4pm, Daddy Long Legs Hotel, Capetown South Africa
So...I've fullfilled one of the tasks on the life's list of to-dos. I was in the water with great white sharks today. It was fantastic. We headed to a little town further south from Capetown (umm...Gansberg? Pronounced Hansberg?) at about 5am...there was a group of 20 of us from all over the world, of course mostly men. I don't get why women don't want to dive with sharks! There were a few random new wifes and mothers, but generally it was men in their 20's and 30's. Anywho, we headed out after a serious briefing about keeping our hands and feet inside the cage. The water was crazy rough - about 10 foot swells to start, growing to 15 foot swells. We suited up amongst jumping whales and seals and waited for the sharks to come.
We ended up seeing only a few sharks. Three of us, out of the 20, were in the water with said sharks. That said, it was enough for me. I got to see jaws, and tails, and bodies, and bloody bait. I was underwater when the skipper was pulling the bait toward us - and got to watch as a mature female (15+ feet long) swam directly for me, bumped the cage, and veered off at the last possible moment.
We had to pull the plug early, unfortunately. If it'd been perfect weather, I would have spent much more time freezing my ass off and diving with the beasts. Unfortunately, a few minutes is all I got - but that just may be enough for a lifetime!
Tomorrow I'm heading to the wine country to stock up on presents to bring back for my Seattle family. Tuesday I'll spend in Joburg. And Wednesday...well, we all know what Wednesday brings!
Hope you're all well. Can't wait to see you soon!
Cheers!
G
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Bye Bye Zanzibar
10AM, Zanzibar Internet Cafe
I had a long blog typed up and then lost computer connection, so I've listing only the highpoints:
1) Diving almost everyday. Awesome. The water here is warm, the coral very alive, and the fish and marine life plentiful. My body is tired of diving so much (and my legs are tired of jellyfish stings) so I've packed my mask for the duration of my trip - but I would highly recommend this island to anyone interested in seeing beautiful stuff underwater!
2) Stonetown is fantastic. Skinny little winding streets, old buildings, markets that have everything from furniture to fish auctions (including flying octopus and such when the highest bidder is announced - they're definitely more accurate with their aim in Seattle!).
3) Food here is delicious. Lots of spices and seafood (Zanzibar is the spice island). Also, the coffee can't be topped. Even in Seattle. Still no bagels and cream cheese though...
4) Nighlife is fun here. I'm spent most of my time with some expats that are either living here, getting Divemaster certs here, or just vacationing. We've consumed a lot of good African wine and great African food.
4) Headed to South Africa today - Capetown. Planning to spend a day or two on a boat in the cape, a day or two touring (and sampling) the wine country, and a final day in Johannesburg with a group of folks Lynn and I met in Cairo that volunteered to take me around.
5) Home on Wednesday...not looking forward to getting back into the grind, but very much looking forward to seeing all of my Seattle family!
Hope everyone's well. Will hopefully have an exciting post after my day on the Cape tomorrow...
Cheers!
G
I had a long blog typed up and then lost computer connection, so I've listing only the highpoints:
1) Diving almost everyday. Awesome. The water here is warm, the coral very alive, and the fish and marine life plentiful. My body is tired of diving so much (and my legs are tired of jellyfish stings) so I've packed my mask for the duration of my trip - but I would highly recommend this island to anyone interested in seeing beautiful stuff underwater!
2) Stonetown is fantastic. Skinny little winding streets, old buildings, markets that have everything from furniture to fish auctions (including flying octopus and such when the highest bidder is announced - they're definitely more accurate with their aim in Seattle!).
3) Food here is delicious. Lots of spices and seafood (Zanzibar is the spice island). Also, the coffee can't be topped. Even in Seattle. Still no bagels and cream cheese though...
4) Nighlife is fun here. I'm spent most of my time with some expats that are either living here, getting Divemaster certs here, or just vacationing. We've consumed a lot of good African wine and great African food.
4) Headed to South Africa today - Capetown. Planning to spend a day or two on a boat in the cape, a day or two touring (and sampling) the wine country, and a final day in Johannesburg with a group of folks Lynn and I met in Cairo that volunteered to take me around.
5) Home on Wednesday...not looking forward to getting back into the grind, but very much looking forward to seeing all of my Seattle family!
