Day 12: First day in Cairo

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

So 24 hours of rest and transition actually means 24 hours of no scavenges. It does not mean getting lots of sleep and relaxing. We were up at 1:30, (AGAIN) and off to the airport for two flights and a short layover. Getting up at 1:30am is restful right?

Our first flight was to Abu Dahbi, (which I did sleep on) before having our 1 ½ hour layover. While we were on the shuttle, my ADULT team partner (my dad) realized he had left his phone in the convenient phone holder on the plane. So he spent the whole layover talking to the desk, and he has emailed them all of his information. This unfortunate turn of events is inconvenient for both of us because he needs to have a phone to contact me if we get separated. And, if the airlines doesn't find his phone (aka if they don't care about finding it) it will not be passed down to me. Which was the plan we had agreed to ON THE PLANE before he left it. So we are hoping there will be a lovely iPhone 6s package shortly after we get home.

Anyways, we arrived in Cairo around 1pm, and we were welcomed by lots of very loud, ambitious Asians who just could not wait to get their giant Hello Kitty luggage and start their many, many tours. I had clearly not prepared for how busy of a country Egypt is. The airport was very loud with lots of crying and yelling from locals (seemed familiar). However, we all got our luggage and were on the bus to our hotel, the Kempinski Nile. During the bus ride, we got some little facts about the area. For example, there was a recent law put around honking even though people still honk sometimes. And, the Pope is coming on Friday! So we learned about traffic, and then more traffic.

Our hotel is very nice, it has wifi and lots of open smoking areas (almost everywhere). But even with all of this I am actually excited to be in Egypt, and just Africa in general. It's pretty cool!

We had the leader board announced and we got our scavenges around 4pm. We won this leg by over 100 pts and we are currently in 1st place!! I am so glad we won, we are in a very good spot now. And I feel that we definitely earned it. Right after the group meeting we went to our room and promised each other that we would spend every night in the same hotel because we were so beat. Our bodies hurt so much and according to the other people who climbed the mountain, it's going to be like that for a couple more days at least. But we are working through the soreness.

We started scavenging, and after the bookstore we went into this cozy little art store with very very nice people. Ashur and Mohammad, who spoke very good English, and gave us lots of help. We got a lot of information, and in return we bought a lot of art, perfume, and a pin. They gave us discounts, tea, juice, it was so nice. After this we went on a cruise on the Nile. The scavenge was to be on it for at least 2 hours to get credit, and this was actually a challenge for us. We were so tired and my stomach was hurting so it was very hard to stay awake. The night show had a male singer, a belly dancer, and a man in a dress who had a detachable light up skirt and he did a lot of twirling. We are so tired and need to go to sleep so until next time!! ;)

Daddy’s View:

When I was a surgery resident at duke our schedule sometimes required a 48hr shift.  You go and go and try and nap in between. By the end of the second day you are just trying to survive and not kill anyone.  

After our dinner, we had been up since 1:30am and went to bed at 9:30, but had to be up to leave the hotel at 1:30 again.  

Etihad is the national airline of the UAE. Incredibly nice people, totally comfortable, nice airplanes. They have these incredibly sensible mini-pouches on the outside of the magazine pouch below the table on your seat.  They fit your phone like a glove - you just *have* to put your phone in there.  

In my case this leads to leaving your phone in there forever.  First lost phone in 17 yrs.  here’s what's great about GSH - I haven't been using my phone for two weeks anyway. Normally i'd be stressed and irritated- here I was like “good, one less thing to keep track of!”

Landed in Cairo, got debriefed, started scavenging at 5pm. Body not functioning after marathon in Sri Lanka.  Good news is cairo feels like San Diego, weather wise.

Collapsed into bed at 10p.

Notable items:

• we have a standing scavenge where we need to sit on animals. no PETA violations - it's a voluntary mounting. here's the horse in cairo.

• we went on a riverboat cruise. We had a father daughter dance in front of hundreds of guests in a three way running man/white man overbite type of dance with a cover singer who looked exactly like Wayne newton.  turns out, this was not the "filucca" cruise we were supposed to go on - this was just a run of the mill tourist river cruise, so we got zero points for this.  we did get this picture though.  

• Head scarves look really cool. If it was okay for a guy to wear them, I would. Sydney has been rocking hers (thanks mom!) since we left the hotel.  here she is in front of a lighthouse turned mosque turned fort.  there were a lot of those in egypt.  

• The alternative for guys is the tarboosh. Does not look as cool on me. this was a random dude who let me put it on - it was a scavenge to get a picture with one.

• Tuk tuks are seen as cockroaches here in Cairo. The scourge brought from India.  Poor little tuk tuks.
• Middle eastern food bread is my favorite. Like a pillow for my tongue and taste buds.  The pickled stuff… not my style as much as Asia.