Carpe Diem w/Leiselk;

It’s hard to find a word to describe Egypt. I had never in my life thought I’d be able to go there, and had never considered it a “vacation” spot. But I am so glad that I was able to see it with my own eyes. I say alot of times that things or places feel like I’m in a movie. Sometimes that’s all I have as a reference… books and movies. So seeing the pyramids in real life felt like I was on a movie set. It felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie. For one… it was hot. Almost freakishly hot at times. That could be because I was in the height of perimenopause, but anyhoo… it was hot. And this was in March.

Some thoughts: The Sphinx is much smaller than I thought it would be. The Nile was not overflowing with crocodiles like I imagined. I don’t even think we saw one crocodile the whole time we were there. I did not see one classic Cleopatra style hairdo… disappointing. No black eyeliner like in the movies. 🙂 People were friendly-ish. Heiroglyphics were just as cool if not more than I had hoped. The colors that have lasted for centuries are still bright and beautiful. Walking in areas where Joseph and Mary could have been when they escaped with Jesus as a young child/baby was mindblowing. I love the sounds, colors, busy-ness of the crazy huge market in Cairo. I felt like an archeologist from the Mummy while going through the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The sales people there are serious about their jobs and very intense. Cats everywhere, just like I imagined.

We took an overnight train down to Aswan and then a Nile cruise coming back up to Cairo, with different stops to see the Valley of the Kings, multiple temples, and pyramids. We were able to go deep into pyramids and tombs and see hand paintings that looked almost unreal to me. We took a hot air balloon over the Valley of the Kings and rode 4 wheelers over sand dunes by the Great Pyramid.

I might add more to this later as I think of more details, but overall I would say that visiting Egypt felt unreal, incredible and probably the most like a movie set. I would love to go back, especially with people who had not been before. To get to see it for the first time through someone else’s eyes would be super cool.