So Very Brave?

Our first introduction into Egypt was when the tour guide boarded our
bus and said, "thank you for being so very brave to come to Egypt."
When she repeated that phrase three times, I was starting to get worried.
I hadn't watched the news since I left home and wondered if the country
was in another revolution, and maybe I just didn't know about it?

En route to our hotel, I noticed the police car in front of us.  After a while
it dawned on me that we were being escorted to our hotel by the police.
Now I was really starting to get concerned.  So very brave, huh?  It was
dark when we arrived, so I couldn't see any of the landscape.  Imagine my
surprise when I woke up the next morning and had this view out of my
hotel window.

We were at a lovely resort on the Red Sea and the sun was rising over
Saudi Arabia.  This was one of the most beautiful places I've seen and
I forgot all about having to be brave.  I mean, can you believe this place?
I told Sherri to hurry and get dressed because we had to get out there!
We walked on the beach and picked up rocks - no shells.

We weren't the only ones on the beach.

Unfortunately we were only going to be in this paradise for the morning,

so we made good use of every moment.

After breakfast, we walked around the resort, oohing and aahing over

how lovely this place was.  I would have been totally okay with the bus

leaving me behind here for a few days.

I just couldn't get over the beauty of the mountains and the sea.

And look at the color of that water!  I had to go swimming.

It was a little cool at first, but we "numbed up"pretty quickly.

Fish of all colors swam around our legs and I was really excited

when Lars offered to loan me his snorkeling mask.  It always takes

me a few minutes to get used to breathing under water, but 

eventually I got the hang of it and oh, my gosh!  The reef was alive

with fish of every shape and color.  I had such a wonderful time!

Sooner than I would have liked, we were back on the bus.  For

the next six hours we would travel across the Sinai peninsula and

this is what we saw.   Desert......the land of Abraham.  

How would you have liked to call this home?  And live in a tent?

When we came to the Suez Canal, we were crossing from Asia into

Africa.  Now we would get a different look at Egypt as we spent a 

few days in Cairo.  I was reminded often that I was in a third world 

country where the food and water aren't safe to eat or drink and the 

illiteracy rate is 55%.  The poverty was ever present.  And everything

was dirty.

Can you see the pyramid peaking out behind the buildings?

There's more than one way to get around in this city.

We attended the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo,

where we saw antiquities from the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms

of ancient Egypt, including many treasures found in the tomb of

King Tutankhamun.

This burned out building beside the museum was a reminder that

we were in Tahrir square - where the revolution took place in January,

and that this country is still unstable. It's an interesting perspective to

see the things that we normally only see on tv, up close and personal.

I thought about our guides comment again...so very brave to come to

Egypt.  Maybe a little brave.

We toured a papyrus factory and learned how papyrus is made. 

This is the papyrus plant that grows in the Nile delta.

It is cut and peeled, then soaked in water.

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The strips are placed across one another,

then pressed to make papyrus.  It was fascinating to watch.

We saw the pyramids of Giza

and the great Sphinx.

I had to keep doing a reality check.  "Am I really here?  Am I really 

here in front of the great pyramids?"  This is something I never thought

I would experience in my lifetime.  My mind also kept going back to

the time when I was homeschooling Kenzie and we did a long unit study

on ancient Egypt. She loved it and how I wished she could have been 

with me to experience all of this.

It was about at this point that I noticed a nice gentlemen in a suit who

had been getting on and off our bus with us and walking around when

we would visit the sites.  He wasn't a guide or the bus driver - he was 

our armed body guard!  Oh, yes, he had a nice big gun tucked in the 

back of his pants (which was hidden by his suit coat, unless you really

looked closely).  Okay.... so maybe we were very brave to come to Egypt.

The antiquities in Cairo were amazing,  but I also loved watching the local 

people, just going about their daily lives.

Photo Credit: Matt Sager

Photo Credit: Matt Sager

Photo Credit: Matt Sager

The Muslims were celebrating a feast day while we were there 

and we saw animals tied up outside the homes waiting to become

dinner.  Our bus stopped at a store to let us pick up snacks and as

I looked out the window, I could see blood pooled in the streets 

and people walking around with stained clothes from the latest

butchering activity.   I remember thinking to myself," oh my gosh,

I'm totally living a National Geographic article!"

Can you see the animal tied up in the middle of the street and all the

people working around it?  This was serious stuff.

Photo Credit: Matt Sager

Photo Credit: Matt Sager

This is a different world.  And even though it was a little disconcerting

to witness the animal slaughter, I loved being there and seeing this part

of their lives.  I am fascinated by people and their cultures.

So maybe it was a little on the brave side to visit Egypt, but I wouldn't

have missed it for the world.  I'm glad I was there.  I'm glad I left when 

I did.  A week after I returned home, Tahrir Square was full of protesters 

again.  I'm so grateful to live in a country with clean food and water, 

education for our children and a stable (if not perfect) government.

My time in Egypt helped me realize how very blessed we are.

*MYOF Goal #25 - Visit Israel