Hope everyone's well. Will hopefully have an exciting post after my day on the Cape tomorrow...
Cheers!
G
Monday, October 13, 2008
I'm not going to cook it but I'll order it from...
8:30 AM, Zanzibar, Internet Cafe on computer with non-functioning space bar
Since I last posted (the space bar thing is going to drive me crazy) I've come to Zanzibar, a small island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania. I spent a couple more days around Arusha. The first was spent with a friend of a friend of a friend. Kiware, an Arusha native, took me to a few local places. The idea was that he'd introduce me to a fewlocal projects in need of help (aka funding) and I'd take note of them and possibly help him to define a fundraising plan for the projects. First we visited a local hospital. It's amazing the difference between African hospitals and anything I've seen elsewhere in the world! It was dirty, small, old...the technology (with the exception of a few machines donated by the CDC through Bush's emergency plan) was ancient. They definitely need to expand. The infectious disease ward is in something akin to a barn...the HIV patients were sleeping in rooms with holes inthe walls and roofs, doors that don't close...very,very sad. The whole AIDS situation in this country is staggering. It was staggering stateside, but here, experiencing the culture firsthand -it's almost unfathomable. I also spent some time in the orphanage connected to the hospital. Turns out that mostchildren are orphanedhere not because their parents die, but because theirparents can't afford them. They keephaving child after child...and half of their children end up living in the streets or,ifthey're lucky, in anorphanage. If the child is HIV positive - many orphanages don't taken them...which means theylive alone, with not healthcare, in the streets.
After the hospital, wevisited Molala primary school,which is up in the mountains at the base of MT Meru. The school has 610 students. There are about80 to a classroom - whichis basically a concrete room with a tin roof thatdoesn'tentirely cover the room. The bathrooms are a shack with holes in the ground- no water to wash, no doors on the stalls...generally no hygeniene or privacy whatsoever. The school needs another room and clearly toilet facilities. I was taking pictures ofthe kids playing and suddenly there werea bout 400 kids crowding around me trying tosee themselves in my camera. Definitelysomething I won'tever forget!
Afterthat,Kiware opened his home to me as an honored guest. They presented me with kigare (notsurehow to spellthat) which is traditional fabric women use to make garments. There was also a feastset up - I was invitedfor tea, but was taken very seriously as the honored guest.
The day was exhausting, eye opening, and notsomething I'd like to repeat anytime soon...but I definitelylearned fromthe experience and have some workto do back home to tryto help the people thatwere so kind to mehere.
The next day,I went on a safari to Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro crater. Running out of time - so to put it simply - I sawjustabout every animal one could hope to see in Africa: lions, wildebeasts, baboons, monkeys, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, zebras,etc etc etc. It was completely surreal. Ithink the monkeys and elephants were my favorite- but Ihave to admit, giraffe's are freakingcool, too. Really weirdwhen you actually think about an animalwitha neckthat long!
I'm now in Zanzibar, about ready to go diving. The spacebaris driving me bonkers so going tosign off - but needless to say,Zanzibar is amazing. Ithink I was meant tolive on an island. The weatheris beautiful, the beaches are beautiful - even the architecture is interesting. I'll be here until Saturday, when I flyto Joburg S Africa fora few days before coming home. Vacation's almostover!
Hope youallare well and have functioning spacebars,wherever you may be.
Cheers!
G
Since I last posted (the space bar thing is going to drive me crazy) I've come to Zanzibar, a small island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania. I spent a couple more days around Arusha. The first was spent with a friend of a friend of a friend. Kiware, an Arusha native, took me to a few local places. The idea was that he'd introduce me to a fewlocal projects in need of help (aka funding) and I'd take note of them and possibly help him to define a fundraising plan for the projects. First we visited a local hospital. It's amazing the difference between African hospitals and anything I've seen elsewhere in the world! It was dirty, small, old...the technology (with the exception of a few machines donated by the CDC through Bush's emergency plan) was ancient. They definitely need to expand. The infectious disease ward is in something akin to a barn...the HIV patients were sleeping in rooms with holes inthe walls and roofs, doors that don't close...very,very sad. The whole AIDS situation in this country is staggering. It was staggering stateside, but here, experiencing the culture firsthand -it's almost unfathomable. I also spent some time in the orphanage connected to the hospital. Turns out that mostchildren are orphanedhere not because their parents die, but because theirparents can't afford them. They keephaving child after child...and half of their children end up living in the streets or,ifthey're lucky, in anorphanage. If the child is HIV positive - many orphanages don't taken them...which means theylive alone, with not healthcare, in the streets.
