African Hospitality

Giza

Our host family's apartment was in Giza, a suburb of Cairo. On the day of our arrival, our host Walid had been hospitalized, but his brother-in-law, his charming wife and his three teenage sons were at the residence to greet us. One section of the apartment consisting of a double room and an adjoining bathroom was screened off for our use. Walid's family members made us feel so completely at home that my travel partner, who was nervous at the thought of staying with an Egyptian family, changed her mind about going to a hotel.

Giza is also the home of the Pyramids, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. This was also the first stop on our tour the following morning. Our travel guide and lecturer for the duration of our visit was Walid's brother-in-law. He was a dentist by profession, but he acted as a tour guide when there were visiting tourists.

The Pyramids were even more awe-inspiring than I had imagined. According to our guide, there could be as many as 180 pyramids in Egypt, but the site of the largest Pyramids was in Giza. Tourists flock to see the Pyramids of Giza and ask the same questions people have been asking for centuries, which no one seems to be able to answer. How was the Pyramids built and how was it possible to transport all those huge blocks of granite without the aid of modern technology? I climbed on the bottom layer of the Pyramids, so I had a good feel for the size of each boulder. I found it amazing that the Egyptians could go about their daily lives in the midst of all this history.

Close by the Pyramids was the Sphinx, which - like many of the archeological sites - seemed to appear out of the desert sand quite unexpectedly. The Sphinx was another source of fascination for me. It was an enormous monument that had been carved out of a single piece of stone. I wanted to know why part of its nose was missing and where the missing part was. I was told that the missing part was housed in the British Museum in London. This seemed to be a recurring answer when we visited other sites. I determined that on my next visit to London, I would have to visit the British Museum in order to complete my visit to Egypt!

Walid kept his word about making arrangements for me to ride on a camel. Immediately after we visited the Pyramids and the Sphinx, our guide took us to a man who gave camel rides within view of the Pyramids. My camel was called Michael Jackson. When I was hoisted up on the camel, I immediately had a panic attack and had to be taken off the camel. The camels legs were so long, I had visions of the animal speeding off in the desert. In spite of the owner's pleadings to give it a try, that was the full extent of my camel "riding" experience. I promised myself that next time, I would do better.

After all that excitement, we went to a nearby restaurant to sample our first Egyptian meal. On the lower level of the restaurant, a lady was baking Egyptian bread in a special stone oven. She invited us to try our hand at baking. The baked bread was served in the restaurant and was quite delicious. I also found Egyptian food to be quite palatable. Typically, Egyptian food is served in several courses. I found the vegetable dishes to be so appetizing that I forgot what I was told by the Travel Well Clinic and ate a raw cucumber salad. I suffered the consequences for about half a day. I was really thankful that I had my tummy bug medication with me.

Our trip to Aswan involved an overnight train ride. Although we traveled in a first class compartment, a sleeping car had not been reserved. Consequently, we spent the night trying to sleep in an upright position, not to mention being woken up by other passengers getting on and off the train. Rough!

One advantage of traveling by train was the opportunity to see the landscape at dusk. The most memorable sight for me was seeing a large number of camels lying down and nestled underneath the trees at bedtime. Of c