Marrakech, Morocco

We have spent nearly a week in Morocco, but internet problems have hindered my ability to post. These internet problems along with Dave getting sick again have also hindered our ability to do a lot of activities while we were in Morocco, but we did get to get out a few times and see some of the sights Morocco has to offer.

We are staying in Marrakech, which is in the center of the country. Morocco is similar to Egypt because it is also a Muslim country, but its close location to Europe and French occupation until 1956 give it a somewhat European feel. There are a lot of French visitors, and most Moroccans speak Arabic and French. It makes me wish I could remember some of my French from college.

Our first excursion in Marrakech was a city tour. We were surprised to find out it was a walking tour, but it gave us a great opportunity to see the city from a different perspective. Our guide took us through the supermarket first, and it definitely made me thankful for our supermarkets in America. The beef and fish are already dead, but people come to the market and buy live chicken and pigeons. They just pick out which chickens they want, the butcher weighs them and then takes them to the back to kill them. They are handed over whole to the people. People can also take them live if they want. Now that’s fresh!

After leaving the supermarket, we went to the souks. I had long heard about Moroccan souks, and it was interesting to visit the shopping areas. Everything was for sale from goat leather to woodwork to metalwork. There were plenty of shops only appealing to the tourists as well.

After visiting the souks, we made it to our first destination: the former home of the former prime minister. The architecture of the home was beautiful, and represented Morocco with beautiful ceilings, large gardens, and rooms for the prime minister’s four wives and twenty-four concubines. We also visited Ben Youssef Medersa, a Koranic school (no longer in use). It had similar beautiful architecture. Our city tour ended with the beautiful Majorelle Gardens outside the medina (city walls).

Our other tour took us an hour into the Atlas Mountains. We got to see the way the Berber people lived. Morocco is shared by the Arabic and Berber people. The Berber people have lighter skin and sometimes have green or blue eyes. They live fairly simply in small mountain villages. Berbers will move into the city as adults to find work, however. Visiting this village was fascinating. The way of living is so much different from ours with small houses and livestock sharing the living space.

After visiting the Berber village, we took a hike about twenty minutes up a mountain to get to the Kasbah (castle) where we ate lunch. We had the opportunity to visit with some British college students who were very fascinated with our American accents. Their perception of America was a bit funny; one girl compared our lives to an MTV show where sixteen year-olds get Jaguars for their birthdays.

We are leaving Marrakech tomorrow for Ouarzazate, further into the Atlas Mountains. I hope we have better luck with the internet while we are there! I hope to hear from you all soon! We miss everyone!

Cairo: February 17

We are leaving Egypt tomorrow morning (early!) for Morocco. Our time in Egypt has exceeded all our expectations. We have seen so many sights here, and our trip has been unforgettable.

The last time I wrote, I mentioned our visit to the most incredible sight Egypt boasts: the pyramids of Giza. I wanted to elaborate a bit more on the information we have learned about the pyramids. At around 4500 years old, the pyramids are the only Ancient Wonder of the World standing, and they are quite incredible. The tallest pyramid, belonging to Khiops, measures at 455 feet; the second one, belonging to Khephron, stands at 445 feet; and Mekernos’ pyramid is significantly smaller. The three ancient kings built the pyramids as their burial places, and they each took workers around four years to build. The reason the ancient Egyptians began building tombs for their kings instead of pyramids was because the tombs were so conspicuous and subject to robbery. As we now know, burying the tombs in the ground didn’t deter robbers either.

We got the opportunity to visit the inside of Khephron’s tomb. After stooping down to climb about forty meters (120 feet), we got to the burial site. The only thing left in the burial site is the sarcophagus, which cannot be removed because it was placed in the pyramid before it was finished. It wouldn’t fit through the narrow entrance.

