Bessalama Morocco!

Morocco was not what I expected. With minimal information mainly from travel books about the African nation I imagined sweltering heat and harrassment for being white and a woman who isn't completely covered. But the weather was cooler than most of the other places that we've visited and we were significantly less hassled than we had been in Turkey and Egypt. The streets actually felt safe to walk down, we didn't have to avoid all eye contact and be constantly on guard against the jeers and taunts of local men. Not saying that I didn't enjoy visiting Istanbul and Cairo, but I just liked Casablanca and Marrakech so much more.

I loved Marrakech- it was my favorite place from this whole trip. We stayed in the medina (Old City), the Muslim part of the French city, in a riad that was both beautiful and peaceful. The courtyard was filled with squishy, colorful couches and young trees that had small birds flitting in their upper branches. After arriving we sat in the soft afternoon sunshine in the small courtyard garden, surrounded by the tinkling sound of the fountain in the center, and enjoyed the best mint tea I've ever had. There were about four rooms in the whole riad, and the people running it were very helpful and kind. Each morning they served us fresh orange juice, crossaints and bread in the courtyard garden.

Leaving our riad and walking through the wide alleyways of the Medina backstreets, it only took us four minutes to get to the Djeema el-Fna square, where we spent most of our time. All day long there are rows and rows of juice stalls, selling freshly-squeezed orange and grapefruit juice for 3 dirham (about 30 cents) a glass. The refreshing and delicious juice was a welcome relief in the hottest part of the day. The sound of drums and instruments of the traditional Berber musicians always filled the square, quieter in the daytime and working up to a frenzy at night when the square is filled with thousands of locals and tourists alike. Snake charmers played whining songs to their cobras, who laid lazily in the sunshine or twined around their necks and hands as they walked around, trying to snare easy tourists into taking pictures with them for a few dirham. Veiled henna artists sat under their umbrellas during the day's heat, collecting into larger groups as the day progressed, calling out to all passerby to adorn their hands and feet with the swirling brown and black ink designs. Traditional dentists sat at tiny tables whose surfaces were covered with large piles of troublesome molars that they pulled from their clients' mouths with huge pliers. We ate dinner on one of the rooftop restaraunts that surrounded the square, watching the square beneath us fill with people as the evening dinner stands were erected, the smoke from their grills snaking up into the darkening sky. After dinner, local couscous with vegetables for me, we joined the crowds of people in the huge square. The benches of the dinner stalls were crowded with people enjoying all kinds of meats including snails that you slurped straight from the bowl. We stopped by the famous Ice Legend, on the south side of the squre, to test some of their homemade flavors of ice cream. After exploring the square thoroughly we returned to our riad to relax on the rooftop terrace which was filled with lounge chairs, couches, and potted palms. The night stars shone in the purple sky above us, the sound of beating drums from the square drifting to our ears on the warm night breeze.

I woke in the morning to the sound of birds chirping in the treetops directly out from our second floor room. The morning air was cool and quiet, the Medina around us silent except for the occasional rattle of a cart being driven or pulled through the alleys. The sweet smell of baking bread rose from somewhere and the far off hoots of owls could still be heard. The soft morning sun was beginning to rise while the half moon still hung in the sky opposite it. After breakfast we headed back to Djeema el-Fna square.

Back in the square we passed the busy juice stalls and plunged into the alleys north of the square, into the souks. The souks, traditional bazaars, were filled with hundreds of tiny shops filled with jewelry, lanterns, leather goods, metal teapots, and billowy clothing. We used our well-practiced haggling techniques to great success with the shop-keepers.

Before leaving Marrakech the next morning we stopped to visit Las Jardines Majorelle. The Majorelle Gardens are famous for their blue architecture and its calm interior is filled with palms and cacti. One of the pond's surfaces is covered with water lilies, their flowers opened wide in the afternoon sunshine, tiny turtles basking from their pads or swimming through the shallow water. Sitting under the shade of some of the palms that fill the gardens, I realized how weird it will be to go home and not be surrounded by palm trees wherever I go.

