon inquiry, the instructor, Hatham emerged from a back room and proceeded to be my personal trainer for the next 45 minutes. To the sounds of "We are Family" I did exactly what I hate to do--sets of isometric exercises, while Hatham walked around and corrected my form, and then grunted "good".

Lunch was at a smoky, European style cafe, Egyptian chain called Cilantro. We chose from the menu yet when we ordered we were told that those items were not available, because this menu was the old one. When we asked for the new menu, they said they didn't have one yet. I ordered mushroom soup accompanied by bread and butter. When I was served the soup without the bread, I asked my waiter for it. After a puzzled look, he returned with a tiny packet of croutons. After many explanations, he kind of understood and with great flourish brought me brown toast. Not quite the soft roll I had envisioned.

Our driver, Mohammed took us to the famed Egyptian Museum. Here lie the mummy remains of many pharoahs and their families, the spoils of King Tut's tomb, and thousands of other relics found in tombs across Egypt. We found a guide Marwa outside the museum and after negotiationg a bit, she agreed to accompany us for 2 hours for 150 Egyptian pounds which is about $30. ($1 = 5.5 Egyptian pounds). She told us about the Rosetta Stone, the Old, Middle and New Kingdom's, and all about King Tut. We saw the noble families' mummified pets--the dogs, cats, miniature gazelles, and monkeys.

What seemed to interest the boys the most was Marwa's explanation of why some Muslim women wear the veil. She said Egyptians don't care what women wear as it is their personal choice. She was wearing a long sleeve tight jersey shirt, and knit vest, jeans and a head scarf. She was sweating profusely and had B.O. She said she wore the veil because it was her tradition. And she wore long sleeves (even in 100 degree weather) because the Koran says women are to cover their body. (Never mind you could see just what kind of body she had because her clothes were tight and form fitting.) She felt sorry for the women of the gulf states who have to wear a black burqua whenever they are out. We have seen alot of these women here--black ghosts walking around. Yet their eyes peeking out of that black shroud reveal lots of mascara and eyeliner. They carry designer pocketbooks in bright colors and their black burquas are often studed and sport glittery designs. Marwa said that often these women remove their burquas during the plane rides from Saudi Arabia and Qatar to Egypt if they have the blessing of their husband. Their freedom hinges on what their husbands allow them to do. We concurred with Marwa that this was very sad.

Except for the vault room with King Tut's jewelry and gold mummy case which blasted cold air, the rest of the Egyptian museum had temperatures hovering in the high 90s. It made us all tired and the boys clamored for a nap. Will lay out by the pool and I explored the mall upon our return. The mall is enormous--it is a so called Hypermall with 800 stores. Despite the proliferation of stores, there was nothing I wanted to buy. The clothes are too patterned and flimsy. Even the BCBG store had merchandise that was too short and too skimpy. Guess who is buying and wearing these sassy fashions? You got it, the burquad women were buying. Apparently they come to the Intercontinental and stay for a month. Since they can't lay out by the pool comfortably in the burqua, they shop.

Will's trip to the pool was a fiasco. After a short swim he ordered a beer and lay on a chaise lounge. In short order he spotted a 120 pound Egyptian man groping his prostitute date while she was throwing up. Then the flies started attacking Will. When he swallowed a fly that had flown into he beer he had had enough.

We met Amr for dinner in Zamalek, the island in Cairo which is often referred to as Cairo's Manhattan. He had just finished playing a match with the number 1 player in the world, Karim Darwish. Amr's club features the usual squash, tennis and golf, but also has a horse race track on its premises. He took us to a restaurant, Abu El Saed, a couple of blocks up the street which served traditional Egyptian fare. We felt we were entering a movie set. It was dark with old fashioned sofas and chairs set in groups around large coffee tables. The people were British, Saudi, Egyptian and us. Amr did the ordering. Willy reported that his chicken in a walnut creamy sauce called sharkasia was the best meal of his life. Bear had molokheya with chicken and I had koshary (mixture of fried onion, chickpeas, lentils, rice and noodles. Will and Amr had veal shanks with cinammon flavored rice. The biggest surprise were the appetizers-- delicious mohbar, wara rinbab and the unanimous favorite FOUL pronounced FULL which is creamed fava beans drizzled with a yogurt sauce which we ate with pita chips.

Another suprise of the evening was the hookah pipe called shisha. Most tables had ordered one, and even the burquad women were each smoking one. Amr ordered a pipe for our table and asked us what flavor we wanted: apple, peach, coca cola, red bull or grape. Since grape is the most popular we went with that. Let me get this straight, I am an anti-smoker, but I wanted to be a good sport with our host Amr, so I agreed to take one little puff, but I was scared since the only time a tried a cigarette I took one puff and it tasted terrible and burned my lungs and I swore off any type of smoking as disgusting and bad. To my surprise the grape shisha was so innocuous and mild, I didn't even know I inhaled, until I exhaled. The big puff of smoke coming out of my mouth was shocking because I didn't feel it. The rest of the group partook of the shisha concurred that this was a one time fun activity to have tried in Egypt.