After the hospital, wevisited Molala primary school,which is up in the mountains at the base of MT Meru. The school has 610 students. There are about80 to a classroom - whichis basically a concrete room with a tin roof thatdoesn'tentirely cover the room. The bathrooms are a shack with holes in the ground- no water to wash, no doors on the stalls...generally no hygeniene or privacy whatsoever. The school needs another room and clearly toilet facilities. I was taking pictures ofthe kids playing and suddenly there werea bout 400 kids crowding around me trying tosee themselves in my camera. Definitelysomething I won'tever forget!
Afterthat,Kiware opened his home to me as an honored guest. They presented me with kigare (notsurehow to spellthat) which is traditional fabric women use to make garments. There was also a feastset up - I was invitedfor tea, but was taken very seriously as the honored guest.
The day was exhausting, eye opening, and notsomething I'd like to repeat anytime soon...but I definitelylearned fromthe experience and have some workto do back home to tryto help the people thatwere so kind to mehere.
The next day,I went on a safari to Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro crater. Running out of time - so to put it simply - I sawjustabout every animal one could hope to see in Africa: lions, wildebeasts, baboons, monkeys, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, zebras,etc etc etc. It was completely surreal. Ithink the monkeys and elephants were my favorite- but Ihave to admit, giraffe's are freakingcool, too. Really weirdwhen you actually think about an animalwitha neckthat long!
I'm now in Zanzibar, about ready to go diving. The spacebaris driving me bonkers so going tosign off - but needless to say,Zanzibar is amazing. Ithink I was meant tolive on an island. The weatheris beautiful, the beaches are beautiful - even the architecture is interesting. I'll be here until Saturday, when I flyto Joburg S Africa fora few days before coming home. Vacation's almostover!
Hope youallare well and have functioning spacebars,wherever you may be.
Cheers!
G
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Kilimanjaro
Excerpts from what I can remember and what I've written in my journal about my Kili climb...
Sometime between 10pm Tuesday and sunrise Wednesday, Summit Day
Step, step, step, breathe....step, step, step, breathe....step, step, step, breathe...look up. Look up. Headlamps snaking up the mountain as far as the eye can see. Tilt your head...you can do it..breathe...are those headlamps or are they stars? Where does the darkness of the mountain end and the darkness of the sky begin? Look behind you...breathe...see the lights from Moshi - that's how far you've come. See the headlamps snaking down the mountain...you're in the middle, you can do it. You can do it. Distract yourself. What's everyone at home doing? Working, they're all working. Not a very good distraction. Think about the stars. Remember when you and Gabe used to sleep on the trampoline under the stars in the summer? Waking up so cold and damp from the condensation...cold and damp, I'm definitely cold and damp....follow Ian's footsteps. You can do it. Step, step, step, breathe...step, step, step, breathe...
It alll began Friday, October 4. For someone that doesn't get nervous, I'm scared as hell. This is even scarier than skydiving, but it's been scary for about two months straight, culminating in this moment. I met my climbing partners, Chris and John, last night for dinner - they're from the States, Little Rock and Atlanta respectively. Both mid-30's, both seem very nice. It's just the three of us, our guide Ian, assistant guide Benny, 9 porters, chef Omari, and waiter Ino (as in Innocent). We've just been introduced to our team and are heading from Arusha to the Machame gate. Our van has gotten stuck three times on the drive up - it's rainy and wet and the roads are steep - not good for bald tires and 3 cylinders. Our guide seems to be incredibly well respected by the team in the back of the van. He looks to be mid-30's (36 i found out later) and has dreadlocks halfway down his back. He's quick with a smile and looks genuinely thrilled to be climbing the mountain (he's lost count but thinks this is aroun dhis 250th time).