Our port city of Casablanca is the most important city in Morocco economically and has one of the most famous mosques in the world- the Hassan II Mosque. The mosque took six years to complete, 1987-1993, and was funded completely by donations; about one-third of the donations came from President Hassan II, thus its name. The estimated cost of the museum is over 800 million USD. Our first close up view of the mosque was of the turqouise-covered minaret piercing the midday sky with the pale moon hanging directly over it's tip. The minaret is the tallest in the world at 200 meters high. The mosque itself is 200m long, 100m wide, and 65m tall. The massive cedar ceiling weighs 1100 tons is opened electronically during summer prayers to cool down the mosque's interior. It only takes three minutes to open and two minutes to close. The interior of the mosque is constructed mainly of marble, of cedar to withstand the ocean air and for its pleasant smell, and the doors are of titanium. There are circular glass parts of the floor through which you can see down into the abolution rooms. Behind the niche facing Mecca are the King's private quarters, where a part of the floor over the Atlantic Ocean is glass so he can see the water while he prays. During Ramaddan 25,000 people pray inside the mosque while another 80,000 pray in the courtyard outside. The Islamic-styled scrollwork in the marble was so delicate that it looked as fragile as a seashell. It was so peaceful and beautiful inside; I enjoyed this the most of any monument I've seen on my trip.

My Birthday!

I went on a SAS trip to Rural Cairo and a Children's Hospital for the whole day. Along the way our guide told us a wide range of information about Egypt. I learned that ancient Egyptians began to settle the area in 3100 BCE and that Cairo is so overpopulated now that all of the city is filled with apartment buildings because there is no room for anything else. Their bases have the grocery and necessity stores. Only eight percent of Egypt is occupied (the area along the Nile) and this number is expected to increase up to 15-20 percent due to the construction of dams and canals. Education is free and compulsory in Egypt, but if they want a more complete education students can attend private "language schools" for a relatively large sum of money. They start with their first language (e.g. English) immediately, and four years later learn another language (e.g. German, French)! In rural Egypt the farmers have between six and fifteen children. After the parents pass on the children inherit the unfinished buildings and add on to them to fit their families in. This made the small "villages" that I saw on my trip from Alexandria to Cairo, the compounds surrounded by trash and topped with shanty houses. Since it was Monday Cairo was one big traffic jam with people returning from their weekend getaways.

We visited the Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Center which serves as a workshop for female and male artisans who weave tapestries out of wool and cotton threads. The cool garden filled with birdsong was a stark difference from the dusty road outside the gates of the center. The woman in charge, Wassef's daughter, described the center as a place for artistic talents to be found and flourish. The artists start as children usually when they are given thread and no patterns or instructions and are asked to create artwork; some of the artists have been there for over fifty years. She said that they have no quota that they are expected to reach and they are allowed to work whenever they want to, that it is a place for art, not work. It was beautiful to watch the colorful flowers, animals, and people be created by the flying hands of the artists.

Lunch was amazing. We ate on "La Pacha" (The Prince) a riverboat on the Nile in the fashion of the boats used by Egyptian royalty in the early 1900s. Fresh pitas were piled steaming in a basket in the middle of the table. Bowls of veggie and bean dips were arranged around the basket. I had fresh mango juice, perfectly chilled with sweet mango chunks. It was delicious.

Last day in Cairo

We set off from our hotel in downtown Cairo towards the bazaar with good confidence in the directions we got from the man at the front desk . Almost an hour later, after walking beside a highway overpass, through the trash, and being approached by multiple slightly creepy men wanting to guide us in exchange for baksheesh, we reached a shopping area that still had half of the shops closed. We walked past the shopkeepers still putting their wares out and ended up following the narrow alleyways back into the shopping area until we were lost in our search for the Egyptian bazaar. We were in the local's shopping area, the pathways only a few feet wide, the stores filled with cheap WallMart-style clothing. After a claustrophobic walk during which our every step was watched and laughed at we found our way back out onto the wide walking street of the tourist's bazaar. The same street that we had walked down earlier was now filled with merchandise and tourists looking for souveniers. The tourist shops were very much like what the Plaka (in Athens) and the Grand Bazaar (in Turkey) held, but the shopkeepers were much more polite and less intrusive than the Turkish sellers were. I spent most of our time there watching the scenery. The intermittently congregated around the bright-orange water coolers in the middle of the small street. German couples with their shorts, hiking boots, and cameras passed holding hands. The shop owners stood waiting in the minimal shade outside their shops for people to come look at their scarves, pyramid impressions, and chessboards. A small, tabby kitten bounded between shops, sticking her face in the shiny jewelry and crawling through the shade underneath the tables.

