The Massive Trip: Part I

Tuesday, November 14^th – Casablanca

Oh. Crap. What happened to my alarm? It was supposed to go off at 1:30 AM, and now its 3:38. I don’t think I have ever moved so fast in my life. Thankfully, I packed the night before, and for some reason or another, I managed to wake up.

I hauled downstairs and power-walked to Volta Circle, where many taxis usually hang out. Nothing there. Crap. Power-walk to the road, which is absolutely desolate. By the grace of God, a taxi came. I paid 20,000 cedis, and was at the airport at 4, the end of the early check-in time.

Apparently, the flight from Accra to Casablanca is not the most popular route. Six people boarded the flight, which had come from Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. Everybody had their own row, and the same remained true for the people leaving from Accra. I sprawled out over Row 8 of Royal Air Maroc Flight 514 and fell asleep immediately.

I woke up just as the plane was landing in Casablanca – perfect. I feel refreshed and ready to tackle Casablanca. I paid 35 Moroccan Dirham (4 dollars – 8.4 Dirham = 1 USD) for a train to the city. A ten minute wait and I was on-board for the half-hour train ride.

Casablanca is no romantic city. A city of 5 million people, it is incredible modern, complete with good roads and what every other Western city has – McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. There are a couple other things I noticed. People paid a lot more attention to personal fitness – I saw numerous people jogging along the sea. The other thing is that, like Ghana, many people spoke multiple languages. The main difference is that these languages – French, Arabic and English – are a lot more practical than Twi, Ga, and Fanti.

From the train station, a taxi driver offered to take me around the city – a three hour tour for 250 Dirham. After some small bargaining, we agreed on 200 Dirham. We drove through the city, past the port, to the Hassan II Mosque. This thing is massive. It can hold 25,000 people on the inside, and has room for another 55,000 people on the outside. It is not only big, it is also just beautiful.

From the mosque, we mostly drove along the seaside Corniche, which was a lovely drive. The sea was sparkling blue under the sun. Hassan II Mosque sits right on the water, which makes it even more beautiful. The rest of the drive was calm. It was like driving through any other major city, with just a few exceptions. We passed this little market where I bought this awesome galabeyya. The driver returned me to the Casa Voyageur station. I got my return ticket to the airport and spent the remaining few hours reading, both for school and in preparation for Egypt.

In this gap, I find myself fighting off a bit of homesickness. I haven’t really been homesick this whole semester. I credit this to a few things: being able to keep myself busy, staying surrounded by people, and keeping in touch with people from home. But as I sit in Mohamed V Aeroport, I have none of those things, little to do, no people, and not connection to home.

When there’s nothing to do and nowhere to go, your mind takes over – you start thinking. And as I have none of those things which usually surround me, I think of those things – those things that really are home. I’m sure – or at least I hope – that this feeling will fade once I get to Cairo.

Wednesday, November 15^th – Hello Cairo, Goodbye Visa

The flight from Casablanca to Cairo was a piece of cake. Once again, I had the row to myself, and I managed to sleep for the majority of the flight. The flight arrived at 6:10 and I was almost awake. An espresso changed all of that. I pulled out my Lonely Planet book, and started to plan my day: check into hotel, Egyptian Museum, Islamic Cairo.

A 60-Egyptian Pound (10 dollars – 5.7 EgP = 1 USD) taxi – standard fare – to me to my hotel, The Dahab Hostel. The hostel is located in Midan Tal’at Harb, right in the middle of Downtown Cairo, close to the Nile and the museum. With the help of Saeed, I found an ATM to get some money for the up-coming week. I took the max – 500 pounds – and headed up to the roof of the building to the hostel. I got a room for 20 Pounds and was on my way to the Egyptian Museum

This is a great way to start any trip to Egypt. It is just dripping in history. Statues, jewelry, mummies, coffins, everything. I paid half-price because I’m a student, which is just glorious – 25 pounds instead of 50. By far, my favorite exhibit was the ten statues of Senuret I, from the Middle Kingdom. These ten statues are identical, all cut with precision from limestone. It blows my mind that they could make these statues thousands of years before Greece and Rome were even a thought. Sadly, cameras are not allowed in the museum, so I couldn’t take any pictures.