We finally reach the gate, buy passes, and sign in. I still feel nervous, even after two hours in a van. I also feel nauseus (come to find out this is a constant on the climb) and attribute it to the altitude drugs and malaria meds. As the porters balance our luggage and get it weighed by the porter association, I remember a conversation I had last night with a group of 20-30 somethings that had just come off the mountain. One guy, probably my age or a bit younger, told me that he passed out when he reached the top of the mountain and had to be carried down by his guides. Great. Another group mentioned that only half of them had made it....the other half had turned back during summit day. I know quite a few people, relatively, that have climbed Kili. It's not the most physical mountain in the world - in fact, it's far from it. But it is more of a mental challenge than I think most people are used to - myself included. It's 19,340 feet. Most people in the states haven't been higher than around 14,000 feet (mountains in Colorado) and even at that height you can feel the effects of the altitude. No one knows how your body will react to it until you actually test it - some people die (many have died on Kili), some get sick with headaches or nausea, and some are completely fine, no complications whatsoever except labored breathing. I would venture to guess there are very few people in that last category. My nervousness stems from not knowing if I'll react poorly and not being able to assure myself that I'll be able to muscle my way through this one. I won't know if I'll be successful until I actually get there and try it.
After we ate lunch at the Machame we began hiking. The pace was slow (pole, pole - slowly, slowy in Swahili). The first day is Machame gate to Machame camp...all through rainforest. Not sure how far we hiked, but we hiked for about 5.5 hours. Easy day - about a 4 on a difficulty scale of 1 to 10. It rained on us a bit, but generally the weather was good for a rainforest and the scenery beautiful. We got to camp around 5, were stuffed with food (the team force feeds you as most people lose their appetite at altitude...so I spent most of the week feeling ridiculously full). Our campsite was beautiful that night - it was cloudy so we didn't see many stars, but the weather was mild and I slept well with rain on my tent. I woke up during the night for a while and was violently sick...more than anything I was worried that I would continue to be sick (which I was) and wouldn't be able to finish...but I tried to sleep it off and felt a bit better when I woke up the next day.
Day two...Machame camp to Shira Camp (12,500 feet). We woke up early and were stuffed with porridge, eggs, sausage, fruit, coffee, tea, etc etc etc. We finished with the rainforest and climbed through moorlands. Really interesting terrain...lots of mosses and flowers that I'd see at home in Montana (impatients, begonias, straw flowers). Today's hike was incredibly steep, but once again very doable for me. It was probably a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. We arrived at camp around 3 I think - about 6 hours of hiking. We're in the clouds now and finally got our first view of Kili late that night. I've upgraded my flulike symptoms to flulike plus cold - stuffy nose and cough. Generally feel pretty miserable and think it has nothing to do with the altitude. Took a nap and woke up to my tent zippers being iced shut. Definitely colder here...making progress on our climb! Better sleep on day two and no vomiting, which is a bonus.
Day three...Shira Camp, up to Lava Tower (15,000 feet) down to Baranco camp (12,500 feet). Up at 6, first daylight glimpse of Kili. Wow. Once again, way too much food...the day can be summed up as follows (apologies for all of the bodily function references, but they really were such an integral part of the trip :) ):
9am-noon: Step, pole, step, pole, try not to vomit. Repeat.
Noon-12:30: Shiver, eat lunch, shiver, try to stay warm, finish lunch, try to make out lava tower through clouds, no luck, shiver, try not to vomit.
12:30pm-3:30: Step, pole, shiver, step, pole, shiver, step, pole, try not to vomit.
3:30-6:30: Nap at camp, try not to vomit.
6:30-8: Dinner
8: Bed, try not to vomit.
I woke up in the middle of the night to rain on my tent, again...it rained on us every day. Not that big of a deal, but it's hard to put on wet clothes on a cold morning - nothing dries in a tent when the temperature's below freezing outside. I had to get out of the tent to go to the bathroom and realized that, although incredibly miserable to leave the comfort of my sleeping bag, the summit is now within reach. I could actually see it in the moonlight. There were also more stars than I'd ever seen in my life - it was spectacular. The highlight of an incredibly miserable day.