In the afternoon we visited the Egyptian Museum. For a museum housing some of the most precious archaeological treasures of the ancient world it was surprisingly dingy, lacking in titles, and hot. But looking at all of the Egyptian relics took our minds off the uncomfortable conditions. The mask of Tutankhamoun shone brightly in the middle of one room, the gold inlaid with turquoise, his head adorned with the two serpents denoting his majesty. On the shoulders were miniature depictions of a falcon made out of deep-black obsidian. He is Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, of whom the pharaohs were supposed to be living incarnations of. The shrunken corpses of the human mummies were slightly disturbing, their fronts covered with garish depictions of their occupants. The light falling in streams from the high windows was filled with swirling motes of dust, lending an air of mysticism to the antiquities. The most interesting room to me was the room of animal mummies. Huge crocodiles (about seven meters long) filled the glass cases along one wall, their green bodies dried out, their tails seemed to be posed mid-swing. A dog mummy still covered in hair had its mouth opened in a silent bark. There was a huge, flat fish mummy that was as tall as me. The shelves covering another wall were filled with mummies of cats, their upright bodies covered in the preservative wrappings. There are four different types of animal mummies: pets, victual, sacred, and votive offerings. The pets were animals extremely special to the owners, such as baboons or dogs, whose mummies were placed in their owner's coffins or tombs after they died to accompany them into the afterlife. Victual animal mummies were meant to provide food for all eternity to the humans. Sacred animals such as the crocodiles, fish, or rams were the living forms of gods and most of the mummies were of old animals who had died naturally after a lifetime of being worshiped. The votive offering mummies were used in the same way as votive candles are and were made of animals, usually birds, that were bred and killed for the express purpose of being used to give spiritual protection to those who placed them in the tombs.

After leaving the museum Kate, Courtney and I split off from the rest of the group to return to Alexandria on the train. But before we left we wanted to see the Nile River one more time, so we stopped to have fruit drinks and dessert on one of the ship restaurants lining the river's banks. The Nile's waters lapped gently as we sat sipping our ice-cold fruit juices, a perfect way to say good-bye to Egypt's 19th capitol city.

We arrive in Alexandria after midnight, and were a bit worried about being three girls alone at night, but we had no problem finding a safe cab drive to take us back to the port. A man who spoke minimal English interpreted where we wanted to go for our driver. After we were all safely in the cab he leaned through the front window to ask where we were from, America, to which he replied "America? Obama! Obama good. Bush was bad!" and he waved goodbye to us with a huge grin on his face.

Last day in Cairo

We set off from our hotel in downtown Cairo towards the bazaar with good confidence in the directions we got from the man at the front desk . Almost an hour later, after walking beside a highway overpass, through the trash, and being approached by multiple slightly creepy men wanting to guide us in exchange for baksheesh, we reached a shopping area that still had half of the shops closed. We walked past the shopkeepers still putting their wares out and ended up following the narrow alleyways back into the shopping area until we were lost in our search for the Egyptian bazaar. We were in the local's shopping area, the pathways only a few feet wide, the stores filled with cheap WallMart-style clothing. After a claustrophobic walk during which our every step was watched and laughed at we found our way back out onto the wide walking street of the tourist's bazaar. The same street that we had walked down earlier was now filled with merchandise and tourists looking for souveniers. The tourist shops were very much like what the Plaka (in Athens) and the Grand Bazaar (in Turkey) held, but the shopkeepers were much more polite and less intrusive than the Turkish sellers were. I spent most of our time there watching the scenery. The intermittently congregated around the bright-orange water coolers in the middle of the small street. German couples with their shorts, hiking boots, and cameras passed holding hands. The shop owners stood waiting in the minimal shade outside their shops for people to come look at their scarves, pyramid impressions, and chessboards. A small, tabby kitten bounded between shops, sticking her face in the shiny jewelry and crawling through the shade underneath the tables.

