Egypt - Salty or Sweet?

All-in-all we have enjoyed Egypt. Our visit started with a great few days in Cairo with our buddy Heidi. We visited with great people there, including our Egyptian friend Ahmad who we met in Damascus, a laughter filled group of card players in the Muslim Quarter who invited us to hang out for a few rounds, and a host of other friendly folks at nearly every turn.

We adored the food in Cairo, from the delightful sweets at Al Abd bakery and ice cream shop, to the Koshary addiction we developed--our bellies were always full of good food. Koshary is a mix of noodles, rice, lentils and garbanzos that are served in a bowl (small for 50 cents, large for 1 dollar) with a pitcher of chunky tomato sauce and a carafe of spicy sauce alongside for each customer to doctor to their own liking. Along with Felafel, koshary is one of the beauties of cheap fast food in the Middle East.

From Cairo we visited pyramids at Giza, Saqqara and Dashur. We climbed down 50 meters to the burial chamber in the Red Pyramid at Saqqara. Our thighs were yelling at us for days. We joined the crowds of Polish tourists clad in short-shorts and muscle shirts to gaze at the Sphynx and took goofy shots of us petting the Pyramids.

Next we lurched down to Luxor on the night sleeper train. . . not nearly as romantic as I'd hoped. Luxor was a real mixed bag. The amazing history along the fertile banks of the Nile was sometimes difficult to appreciate due to the intense salesmanship of the locals. We were warned about the Egyptian hawkers and touts before entering Egypt. We'd steeled ourselves for the experience, but Cairo was so easy on us that I thought "ha, this is nothing." But I hadn't been to Luxor yet.

Luxor's economy is pinned on tourism and was hit hardest by the drop in tourism after the recent terrorist attacks targeting foreigners. Now there are many times more taxis, horse carts, tourist boats, and papyrus shops in Luxor than the tourism can support. Each day was filled with a host of interactions with the struggling people of the industry, including:
Carriage Hawkers - cajoling us into their horse drawn carriage. Fun and affordable transport, but with 20 empty carriages for every full one, the hawkers were incessant.
Commission Loiterers - on the streets or ferry trying to convince us to rent a bike, donkey, taxi, horse, camel, felucca boat, or... from their brother / cousin / uncle / father... in the hope of collecting a commission .
Helper Loiterers - who attach themselves to you on the street and follow you (they say they're leading you) to your destination and then try to badger a tip out of you for the "service".
Guard Loiterers - who sit at the entrance to temples and tombs to collect a tip (baksheesh) from you when you leave, no matter that you've already paid for your ticket and the guy did nothing but sit at the entrance.
Guide Loiterers - (can also be cop loiterers armed with guns) who sit inside the temple or tomb and pop up when you enter to shadow you pointing out the obvious, explaining the incorrect, and generally turning pacifists to violence. Oh and of course they want baksheesh for that service.
Children Trainees - who follow their father's lead and pursue tourists asking for pens, caramels and bon-bons

Throw in the joy of negotiating every purchase and you've got a vacation to make you pull your hair out. The saving graces were great companionship, astounding sights, an excellent museum and a serene hotel. After 3 days our patience was simply wrung dry. Heidi headed for Cairo and Nuche and I booked an emergency mental health plane trip to Sharm El-sheikh in search of some much needed chill time in Dahab on the Sinai peninsula. 5 days of relaxing, strolling the Cornish, and diving have returned us to a state of well being.

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