We are so busy right now. Clubs, homework, errands and such. Amazing how normal life feels. I never thought it would be this way in Egypt. But here we are, in the shadow of the many minarets and palm trees, pyramids and taxis. Eliza had a school play about 2 weeks ago. She is on the top row in the middle. The play was centered around their current study of materials and what they do. They were aliens that came to earth and "discovered" that the floor was made of wood, windows are glass, etc. Eliza had a good speaking part.
This is a mosque minaret that I got a shot of while I was in Siwa. Almost sundown, perfect light, it was the evening of the first day I was there. We also went to a petrified forest, a former palm tree oasis. The trunks were amazing; they looked like a palm tree trunk, but were solid stone and made an odd, hollow/metallic sound when another piece of petrified palm is knocked against it. And to finish it, a picture of me!!
This is me in Siwa, the desert part. It's an oasis about 30 miles from the Libyan border. I left Maadi on the 11th in a bus at about 6 am. We drove for 9 hours and finally got to Siwa. We stayed at this little place called The Siwa Safari Paradise Hotel. Yeah, it was in Siwa, I did get a desert safari, paradise it was not and they can call it a hotel because I had my own bathroom!! It was an adventure, everything I hoped it would be and I'm glad I did not have any kids with me. Sand was everywhere, they were the sand dunes I hoped to see when I got to Cairo. The desert around Cairo is just rock and dirt. These were REAL sand dunes!! And one night we spent camping in the desert, the stars were so bright and no moon. Beautiful!!! Our third day there we had a tour of the pharonic sites around the oasis. Very cool. We visited the temple of Amun where Alexander the Great came in 352 B.C. and asked the oracle a secret question. Apparently, he got an answer and didn't share it with anyone and this is the secret he died with; on the trip back home he died.
Sunday we headed back to Cairo; another 9 hour bus ride, but we made it. I got home to my babies and husband and finally got my hot shower!! (there wasn't any hot water in my bathroom the whole trip)
Desert Sunrise