In the afternoon we visited the Egyptian Museum. For a museum housing some of the most precious archaeological treasures of the ancient world it was surprisingly dingy, lacking in titles, and hot. But looking at all of the Egyptian relics took our minds off the uncomfortable conditions. The mask of Tutankhamoun shone brightly in the middle of one room, the gold inlaid with turquoise, his head adorned with the two serpents denoting his majesty. On the shoulders were miniature depictions of a falcon made out of deep-black obsidian. He is Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, of whom the pharaohs were supposed to be living incarnations of. The shrunken corpses of the human mummies were slightly disturbing, their fronts covered with garish depictions of their occupants. The light falling in streams from the high windows was filled with swirling motes of dust, lending an air of mysticism to the antiquities. The most interesting room to me was the room of animal mummies. Huge crocodiles (about seven meters long) filled the glass cases along one wall, their green bodies dried out, their tails seemed to be posed mid-swing. A dog mummy still covered in hair had its mouth opened in a silent bark. There was a huge, flat fish mummy that was as tall as me. The shelves covering another wall were filled with mummies of cats, their upright bodies covered in the preservative wrappings. There are four different types of animal mummies: pets, victual, sacred, and votive offerings. The pets were animals extremely special to the owners, such as baboons or dogs, whose mummies were placed in their owner's coffins or tombs after they died to accompany them into the afterlife. Victual animal mummies were meant to provide food for all eternity to the humans. Sacred animals such as the crocodiles, fish, or rams were the living forms of gods and most of the mummies were of old animals who had died naturally after a lifetime of being worshiped. The votive offering mummies were used in the same way as votive candles are and were made of animals, usually birds, that were bred and killed for the express purpose of being used to give spiritual protection to those who placed them in the tombs.

After leaving the museum Kate, Courtney and I split off from the rest of the group to return to Alexandria on the train. But before we left we wanted to see the Nile River one more time, so we stopped to have fruit drinks and dessert on one of the ship restaurants lining the river's banks. The Nile's waters lapped gently as we sat sipping our ice-cold fruit juices, a perfect way to say good-bye to Egypt's 19th capitol city.

We arrive in Alexandria after midnight, and were a bit worried about being three girls alone at night, but we had no problem finding a safe cab drive to take us back to the port. A man who spoke minimal English interpreted where we wanted to go for our driver. After we were all safely in the cab he leaned through the front window to ask where we were from, America, to which he replied "America? Obama! Obama good. Bush was bad!" and he waved goodbye to us with a huge grin on his face.

I rode a camel and his name was Maradonna

Kate and I were on our own for our second day in Cairo and as two small blonde girls in a predominately Muslim metropolis we felt a bit uncomfortable about going around alone. So we decided to rent a private car, complete with an English-speaking driver, from our hotel to take us to see the sights. On our way to the Great Pyramids in the air-conditioned sedan our driver, Matmout, stopped in the middle of the bridge crossing the Nile to show us one of his favorite places in Cairo. It was the island of Gitarra sitting in the middle of the slow moving Nile River; he said if he could live anywhere, it would be there. There are no cars allowed on the island and the few houses that were on the small isle were surrounded by crops. With a freshly-lit cigarette hanging from his lips, Matmout pointed to the middle of the island where a mosque and church were sitting side-by-side. He said it was an example of how Muslims and Christians lived happily together in Cairo. Even he had "at least two dozen Christian friends". As we drove into Giza City Matmout continued pointing out sites of interest to us but his friendly manner was stopped when Kate started asking about women's health issues for her women's health class. He said he knew nothing about women's issues, and when she gave examples of abortion and childbirth as possible topics he started sweating profusely, got out his handkerchief to blot his perspiring forehead, and stopped talking. Oh well, at least we had a nice, safe car.