Day 4: Baranco to Barafu (Approx 15,000 feet), nap, then begin Barafu to summit. Day 4 turned out to be the best day yet. The days were progressively more difficult - day 4 being a 6 on a scale of 1-10. We started the day by free climbing the Baranco wall. It was amazing - I can't wait to upload pictures to send around so you can see the beauty of the wall. It's actually incredibly dangerous - people die each year being careless and not ensuring sure footing. Almost every trip porters fall and break legs - they carry these huge bundles on their heads and try to climb faster than all of the climbers - which means they take dangerous routes and generally scramble up as fast as they can, regardless of safety. I didn't see any casualties that morning which was a bonus.
We hiked until about 4:30 - total of around 8 hours of hiking. The end of the day was incredibly step - I could reach out and touch the hill in front of me as I hiked. My climbing partners had trouble on day 4, but I stayed up with Benny our assistant guide and kept pace, trying to push myself as I knew it would only get harder and harder that night when we summited. We had an early dinner (5pm) and tried to sleep for a couple of hours. Didn't work for me - I drifted in and out, but generally coughed and shivered the whole nap. I have so many warm clothes and an increidbe sleeping bag, but as I was sick I just couldn't seem to get warm. The wind howled around my tent and when I did catch 10-15 minutes of sleep, all I did was dream about the summit beginning at 10pm.
Summit night - 10pm. Ino woke me from fitful sleep with warm tea and biscuits. He prayed with me over the food - I don't speak Swahili but I'm sure it was a prayer for strength and safety. He's only 25, but for some reason was such a calming effect on me the whole trip. He woke me every morning with a 'Jambo Dada' (hello sister)...he prayed with us every night over our food...he greeted us with a smile as we reached camp each day...amazing how such a seemingly insignificant role on the team can help my confidence so much. I don't think he'll know how much he affected my climb!!
Anyway, I was feeling scared. It was dark, I was to undertake 10 hours of climbing to reach the summit when I'd just spent 8 hours climbing with about an hour of sleep in between. I was sick, nauseus, had a headache and generally couldn't have felt more ill prepared to take on a ~5,000 vertical foot climb. So...I popped in my iPod and listened to Toto. That's right, Seattle family, Toto got me through. By the time I'd finished Africa - I was ready to go. I got out of my tent wearing almost everything I had: hat, neck gaiter, bandana, three undershirts, two long sleeve shirts, a North Face vest, a winter weight fleece, a huge down jacket, three pairs of long underwear, fleece pants, ski pants, two pairs of socks, and gloves. I had another jacket and more shirts in my bag, along with a camelbak of water (that froze halfway up), my camera batteries tucked in my first layer, and a few Cliff bars to get me through.
Long story short, that night was the most difficult and miserable night of my life. We climbed in the dark from 11pm until 6am when the sunrose. I literally had to fight not to fall asleep climbing - I felt like the Bedouin on Mt Sinaii. We could only stop for a few minutes at a time to rest becuase it was so cold - it was way below zero with wind chill. We saw several people being led down. I heard a woman screaming in a pain and saw her collapse to the ground - summit day was no joke. Not only were we climbing at high altitude, but we were climbing a hill that was mostly scree - so it was two steps forward, one step back. I had to push myself just to put five steps together - most of the time it was three with a breathing break. I can't describe how ill prepared I was for just how difficult a mental task that night was.
But...I MADE IT!! :) I honestly had my doubts during the night. I asked Ian if we were close and he said - you're strong Genny (everyone called me Genny), you can do this. Looking back on that conversation, I felt almost completely exhausted at that point - and still climbed for five more hours. It was 3:30 when I asked him if we were almost there.
We finally saw the sunrise and I could see just how far we'd come and how far we had to go. I pushed myself as hard as I could for the last 20 minutes or so - and reached Stella Point (200M from the top) about 5 mintues before the rest of the team. I sat down on a rock, cried for about 30 seconds (joy, exhaustion, excitement, relief, craziness - you name the emotion, I felt it), and promptly fell asleep. I awoke to another hour of hiking to reach the summit. The distance between Stella Point and Uhuru peak is nominal - at normal elevation I could run it and not even been out of breath. But, amazingly, it took everything I had to reach that point. Everything. I couldn't even enjoy being at the summit because it was so incredibly hard to breathe and my body was completely tapped out. We took and few pictures...and started the hike down.