Welcome to Egypt

As we boarded our flight in Richmond, the stewardess greeted us with the comment "I'm going to ruin your day". Apparently there was a suspicious item in one of the suitcases that passed throught security. The TSA didn't spot it right away and consequently didn't know which suitcase was the culprit. So they pulled all the checked luggage from the eight flights departing around 5:00 pm, and ran them through the machines again. Then, instead of keeping the luggage separated by airline and flight, they created a mountain of suitcases that had to be sorted by a handful of airline employees. We were told that we had to leave on time without our luggage or we'd lose our gate spot in JFK. Great. Not one of us had thought to pack extra clothes in our carry-ons or squash clothes in the squash bags. After 10 minutes of waiting, the stewardess announced, that there was a change of plans. The TSA prohibited flights taking off without their luggage, so now we along with all the other flights waiting for luggage would be delayed. An hour later we finally saw the cart with our luggage pull up and we were on our way to JFK.

The flight to Cairo was also delayed from 10:00 to 11:45 pm. We were all dead tired.

Despite our misfortune to be seated behind the noisiest, ill-behaved little Egyptian boys, Willy, Bear and I slept 7 of the 11 hours of our flight. Will who usually falls asleep moments after finding his seat, didn't sleep more than an hour. He watched the monitor, and two of the worst movies ever "Seventeen Again" and "Witch Mountain".

We landed In Cairo at 5:30 pm and were greeted at the terminal by a swarm of taxi drivers and tour group leaders. We pushed pass them through the doorway to passport control. Standing between us and the passport line was a cadre of Egyptians in nurses uniforms wearing face masks. They asked us to fill out swine flu card and then they directed us to a yellow line where we stood while a camera hooked to a computer took our temperature. If it was elevated, it could be an indicator of swine flu, and we could be denied entrance to Egypt. Apparently the first confirmed case of swine flu in Egypt was brought in by a 12 year old American, on June 2nd. Even though only 40 cases have been reported in Egypt so far, they remain very suspicious of Americans.

The entrance continued to be chaotic, as we needed to get visas, for which there were no signs. Will bought them from a bank tucked back in the corner of the terminal. Amr Mansi, a professional squash player (who is our unofficial host and squash trainer) met us at the airport with another car and driver and drove us to our hotel the Intercontinental City Stars. We arrived at the complex which is surrounded by police with bomb sniffing german shephards.

Every car that enters the City Stars complex is checked. Entering the hotel or the adjacent hotels, mall, and fitness center everyone must pass through a metal detector and our bags are xrayed just like at the airport. The hotel is lovely--opulant and grand. The people are a mix of middle eastern, asian businessmen, burquad women and their families from Saudi Arabia, and a few Europeans. No one looks like us.

Dinner is at exotic outdoor restaurant. It is 80 degrees outside and we are the only patrons there. Contrary to what we have heard the humidity is high. Steak sandwiches and fries, stella beer, hummus and seafood soup leave us satieted and we head back to our rooms happy.

omnipod-not the next best thing since sliced bread

I have been so excited to get a new pump. In fact, I waited for two extra years after my old pump was out of warranty to get the latest and best that technology could offer in the way of pumps. This why I chose the omnipod pump from Insulet. It is tubeless and controlled by a PDM device. Well I loved it at first. I could wear clothes and not see it (it was on my belly). It was freedom to go to bed and not have a tail.

The omnipod has a one time use and its good for three days. So when it expires, I fill a new one with insulin, place it on a new part of my body (butt, thigh, abdomen or arm). To keep track of the insertion sites, I rotate the pump by moving it to a new spot, 1 inch away from its previous insertion spot. Two days ago, when I was taking off the fourth pod, I was horrified to see bad skin reaction to the adhesive of the pump. There was a large red outline of the pump on my stomach and little blisters all over my skin where the pump had been. It looked like welts and vicous bug bites. So, I put the next pod on the back of my arm--not a really pretty sight, but I'm over it. Well, wouldn't you know it, I accidently knocked off the pump by walking through a doorway and bumping into the door frame. So, I had to withdraw the insulin from the pod and put it in a new one on. This time I placed it a little lower on my arm. I noticed that redness and skin irritation had already appeared where the pod had been on my upper arm for only 10 hours. Well, later that afternoon I accidently pulled off this second pump on my arm, when my purse strap caught it and dislodged it. So trying not thinking about the $35 cost of each pump, I unwrapped a third one in less than 24 hours, and attached it to my thigh. (Yes the fattest part of my body is now FATTER). I'm wearing a skirt so I can't accidently knock it off, but going to the bathroom, my underwear caught on it and almost pulled it off. I don't know if this is going to work. I'll have to live with it in Egypt and hopefully the heat won't exasperate any skin irritation.

Insulin and pump issues can be so daunting and time-consuming and irritiating. When things are working it is great--but my experience in the last couple of days are making me wish for my old pump, and for techonology to speed up---why does this pod have to be so big. Check it out: www.myomnipod.com. ;

how blonde is too blonde

Its summer and I should be blonde. My blonde reflects the seasons, and at this point (mid-summer) it should have a well-established sun-kissed look. Never mind that I haven't been going to the pool or the beach, but my forays to the grocery store or my walks around the neighborhood should be encouraging natural lightening. So why is it that I have lifeless, dirty blonde hair surrounding my face instead of bright white wisps.

I am leaving town for the middle east in two weeks. Being blonde is not an asset. It just makes you stand out more than you already do. Oh well my blonde tresses will just make it easier for my family to find me in a crowd and guarantee that I look like a foreigner. Its worth it. I'm going to the salon this afternoon.