We saw the perfect forms of the Great Pyramids rising above the tall apartment buildings of the city. The pyramids are massive tombs left over from the time of the sun cult, their triangular shapes chosen because of their likeness to the shape of sun rays. There are pyramids at five sites throughout Egypt; the pyramids of Giza are the largest of the pyramids. Later rulers decided to go with smaller pyramids to decrease the likelihood of burglary. I was just getting excited about exploring the site when our car went past the entrance, drove away from the pyramids, and turned up a back alley. As we went down the dirt road with the walls getting closer and closer, I started wondering where Matmout was taking us when the car came to a halt behind a stables. It took a good twenty minutes of convincing before we got out of the car for our unplanned camel ride. Our drive was insistent that we had told the hotel that we had wanted to ride camels around the pyramids, and nothing we could say would sway him of this idea. With my mom's warning echoing in the back of my head ("Don't ride a camel...and don't go into the desert.") I nervously walked into the stables.

Five minutes later we were bouncing up and down on the backs of our brightly saddled camels, our guide trotting beside us on a small horse, our faces overwhelmed by our smiles of excitement. My camel's name was Maradonna, Kate was on Michael Jackson, and our guide's horse was Mickey Mouse. We rode through the small back alleys of Giza City, winding our way towards the pyramids past stables, a courtyard soccer field, and food stalls. The street beside the wall enclosing the pyramids was filled with tourists on camels, guides riding horses, and donkeys with vendors' wares on their backs. Laughter and greetings filled the air. There were horse-drawn carriages and old cars overflowing with locals who were having water gun fights or spraying foam at each other. Everyone greeted us with "Welcome to Egypt!" One of the young men sprayed white foam on my foot as our two-camel caravan passed him. Our driver, a young boy named Ali, was seated in front of Kate on her camel. It seemed unreal to be at the pyramids in the first place, but to be seeing them from camel-top while we rode in the desert surrounding them was completely surreal. Ali would urge the camels into a trot every once in a while, causing me to hold on tighter with my legs to the camel's hump as I clutched my camera to my chest. We got to ride up to the end of the site, stop and touch the middle pyramid, and stop by the Sphinx. It was much more enjoyable than walking through the warm sand under the hot sun would have been. We had heard horror stories about camel napping, extremely high tips, and hustling around the pyramids but our guide was good. He protected us from the hustlers selling Cokes from the top of horses, was good about telling us exactly where we were going so we didn't worry, and even took tons of pictures for us on our cameras. The camel ride was my favorite part of Egypt. It was so much fun, my face hurt from smiling so much

After that adventure we visited a papyrus store- a local owned enterprise that produces their own papyrus, the paper ancient Egyptians used, from natural materials and free of chemicals. Then we went to Sakkara where the first pyramid was built in 2000 BCE. It was actually the first stone structure ever built. After seeing the step pyramid we walked through the temple, its walls covered with hieroglyphics, then went into one of the old pyramids. The hot, stuffy air filled our lungs as we descended down the steep ramp into the dark interior of the pyramid. After reaching the bottom we had to bend down so that we were almost doubled over to get to the inner tomb. The black-stone sarcophagus stood empty to one side underneath the stone roof that was covered with carvings of stars.

Back in Cairo we ate lunch at a local popular food chain called GAD where we had very interesting "Egyptian pancakes". Despite our weird food choice, lunch was great thanks to a little Egyptian girl. When her family sat down behind me she promptly turned around and stared at Kate, smiling hugely. Kate smiled back and waved, which made the girls brown eyes widen and made her smile even larger. After we ordered she climbed out of her chair,squeezed between me and the chair next to me, and started talking to us in English. She must have been under seven years old, but she spoke very proper English and exuded happiness. When we would say something she would toss her head back and laugh and smile even bigger, if possible. She came back to talk to us several times throughout the meal, telling us the names of her mother, father and brother, asking us where we were from, and if we could speak Arabic. We would say no to the last question, and she would say "English" to which we would say yes, and she would throw her head back and laugh adorably.