The day after we visited the pyramids, we got the amazing opportunity to visit a mosque and two churches in Cairo. The reason we found this so fascinating was because Jesus, Mary, and Joseph actually lived for some time under one of the churches we visited. Our guide, Romany, is a Christian, but Egypt primarily has a Muslim population (80% Muslim /20% Christian). We were fascinated learning about Islam, especially since we hear so many different messages about it in the United States right now. Muslim does not believe Jesus was the Son of God. They believe he was a prophet. Moses is the other important prophet for the Muslims, along with, of course, Mohamed. Mohamed is the most important prophet because he is the one to whom God revealed the Qu’ran.

Visiting the mosque was interesting, and the mosque was stunning, but the life found in the Coptic Christian churches was incomparable. Because of the freedom found in Christ rather than the rules of adhering to a religion, people seemed happier. The women especially seemed much freer. Christianity, of course, preaches equality for men and women, whereas Islam teaches that women are worth half of men. The Christian women were not wearing headscarves.

One of the churches we visited is called the Hanging Church. It has been given this name because it is built on top of a Roman fortress instead of on the ground. It’s actually pretty high up.

After visiting the mosques and the church, we went to the Cairo Museum. Romany joked how it looks like a storage room now because they have discovered so many artifacts. If you spent one minute looking at each item in the museum, it would take you 114 days to see everything. Indeed there was a lot to see, but the most fascinating exhibits were King Tut’s treasures and the Mummy Exhibit.

Everything found in King Tut’s tomb (except his mummy and one burial case which are in his tomb) is now in the Cairo Museum. He had so much jewelry and the sarcophagus that was the outer layer was enormous. It’s so hard to imagine how so much was found in the small tomb of Tut, and it really makes you wonder how many treasures would have been in the larger tombs of rulers who ruled longer than Tut.

The mummy exhibit was also very interesting. It’s so incredible that these mummies who are thousands of years old still have hair and teeth and fingernails. To this day, they still cannot create the mummification process.

Our last sightseeing day was spent in Alexandria, the Egyptian summer resort town on the Mediterranean. We first visited the incredible Alexandria Library. The library has so much to see. It’s the biggest library I’ve ever visited and the biggest open space library in the world. The architecture of the library is also quite fascinating.

After visiting the library, we went to the site of the Alexandria lighthouse, which was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. It was destroyed by an earthquake. A fortress now stands there. We also visited catacombs where pagan rituals were performed and people were buried. It was a great underground maze carved out of one big stone. Last, we visited a pillar and some sphinx, which are the only pieces of a temple that they have discovered (although they are still doing excavating).

Today, we went to play nine holes of golf near the pyramids. We had a great time playing at the foot of these incredible monuments. Tomorrow: Morocco!

Egypt: February 14, 2008

Happy Valentines Day! Dave and I celebrated the day with a visit to the pyramids. It was our first adventure outside the hotel in Cairo due to Dave’s food poisoning. Fortunately, he was feeling up to it today.

Our first stop was actually Memphis where we saw a huge statue of Ramses II. The statue was originally thirty meters long (98’ 5”), but only eleven meters (36’) have been found. I can’t imagine how huge it was. Since the statue was lying at eye level, we could easily see the detail on him. It’s incredible how meticulous the ancient Egyptians were with their work.

Our second stop in Sakkara was to the oldest pyramid created by Imhotep. The temple is over 4500 years old, and it’s still standing. How’s that for lasting architecture? Our tour guide, Romany, showed us how the pyramids were built with wood beams in between the limestone rocks to absorb the moisture from the air since moisture would erode and weaken the limestone. Clearly, his plan was working. The temples are so massive when you are standing next to them. It’s hard to imagine them being created for one person to be buried in.

Our last stop was at the Giza pyramids, the famous ones. These were incredible to see because they are still in such great shape after 4000 years. We got to go inside one of the temples (no photos, sorry). Although there was nothing in there, we enjoyed the opportunity to go inside something we had heard about all our lives. After a long tunnel, you reach the burial site. The casket, if you could call it that, was still there, but nothing was inside. We also got to visit the Sphynx. This was also wonderful to see since we had heard so much about it in our lives. The Sphynx is the body of a lion and the head of one of the pharaohs to represent his strength (lion) and wisdom (head).

