Giza

Hi all,
Guess what i did today???
I saw the Pyramids of Giza! And I went in to the Great Pyramid!! I climbed all the way inside bent double. Up and up I went until I finally emerged in the tomb. It is so still the air doesn't even dare to move. I let the others (some other people in my group) go down first so I was left alone in the middle of the Great Pyramid! Such an amazing experience!! So still there, just so massive, just another example of how amazing people are, to build, even to imagine, that they could build such amazing things.
There are not enough exclamation marks in the World to express the wonders I get to see every day. From the ancient monuments to the people on the streets, the great food and cacophony of sounds.

(This is for Sasha)
Cairo
It smells like perfume after one step then the next step is sewerage then another step and it's exotic spices all wrapped up in cigarette smoke
It tastes like cardamon coffee, and tahini and falafel.
It looks like chaos, cars, people, buses, bikes, people everywhere doing everything, sleeping laughing smoking, selling.
It sounds like music, cars honking, blaring, beeping. The call to prayer five times a day. Men laughing, women chatting. "Welcome!" "Where you from?" "Very beautiful, beautiful lady" "Come look at my shop" "Salaam" "Hello" "La lal la" "For you I give you 2000 camels" (that was a man trying to buy me from my 'husband' Grant).
It feels like paper money, dry heat, sweat. Cool nights, fresh breeze, sand in your hair.
It is wonderful.


So I went to the Pyramids today which was fantastic! Also to the Egyptian Museum where I think I got only a quarter of the way through. It was amazing seeing Tutankhamen's head mask and all the treasures he had with him in his tomb.

Because I have not been able to get onto the internet for a while I'll have to get you up to date.


From Petra we went out into the desert to Wadi Rum four-wheel driving. Sliding down sand dunes, following in the footsteps of 'el Lawrence'. We stayed in a Bedouin camp where I slept out under a million stars. It was so good to see Orion a familiar constellation in a different sky. We then caught a ferry to Egypt and then spent 2 lovely days sitting on a beach. I went scuba diving in the Red Sea which was so much fun. We then went inland to Mount Sinai where we walked around Saint Katharine's monastery and saw the "descendants" of Moses' burning bush. In the afternoon we climbed the 3780 Stairs of Repentance to the top of Mount Sinai . That was crazy - very hard on the legs but the view was spectacular. It took us two and a half hours to walk up then we watched the sun set and then took two hours to walk back down in the dark (we walked down a camel trail so it was easier).
The next day we drove the 6 hour trip to Cairo where I went walking around Coptic Cairo . I caught the Metro which was an experience within itself (a good one). That night we all went out to dinner where I met the new people joining our group and the new leader. He is really nice, an Egyptian man, who took us around the Giza Plateau even though he doesn't get paid for it. I have to go now as we have to catch an overnight train to Aswan - I think it takes 13 hours.

I love the emails - please send more.
Congratulations to Michelle about getting her licence.
All my love, Acushla xoxoxoxoxoxox