That afternoon we went shopping in the women's district; it was a very interesting experience. Women that were completely covered were shopping among mini-skirts and tank tops. The shops were split between traditional long dresses and very Western-style clothing that was obviously meant to be layered in their wardrobe. Being the only females without head coverings, we attracted some attention, but no open hostility. The women who worked in the shops greeted us warmly and asked our names (the apparent greeting for strangers?). I ended up buying only a sparkly gold dress; it will be perfect for my Egyptian goddess Halloween costume this year.

We met up with a big group of our friends and all went out for dinner. By the time we finished eating, the streets were starting to come alive with people.

Egypt here we come!

All of the preparation for Egypt that SAS was giving us was not looking good. It's their job to prepare us for the worst so they were kind of telling us horror stories about hustlers, robbery, camel-napping, scary taxis, and terrorists. So when Kate and I stepped out of the port onto the streets of Alexandria we were wearing our most conservative clothing and had our game faces on, ready to walk to the train station to travel to Cairo. We met up with some SAS boys outside of the port and all agreed to go to Cairo together.

Egypt has the most crazy streets and drivers that I've ever seen. Cairo was the worst, but even in Alexandria there were no lines, no crosswalks, no streetlights. we were all on our own to cross the streets and we learned quickly that we just had to step out in front of the streams of oncoming traffic, walk in front of buses, and in general "walk like an Egyptian" (as a guy in Cairo admiringly called after me as I took on a line of taxis).

So after a rather hectic stroll through the slightly-sketchy city of Alexandria, we found the train station, navigated buying our train tickets with a woman who only spoke Arabic, and made our way into the station. The trains waiting at the platforms were of an indeterminite color that may have been yellow at one time, but were now indistinguishable under their thick layers of grime, and didn't seem to have any doors or windows filling the holes in their walls. Luckily we bought first class tickets so our train was nicer and even had air-conditioning. However, we were slightly put off by te sight that greeted us when we walked towards the platforms. The whole far wall of the station was filled with train cars that were smashed up against the end wall, their remnants reaching up to the ceiling of the station and the platform and vendors stalls demolished between them and the wall. At first I thought that it was a rather odd piece of modern art, but the police and workers blockading that area and working on cleaning up the wreckage combined with the crowds of people behind the blockade taking photos quickly helped me to realize that this was a real train wreck. We didn't have much time to contemplate the state of public transportation in Egypt as we sprinted past the wrecked cars and onto our train. As we pulled out of the Alexandria station we saw machinery going in the opposite direction to remove the evidence of the accident.

It was an almost four hour ride south through the Nile River delta from Alexandria to Cairo. Every empty space of the landscape was filled with crops, taking advantage of the only major source of water in all of Egypt. The Egyptian countryside is so different from anything that I've ever seen before, which makes it really hard to describe. People had said that Rome and Athens were dirty, but they have nothing on what I saw of Egypt. There was trash filling the streets and overflowing from the area beside the train tracks. The brightly colored shutters stood out strongly from their sand-colored buildings. The small villages had what looked like palm branches piled on top of the walls of their buildings as roof thatching. The irrigation canal next to the tracks had palm trees along its banks that small children played under and old wooden boats tied up to its banks. People were transporting their goods on the backs of camels and on their mopeds on the small dirt roads next to the canal. The brilliant greeness of the land was not what we had associated with Egypt, but made sense with being in the delta area.

When we reached Cairo we decided to walk downtown to our hotel. I literally had my compass out the whole time, directing us in the right direction over the broken cobbled sidewalks and through the trash. We got to work on our street-crossing skills as we walked through the busy streets of Cairo. The local taxis were overflowing with people, little boys played soccer under a highway overpass, and as we passed people they said "Welcome! Welcome to Egypt!"

We found our hotel on the sixth floor of a shopping center in the women's shopping district of downtown Cairo after an extensive adventure through the streets. The Egyptian way of life seems to be much more relaxed that what we're used to; after a long time relaxing and talking with our hosts, getting transferred to a different (nicer) hotel, and resting some more we finally made it to our rooms in time to set our bags down and leave for the Sound and Light Show at the Giza Pyramids.