The rest of the trip was amazing. I'm walking like a 90 year old woman today - the down hill was much harder on my body than the up hill. After we summited, we spent three hours hiking back down to camp, slept for one hour, then spent 6 hours hiking down to the Mweka camp (we descended a different way than we ascended). Yesterday we finished our day, hiking from the Mweka Camp to the Mweka gate, and transported back to Arusha.
I can't stress enough just how difficult that week for me. It wasn't the physical part that was so intimidating - it was pushing myself mentally WAY past my limits and still being able to push even more that took it's toll. I feel such a sense of accomplishment. The interesting part of the climb is that I think some of my most physically fit friends wouldn't be able to do it. Others that are less in shape physically, but strong mentally would have more luck. I strongly encourage anyone who's even thought about attempting it to follow through - the requirements are a strong mind, a strong body, and a little bit of crazy.
That's all for now. Thanks for your emails over the last week - it was great to come back and see that all of you were thinking about me! I've received many mails to which I haven't had time to respond - hopefully this tides you over for a while until my next update.
Only a week and a half left! Hopefully more diving and some time in S Africa before I come home...can't wait to see you all. XOXO
Cheers - G
Sometime between 10pm Tuesday and sunrise Wednesday, Summit Day
Step, step, step, breathe....step, step, step, breathe....step, step, step, breathe...look up. Look up. Headlamps snaking up the mountain as far as the eye can see. Tilt your head...you can do it..breathe...are those headlamps or are they stars? Where does the darkness of the mountain end and the darkness of the sky begin? Look behind you...breathe...see the lights from Moshi - that's how far you've come. See the headlamps snaking down the mountain...you're in the middle, you can do it. You can do it. Distract yourself. What's everyone at home doing? Working, they're all working. Not a very good distraction. Think about the stars. Remember when you and Gabe used to sleep on the trampoline under the stars in the summer? Waking up so cold and damp from the condensation...cold and damp, I'm definitely cold and damp....follow Ian's footsteps. You can do it. Step, step, step, breathe...step, step, step, breathe...
It alll began Friday, October 4. For someone that doesn't get nervous, I'm scared as hell. This is even scarier than skydiving, but it's been scary for about two months straight, culminating in this moment. I met my climbing partners, Chris and John, last night for dinner - they're from the States, Little Rock and Atlanta respectively. Both mid-30's, both seem very nice. It's just the three of us, our guide Ian, assistant guide Benny, 9 porters, chef Omari, and waiter Ino (as in Innocent). We've just been introduced to our team and are heading from Arusha to the Machame gate. Our van has gotten stuck three times on the drive up - it's rainy and wet and the roads are steep - not good for bald tires and 3 cylinders. Our guide seems to be incredibly well respected by the team in the back of the van. He looks to be mid-30's (36 i found out later) and has dreadlocks halfway down his back. He's quick with a smile and looks genuinely thrilled to be climbing the mountain (he's lost count but thinks this is aroun dhis 250th time).
We finally reach the gate, buy passes, and sign in. I still feel nervous, even after two hours in a van. I also feel nauseus (come to find out this is a constant on the climb) and attribute it to the altitude drugs and malaria meds. As the porters balance our luggage and get it weighed by the porter association, I remember a conversation I had last night with a group of 20-30 somethings that had just come off the mountain. One guy, probably my age or a bit younger, told me that he passed out when he reached the top of the mountain and had to be carried down by his guides. Great. Another group mentioned that only half of them had made it....the other half had turned back during summit day. I know quite a few people, relatively, that have climbed Kili. It's not the most physical mountain in the world - in fact, it's far from it. But it is more of a mental challenge than I think most people are used to - myself included. It's 19,340 feet. Most people in the states haven't been higher than around 14,000 feet (mountains in Colorado) and even at that height you can feel the effects of the altitude. No one knows how your body will react to it until you actually test it - some people die (many have died on Kili), some get sick with headaches or nausea, and some are completely fine, no complications whatsoever except labored breathing. I would venture to guess there are very few people in that last category. My nervousness stems from not knowing if I'll react poorly and not being able to assure myself that I'll be able to muscle my way through this one. I won't know if I'll be successful until I actually get there and try it.