We had the opportunity to talk with Romany a bit about the Egyptian culture. Romany is thirty-one and unmarried because of the Egyptian culture. Men have to have an apartment, a good job, furniture, and money to pay the family of the woman they want to marry before they can get married. Consequently, it takes quite a long time for a man to get married. The average age a man gets married is thirty-five. Women are a bit younger when they marry. They live with their parents until they are married. There is no dating in Egypt because the family is so protective over their daughters. A woman’s virginity is highly valued, so she may only be allowed to go out with a chaperone. If she is allowed to go out without one, she will be within certain perimeters of time and place. Romany says much of this is changing in the young people who sneak out to meet their dates.

Valentines Day is celebrated with much ado here; Dave and I had trouble finding a restaurant in which to eat. There are decorations up all over our hotel. Romany told us the holiday has caught on in Cairo, but the rest of the country has yet to celebrate it.

More soon. For now, enjoy your Valentines day!

Luxor, Egypt

Hello, everyone! Thanks for keeping in touch with us via our photos and blog. I am looking forward to hearing from each of you personally as well along the way.

Dave and I had a rough start to our trip. Our flight from Denver to D.C. was delayed two hours (because of weather in Chicago, we were told). While we were waiting, we were discussing the things we wanted to be sure to see while we were in Egypt. A flight attendant began telling us about her experiences to Egypt, and by the time we boarded the plane, she really had us wondering what we were thinking going to Egypt at all. She talked of men groping women in the streets, diseases you could get just from sticking the tip of your finger in the Nile (and therefore allowing poisonous worms to crawl into your skin through your pores), excruciating heat, and two – three days of upset stomach that is “just part of the Egypt experience.”

Unfortunately, our late arrival into D.C. caused us to miss our flight to London, but we were able to get on a later flight. The flight to London, although full, was smooth. We arrived at Heathrow just to find out our connection to Cairo had been delayed an hour and a half. Since it left late, we got into Cairo around 11:30 pm, and we missed the last plane to Luxor. EgyptAir put us up in a nearby hotel where we slept for about thirty minutes before getting back up and going back to the airport. The Cairo airport is insane, but we managed to make our way onto our plane and headed for Luxor.

Upon arriving in Luxor, a taxi driver tried to charge us 50 Euros (around 100 U.S. dollars) for a ten minute cab ride to our hotel. They try to trick people by changing the currency. When he says 50, if you are not listening closely enough, you automatically think he means 50 Egyptian pounds (about 10 U.S. dollars). Tricky, tricky. Good thing we caught on.

We arrived at our hotel around 6:30 am only to discover they had decided to give our room away since we didn’t show up the previous night. We were exhausted since we had been traveling for around 40 hours already, and Dave needed to get on the internet. The receptionist told Dave he could use the wired internet in the lobby and directed us to two old computers. We tried to use the internet, but it wasn’t working. We called over the receptionist who told us he didn’t know what the problem was because he had just used these computers two hours ago, and they worked fine. However, he said, the internet was down in all of Egypt, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Dave then started to examine the computers and as he looked at one of the towers, the side fell off and what was left of the computer (not much) fell out. Clearly these computers weren’t working several hours ago. Since we couldn’t stay at a hotel without internet access anyway, we decided to call our hotel in Cairo to see if their internet was working. We were extremely tired and didn’t know what our best course of action was. Our hotel in Cairo said their internet was working fine, but while I was on the phone, a shop owner told Dave it wasn’t true the internet was down in all of Egypt and directed us to a hotel up the street.

Exhausted, we headed up the street to see if the hotel had a room we could use. They told us they only had one room for the night, but we decided to take it since we could use it to sleep and work and figure things out from there. Fortunately, the room opened up for the whole time we were staying in Luxor. We don’t think the hotel was ever fully booked in the first place.