Once I made it through at least thirty rooms, I went upstairs toward the Mummy Rooms. Before entering the mummy rooms, I checked out more rooms, filled with objects from the pyramids. Needless to say, there was tons of gold, and plenty of comfort items for the afternoon. There was room after room of intricately painted coffins, papyrus with hieroglyphs, small gold statues of dogs, cats and other animals. There was also a whole room dedicated to the mummification of sacred animals.

And then the good stuff: the Pharaohs and queens. It blows my mind how amazingly preserved these bodies are. Teeth, fingernails, and hair are all still in place. It is so easy to imagine these bodies, decked out in jewelry, ruling over the nation. No particular one stands out by its appearance, but Ramses II stands out in my mind just because of the name.

Afterward, I grabbed my camera, and took some pictures of the relics that have been left outside.

Statue 1
Statue 2
Me with a mini-sphinx
Me with a sitting man

I headed back to the room figure out how to get to Islamic Cairo. I went to grab my Visa card, as the combination of the museum and the room made a significant dent, but it wasn’t in my bag. No worries – it’s probably just in the clothes I wore prior. Not there. I tried not to panic. I looked through my bag, through my clothing, everything. Not there. Almost panic time. I walked down to the ATM that I used and asked if a card was found. Not there. They recommended that I go to the main branch of the bank. Not there – time to panic.

In a city of 10 million people, my debit card is out in the open. I feel so stupid. I think it was a combination of being tired and being excited and I just walked away from the ATM without the card. Dumb. Just a stupid mistake.

I asked for the closest internet café – just a block from my hostel – so I could email my parents and have them cancel the card. Thankfully, I added my parents to the card prior to going to Ghana, so cancellation shouldn’t be so difficult.

The rest of the afternoon, I was a complete wreck. I had fifty-five dollars for the rest of the trip. I had to reassess everything. Forget the planned trip to Israel, forget the camel ride near the pyramids. I would pretty much be stuck in Cairo.

Around 4:30, I walked down to the Nile to watch sunset, hoping it would calm me down. The sunset was beautiful, falling close to the Cairo Tower, over the Nile. Just beautiful.

I got the cheapest available food – a mini pizza – for less than two Pounds. That would be my only food for the day. Stupidity has its price, and for me, that meant less food.

After a horrible nap and some unfocused reading, I returned to the internet café at an hour which my parents would be awake. My email box was flooded. Wheels were in motion. The card was cancelled and money would be sent via Western Union. I sat at the computer and cried. Maybe it was out of happiness, but I think it was just because this huge monkey had been taken off my back. I was so relieved. There were no additional charges, there would be no additional charges, and my trip could go on as originally planned.

The rest of the night was much better. While at the internet café, I met this young man named Ahmed who spoke good enough English to communicate with me. We were joined by a couple of his friends, Mohamed, Az, and one other man. The five of us enjoyed tea while surrounded by other man puffing hookah and cigarettes.

I would sleep well tonight, that’s for sure.

Thursday, November 16^th – The Gaff at Giza

As I thought, I slept well – almost too well. Exhausted from travel, stress, and all the walking from yesterday, I slept until noon. Mustafa, a man in one of the hostels downstairs, set up a taxi for me to Giza. I grabbed my camera and was ready – ready for the pyramids, ready for the Sphinx, ready to ride a camel.

I was dropped at Oasis stable, where the taxi would wait for me. I got myself set up with a camel and a guide, Raghab. After negotiating a decent price – 200 pounds for most of the afternoon – the two of us were on our way.

I must admit that riding a camel is not only painful in the legs and in the butt, but its also somewhat scary when you don’t have a hold of the reigns. I felt my legs shaking uncontrollably many times at the beginning. But the sight of the pyramids started to calm me. I pulled my camera out of my pocket to start taking pictures. But it won’t turn on. Oh, God. Did I really just – yea. No battery. I feel as stupid as I did yesterday. I have no explanation for this except that I have completely lost my mind. Raghab turned the camel around, and we went into town to buy a disposable camera. Once again, problem resolved, but still, I feel pretty stupid. And once again, stupidity had its price; this time, 65 Pounds for a camera and I couldn’t be reckless taking pictures.