After we ate lunch at the Machame we began hiking. The pace was slow (pole, pole - slowly, slowy in Swahili). The first day is Machame gate to Machame camp...all through rainforest. Not sure how far we hiked, but we hiked for about 5.5 hours. Easy day - about a 4 on a difficulty scale of 1 to 10. It rained on us a bit, but generally the weather was good for a rainforest and the scenery beautiful. We got to camp around 5, were stuffed with food (the team force feeds you as most people lose their appetite at altitude...so I spent most of the week feeling ridiculously full). Our campsite was beautiful that night - it was cloudy so we didn't see many stars, but the weather was mild and I slept well with rain on my tent. I woke up during the night for a while and was violently sick...more than anything I was worried that I would continue to be sick (which I was) and wouldn't be able to finish...but I tried to sleep it off and felt a bit better when I woke up the next day.
Day two...Machame camp to Shira Camp (12,500 feet). We woke up early and were stuffed with porridge, eggs, sausage, fruit, coffee, tea, etc etc etc. We finished with the rainforest and climbed through moorlands. Really interesting terrain...lots of mosses and flowers that I'd see at home in Montana (impatients, begonias, straw flowers). Today's hike was incredibly steep, but once again very doable for me. It was probably a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. We arrived at camp around 3 I think - about 6 hours of hiking. We're in the clouds now and finally got our first view of Kili late that night. I've upgraded my flulike symptoms to flulike plus cold - stuffy nose and cough. Generally feel pretty miserable and think it has nothing to do with the altitude. Took a nap and woke up to my tent zippers being iced shut. Definitely colder here...making progress on our climb! Better sleep on day two and no vomiting, which is a bonus.
Day three...Shira Camp, up to Lava Tower (15,000 feet) down to Baranco camp (12,500 feet). Up at 6, first daylight glimpse of Kili. Wow. Once again, way too much food...the day can be summed up as follows (apologies for all of the bodily function references, but they really were such an integral part of the trip :) ):
9am-noon: Step, pole, step, pole, try not to vomit. Repeat.
Noon-12:30: Shiver, eat lunch, shiver, try to stay warm, finish lunch, try to make out lava tower through clouds, no luck, shiver, try not to vomit.
12:30pm-3:30: Step, pole, shiver, step, pole, shiver, step, pole, try not to vomit.
3:30-6:30: Nap at camp, try not to vomit.
6:30-8: Dinner
8: Bed, try not to vomit.
I woke up in the middle of the night to rain on my tent, again...it rained on us every day. Not that big of a deal, but it's hard to put on wet clothes on a cold morning - nothing dries in a tent when the temperature's below freezing outside. I had to get out of the tent to go to the bathroom and realized that, although incredibly miserable to leave the comfort of my sleeping bag, the summit is now within reach. I could actually see it in the moonlight. There were also more stars than I'd ever seen in my life - it was spectacular. The highlight of an incredibly miserable day.
Day 4: Baranco to Barafu (Approx 15,000 feet), nap, then begin Barafu to summit. Day 4 turned out to be the best day yet. The days were progressively more difficult - day 4 being a 6 on a scale of 1-10. We started the day by free climbing the Baranco wall. It was amazing - I can't wait to upload pictures to send around so you can see the beauty of the wall. It's actually incredibly dangerous - people die each year being careless and not ensuring sure footing. Almost every trip porters fall and break legs - they carry these huge bundles on their heads and try to climb faster than all of the climbers - which means they take dangerous routes and generally scramble up as fast as they can, regardless of safety. I didn't see any casualties that morning which was a bonus.
We hiked until about 4:30 - total of around 8 hours of hiking. The end of the day was incredibly step - I could reach out and touch the hill in front of me as I hiked. My climbing partners had trouble on day 4, but I stayed up with Benny our assistant guide and kept pace, trying to push myself as I knew it would only get harder and harder that night when we summited. We had an early dinner (5pm) and tried to sleep for a couple of hours. Didn't work for me - I drifted in and out, but generally coughed and shivered the whole nap. I have so many warm clothes and an increidbe sleeping bag, but as I was sick I just couldn't seem to get warm. The wind howled around my tent and when I did catch 10-15 minutes of sleep, all I did was dream about the summit beginning at 10pm.
