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.