Cairo, Egypt

Our last stop two stops were to two ports in Egypt. In both ports we took tours to Cairo.



I think our stop in Cairo was one of the biggest culture shocks I've experienced thus far.



The other being when we went to the rural parts of southern Africa. Everything about it was completely different than the western world. Well, except for KFC.



They told us on the boat that we should take something to wrap our heads in so we wouldn't stand out as much. We quickly realized that they can smell tourists like dogs can smell bacon. It doesn't really matter what you are wearing.



Our first stop were the Pyramids of Giza.


And then the great Sphinx.






Our tour guide helped us out with the camel ride negotiations.



She told us that it's common for the camel guys to say, "Free camel ride!" and then once you are are up on the camel, they tell you it will be 50 dollars to get down.



She negotiated three dollars per person. The guy even took like 10 pictures of us! You can also see that he thought Ryan's head should be wrapped up.



Once we got off the camel we just wandered around and they bombarded us with selling their goods. Then, it happened. Right out in the open. A large man in a long white robe approached us. He said, "Ohhh...you are very lucky man sir. Your wife look like Egyptian Goddess. You take 100 camels for her?" And my husband hesitated. He hesitated! I said, "No he will not! Thank you very much!"



Sadly, it did not end there. We went to a large bazaar in the middle of Cairo and men would come up and say the same sort of thing..."You are very lucky man. You take 100 camels for her?"





Evidently I know my worth! It was the creepiest thing that people think they can buy human beings. The tour guide said that they always want to buy the girls with light colored hair.







We had lunch on old sailboats on the Nile River. It was a beautiful day floating on the Nile. How amazing is it that the ancient Egyptians traveled on this same river?



Then we went to a historical mosque.



It was interesting to see inside their way of life in Egypt. This is a picture of the living room and above is where the women could stand so they were hidden. They were not allowed to be seen by visitors in the house, but they could look in from a special room.



This room is actually special because it was where a scene from James Bond "The Spy Who Loved Me" was filmed.

This is the Step Pyramid. This is the first design of the pyramids, before they changed to the design of the Great Pyramids.



King Ramses. Can you believe he had over 100 kids??



Cairo was so different and for that it was so cool to be there.




On the way back to the boat, I just kept thinking, "Did I really just see the ancient pyramids?" Amazing.