Cairo has 22 million residents and is the largest city in Africa. Due to its massive size, there are no traffic laws and there is a large amount of pollution. It's situated at the base of the Nile River delta. Cairo is only the part of the urban area east of the Nile River, west of the river is Giza City with the main occupation of its 7 million residents being tourism associated with the Great Pyramids.

Our driver of the private car we rented took us to Giza City where we enjoyed the most amazing fresh, chilled mango juice at a local cafe before going to see the show. (Even Kate, who never liked mango before, loved it!) At Giza the massive pyramids dominated the night skyline with the moon hanging white above them and the stars shining through the murky sky. The show was like a sci-fi bonanza with the orchestra music coinciding perfectly with the laser light show. It was very other-worldly with the pyramids the only visible sight against the backdrop of the Sahara. They seemed like large spaceships, getting ready to take off into the night sky. It was interesting to hear the history of the pyramids and the ancient rulers of Egypt and relaxing in the warm night air watching the beautifully lit pyramids were a great way to end our first day in Egypt.

After returning to Cairo we walked across the Nile to explore one of the islands in its middle. We had drinks and desserts at a restaraunt on the waterfront. I tried the traditional om-ali, an Egyptian speciality of rice baked with milk, raisins, cinnamon, vanilla, and nuts. It was delicious. Small boats lit up with multi-colored lights and blasting dancing music filled the river. On our walk back to the hotel I was very surprised at the massive amounts of people out that late at night, by this point it was almost two in the morning. Whereas in the European countries that we have been visiting most people at this point of the evening had made their way to bars or dance clubs, the streets of Cairo were filled with people. The bridges were lined with groups, mostly men, talking and watching people walk past. It was basically a party in the streets. The shops were in full swing and the street vendors were still hustling their goods; there were more people out shopping than we had seen in the afternoon. Children were playing in groups and families were out enjoying the evening air (it was still rather warm out). There were even a good amount of mothers with their babies who were out and about. However, most of the people we saw were men. All of the women were with at least one male and every other woman we saw, besides one, had at least her head covered completely. Kate and I, with our uncovered blonde hair, were definitely attracting a lot of attention, but it seemed to be interest in our difference instead of hostility. It had definitely been a long day by the time we collapsed into our beds back at Cairo Central.

Bulgaria- my new beach vacation spot

Our ship made the journey up the Bosphorous Strait from the Marmara Sea and into the Black Sea before docking in the port city of Varna.

Laura came to visit me in Varna, making the trip on her own from Finland via Greece. We spent most of our time on the beach in Varna. It wasn't that crowded, the sunshine was perfect, and the drinks (I got tons of bottled water and fruit smoothies) at the beach bars were cheap and delicious. We explored Varna a little bit, but there wasn't that much to see. The entire area is still recovering from war so there were massive construction projects everywhere. Varna and the surrounding north coast of Bulgaria is becoming famous for beach vacationing, especially among young Europeans looking for a cheap place to relax and party. The food and drinks were definitely cheap there, and actually were amazingly scrumptous. We ate at the same local restaraunt (Godzilla) once every day, I got something different every time we went, and it is now my favorite restaraunt; it's distinguishable by the huge Godzilla outside of the opening. Behind the beach there is a beautiful park with massive trees and tinkling fountains that we got to walk through a bit.

We stayed in Gregory's Backpackers, an amazing hostel 17 km outside of varna in a small Bulgarian town. We met so many cool people there and it was a really nice place to stay. It was a nice change to get out of the city proper and see what a more rural area is like. They had a bar, garden area, computers for use, TV lounge, and kitchen. Most of the people there were Australian or English and being there felt very safe, like we were visiting a family's home. One of our dorm-mates was Zach, an American working for the US Embassy in London who was visiting one of the LLC's on my ship. He's a ManU fan and promised to take me to a game if I get a chance to visit him in England. He came out with Laura and I on our last night in varna; after a delicious late dinner we went to a local bar that was having salsa night before going to a local club and dancing till the early morning. The salsa bar was filled with locals and the dance floor was always full; we were very entertained watching it.

Overall, Varna was very relaxing and I enjoyed it so much that it has definitely made the list of places that I would like to go back to as a vacation spot.