After resting and working and eating, we started booking our tours for our time in Egypt. Our first tour was to Karnak and Luxor Temples. Karnak Temple is the largest temple in the world, sitting on over 200 acres, only six of which are open to the public. They have been doing restorations on the temple since the 1950s. Many pharaohs added onto Karnak Temple while they were in power, but the most noticeable pharaoh is Ramses II, the most famous pharaoh in Egyptian history (for Egyptians; we probably know King Tut better). We were fascinated by the incredible detail and magnitude of the architecture in the temple. It’s hard to imagine how they were able to create the complex architecture without our modern technology.

The next morning we arose quite early to go for a hot air balloon ride. I thought it would a little cheesy, but it was actually an interesting perspective to see Luxor and the Nile River from the sky. We were able to see into some of the houses of the farmers because they didn’t have roofs. We had a little mishap though, as we landed in a sugar cane field. To say the least, the farmers were not thrilled to find us in their crops. Our balloon pilot assured us they would be compensated if any of their crops got ruined, but the farmers still didn’t seem very happy about it.

After the hot air balloon ride, our tour guide, Mamdouh, picked us up to take us to see more sights. The first place he took us to see was the Valley of the Kings. Kings such as King Tut were buried in the Valley of the Kings. Not all the tombs are open to the public, and many of them have not even been discovered yet. We got to see four tombs: Ramses III, Ramses IV, Ramses IX, and Tut. We weren’t able to take photos inside the tombs, but if you ever make it to Luxor, they are incredible. The color is still on some of the wall, a pretty incredible feat considering the tombs are thousands of years old.

Hatshepsut Temple was our next stop, and our tour guide told us the story of the 51 tourists who were shot inside the temple ten years ago on the way there (reassuring, huh?). Since the tourism industry is where 80-90% of the Egyptians have their jobs, they have really upped security. Your packages are supposed to go through an inspection and you are supposed to go through a metal detector on your way into all hotels and tourist attractions, although they aren’t very good at enforcing it. Hatshepsut was the first female pharaoh, and her stepson, Tutmoses, felt she had stolen the throne from him. When she died, he destroyed her temple. Of course, it’s still standing, but he ruined much of the artwork and pillars.

Our last stop was Valley of the Queens. Unfortunately, only a few of the tombs were open when we were there. Queen Nefertiri is buried there, but her tomb isn’t open to the public. We got to visit many other tombs and temples, but I won’t bore you with the details of each of them.

The culture in Egypt is very similar to the culture in the Middle East. Most of the people are Muslim, and the women wear headscarves. Five times a day prayers are sounded throughout the country. The women live with their families until they marry, and then they live with their husbands. They have to ask permission from their husbands to do anything. It’s a very different way of living than we are used to in the States. There is a lot of poverty in Egypt. Neither Dave nor I expected it to be as impoverished as it is. You can see the large income disparity between the tourists and the locals so easily. I imagine the locals find it very difficult to watch tourists enjoy luxuries of their country that they can’t enjoy.

We took a day trip to Aswan, about three hours directly south, where we visited some more temples. Aswan is the home of henna for the Egyptians, so Dave and I both got some henna tattoos. Because Egypt is so far away from the United States, we had been warned to eat only at our hotel since the food is so different. We had been careful about what we were eating outside the hotel, but since we were spending the entire day in Aswan (6:30 am to 9 pm), we didn’t have a choice but to eat. Our tour guide recommended a place given to him by the travel agent he works for, but it turned out to be a bad choice. On the train back to Luxor, Dave ended up getting terribly sick. He ended up with food poisoning, which is just starting to subside now. We had to cancel our tour for the next day, although we tried to make it to an “Egyptian party” in the evening.

Unfortunately, we should have stayed at the hotel as the Egyptian party turned out to be quite disappointing. It felt very staged and cheesy with a dancing horse, camel rides, and a magician. We started to feel like we were at a children’s birthday party so we left early.

Our last day in Luxor we went on a final tour of some more temples and tombs. We arrived in Cairo yesterday, and we are intending to see the pyramids tomorrow. We are sure that Cairo will have a lot to offer us. Be sure to check back for the latest. I am going to try to post daily rather than at the end of each city because it’s so time consuming to write a long entry (and also time consuming for you to read it). Thanks for checking in!