It is interesting riding where human bones are scattered under your hooves. If this were the US it would be a "call the police OMG what'll we do" event...here it is just old...and I mean OLD bones. Strange to see though. Similarly, this is a picture of our group in front of a sarcophagus. Now, in Massachusetts there aren't a lot of eons old sarcophaguses...sarcopohacii?....layin' around on the trails. Old refrigerators sure. Discarded TVs. Yeh...and garbage bags too....but burial chambers? Nuh uh. But here....why not?

Yesterday we went to Cairo where we got a special, private tour of some of the antiquities in the Egyptian Museum. The museum has been developing a corps of blind guides trained to take school children from the local school for the blind, on tours. We were a training exercise. Gail was given an opportunity to play with pharonic toes, explore the regions of a many thousand year old kilt-wearing personage, and handle a black, hard as a rock...because it was rock...snake. We learned about the use and science of an embalming table, and were permitted, contrary to normal regulation, to feel displays, hieroglyphics and...well, snakes.

Cairo. What can you say about Cairo? Here's what: Beeep!beeeeeep!beep!Hooonnk!Hoooonk! See, there are no traffic laws or conventions in this country...cars go wherever they can, when they want to, however they can, and all the while, beeping a code that says "I'm here" "I see you" OK come past" Stay back you asshole" all the while, driving forwards and backwards in traffic, and if it were truly possible to drive due sideways it would be happening. Meanwhile, pedestrians, motorcyclists, and doorless buses with people hanging out of them are part of this ever changing, insane, choreography. The maxim to remember is "In Egypt everything is forbidden and anything is possible."

Pictures to share

Above are the palm-carrying camels, and a woman teasing her son by offering to sell him to us!

This is the sweet potato vendor and his cart, with Gail looking on hungrily.

So now there are 2 of us in front of the pyramid. This is the step pyramid at Sakkara. This morning we joined a lovely English couple on a 3 + hr ride that began in the desert and then wandered through villages and farms. There were camels, some of which resembled peacocks as they carried huge, dragging loads of palm branches...very prehistoric looking. Then there were donkeys by the dozen, a smattering of cows and lots of gamoosas...that's a water buffalo. The local children would run out shouting "allo! allo!" and we would respond with either our own hello or, more often "Salaam Alakem." The village woman would laugh and tease their children by telling them they were going to sell them to us. Frankly, if they HAD been serious...we weren't buying!
At the end of the ride we passed, and then invited back to the farm with his wares, Abu Patata..."the father of potatos..." a vendor selling wonderful roasted sweet potatoes from his donkey cart with and oil barrel oven and a smokestack that would have made a Mississippi river boat proud. Lunch was an extravagant spread of the local Egyptian cooking of which we have rapidly become serious fans. Pictures to post in the next installment.

I think we're on line!

Look! Gail is riding in the desert!
So, to begin with...let us tell you about the airport. Y'know those airport announcements that tell you to be sure to report any abandoned luggage? Well here's what happens when you do. There was a woman....a young arabic woman sitting in the gate, with what we assumed to be her suitcase. She got up, put on her coat and left...for a long time. Like at least an hour, when finally a woman sitting nearby said `'we should report that" got up and went and told an airport cop about it. Time passed. Lots of time. Finally, a man sitting to our left decided to try again and spoke to the airline personnel at the desk. "They'll take care of it" says man to our left. But nothing happened. Nothing happened for a long time. We're coming up to about 2 hours by now...and Man To Our Left has asked another guard and is getting pretty bitchy. Oh, one cop came by and yelled "anybody own this case?" and went away when no one answered...hmmm. So, originally complaining woman sees the pilot coming through the gate and rushes over, cuts him off and says "DO YOU HAVE ANY PULL AROUND THIS PLACE?" "Well, yes m'am" he says "I might." She explains, he makes one phone call and a cop appears. "ANYONE OWN THIS BAG" he yells. Silence. So what does he do? HE LEANS OVER, UNZIPS THE BAG AND TOSSES THE CONTENTS AROUND WITH HIS HAND. Yep, that's right. Safe flight everybody.

Ladies and gentleman...please have patience as we learn how to use this computer which appears to randomly be changing my language preference to Arabic! ~BUT...we are here and have been riding in the desert, on roads with water buffalo and more donkeys than one can imagine, and we have tales to tell! The flight was terrific and the weather is WARM! More soon after a consultation with our hjost whose computer is making me crazy :-)

Luggage Attack!

All ours bags are packed, we're ready to go....