The ride was fine, if not painful. We eventually picked up to a trot, if that’s what a camel’s second gear is. The first site is the three main pyramids, with the six smaller pyramids on the sides. This is perfection. A perfect square base with perfect triangular sides pointed to the heavens. It’s a shame that much of the limestone was taken off by needy builders; otherwise, they would glow in the desert. I took as many pictures as I could with my crappy disposable. I’ll be sure to post them once I get home to California. Who knows how they will turn out, but the memories are indelible.

After approaching these massive structures, and wondering how these buildings could be constructed without a crane, Raghab and I made our way to the Sphinx. The truth is, I thought it would be a lot bigger, but it’s still pretty damn big – about 50 meters long. When standing in the right place, it lines up perfectly with the pyramids, making for a fantastic photo. A man offered to take a picture, and I said yes, but I told him I had no baksheesh (tip) for him. He took the picture, and asked for “small money.” I’m sorry, was my English not clear enough? I have no money for you! He was pissed, but I don’t care; I’ll never see him again.

I returned to Cairo in the same taxi, and walked to Western Union, where a substantial amount of money was waiting for me (thank you parents, thank you Western Union). I went to the bank across from the hotel to get some Pounds for Dollars. I then walked back up to the hotel to immediately book a bus ticket to Taba, the border city to Israel. I’m really excited for this mini-trip.

I decided to head back to Giza, camera (and battery) in hand, to watch the light show at the pyramids. Every night, a show is put on in three different languages. English is every night, and two other languages are rotated in throughout the week. (Tonight was Japanese and Arabic, tomorrow French and Spanish). This place really is built for tourists.

Instead of paying for a ticket, I watched from just outside the grounds. My friend Ryan, from UCLA, told me that there is a KFC and Pizza Hut right off the grounds with a perfect view of the show. At 6:30 the show – the Japanese one – came on. I really didn’t care what they had to say. I just wanted to see the lights.

The show lasted for nearly an hour. I then had a major decision to make – KFC or Pizza Hut. Chicken is a regular item in Ghana, and I get pizza once a week in Ghana, so it really didn’t matter. I only went into KFC because it was on the bottom floor. I walked in and said, “I haven’t been in a KFC in at least 8 months.” The man working behind the counter, Shady (pronounced Shah-dee) responded. “You work in KFC at home?” Uhhh, yes? I have nothing to lose at this point. I said, “yes” and he invited me behind the counter. I ordered a spicy 5-piece and Shady, because I’m “a part of the KFC family,” through in a large extra piece of chicken. Score! The food went quickly and I was back on my way to Cairo.

The first taxi driver tried to rip me off, but the second man, Hassan, gave me a good price – 25 pounds. Hassan hadn’t had any work all day, so he was willing to take anything. He explained his situation – little work, six children in school, etc. He had also kept books of people who he had driven. He got me back to Cairo quickly during rush hour, so I threw him 5 Pounds baksheesh.

I wanted to jump on the internet to check my mail, but the café was busy – someone was teaching a class. While waiting, I met this man named Wagih. Wagih is a good man – an engaged Coptic Christian who works as an architect. He planned to get an Engineering degree at the American University in Cairo, but he needed some help understanding the syllabi. We exchanged services – I helped him understand the course outlines and he bought me tea and soda: a perfect trade for both of us. We talked about everything from life in Cairo in the minority to politics to his (actually, his fiancé’s) desire to move to Canada. He was the only person in Cairo who learned I was Jewish. I was confident that he could understand life as a minority. And I was right.

After an extensive conversation, I headed back to the café, where I was able to plan my trip to Israel and chat with my parents. The conversation was short, but sweet, and absolutely necessary for my sanity – and theirs.

I had to leave quickly though. My bus for Taba was early – I would have to be awake at 4:20 and I wanted to at least get some sleep before the trip.