Summit night - 10pm. Ino woke me from fitful sleep with warm tea and biscuits. He prayed with me over the food - I don't speak Swahili but I'm sure it was a prayer for strength and safety. He's only 25, but for some reason was such a calming effect on me the whole trip. He woke me every morning with a 'Jambo Dada' (hello sister)...he prayed with us every night over our food...he greeted us with a smile as we reached camp each day...amazing how such a seemingly insignificant role on the team can help my confidence so much. I don't think he'll know how much he affected my climb!!
Anyway, I was feeling scared. It was dark, I was to undertake 10 hours of climbing to reach the summit when I'd just spent 8 hours climbing with about an hour of sleep in between. I was sick, nauseus, had a headache and generally couldn't have felt more ill prepared to take on a ~5,000 vertical foot climb. So...I popped in my iPod and listened to Toto. That's right, Seattle family, Toto got me through. By the time I'd finished Africa - I was ready to go. I got out of my tent wearing almost everything I had: hat, neck gaiter, bandana, three undershirts, two long sleeve shirts, a North Face vest, a winter weight fleece, a huge down jacket, three pairs of long underwear, fleece pants, ski pants, two pairs of socks, and gloves. I had another jacket and more shirts in my bag, along with a camelbak of water (that froze halfway up), my camera batteries tucked in my first layer, and a few Cliff bars to get me through.
Long story short, that night was the most difficult and miserable night of my life. We climbed in the dark from 11pm until 6am when the sunrose. I literally had to fight not to fall asleep climbing - I felt like the Bedouin on Mt Sinaii. We could only stop for a few minutes at a time to rest becuase it was so cold - it was way below zero with wind chill. We saw several people being led down. I heard a woman screaming in a pain and saw her collapse to the ground - summit day was no joke. Not only were we climbing at high altitude, but we were climbing a hill that was mostly scree - so it was two steps forward, one step back. I had to push myself just to put five steps together - most of the time it was three with a breathing break. I can't describe how ill prepared I was for just how difficult a mental task that night was.
But...I MADE IT!! :) I honestly had my doubts during the night. I asked Ian if we were close and he said - you're strong Genny (everyone called me Genny), you can do this. Looking back on that conversation, I felt almost completely exhausted at that point - and still climbed for five more hours. It was 3:30 when I asked him if we were almost there.
We finally saw the sunrise and I could see just how far we'd come and how far we had to go. I pushed myself as hard as I could for the last 20 minutes or so - and reached Stella Point (200M from the top) about 5 mintues before the rest of the team. I sat down on a rock, cried for about 30 seconds (joy, exhaustion, excitement, relief, craziness - you name the emotion, I felt it), and promptly fell asleep. I awoke to another hour of hiking to reach the summit. The distance between Stella Point and Uhuru peak is nominal - at normal elevation I could run it and not even been out of breath. But, amazingly, it took everything I had to reach that point. Everything. I couldn't even enjoy being at the summit because it was so incredibly hard to breathe and my body was completely tapped out. We took and few pictures...and started the hike down.
The rest of the trip was amazing. I'm walking like a 90 year old woman today - the down hill was much harder on my body than the up hill. After we summited, we spent three hours hiking back down to camp, slept for one hour, then spent 6 hours hiking down to the Mweka camp (we descended a different way than we ascended). Yesterday we finished our day, hiking from the Mweka Camp to the Mweka gate, and transported back to Arusha.
I can't stress enough just how difficult that week for me. It wasn't the physical part that was so intimidating - it was pushing myself mentally WAY past my limits and still being able to push even more that took it's toll. I feel such a sense of accomplishment. The interesting part of the climb is that I think some of my most physically fit friends wouldn't be able to do it. Others that are less in shape physically, but strong mentally would have more luck. I strongly encourage anyone who's even thought about attempting it to follow through - the requirements are a strong mind, a strong body, and a little bit of crazy.
That's all for now. Thanks for your emails over the last week - it was great to come back and see that all of you were thinking about me! I've received many mails to which I haven't had time to respond - hopefully this tides you over for a while until my next update.
Only a week and a half left! Hopefully more diving and some time in S Africa before I come home...can't wait to see you all. XOXO
Cheers - G
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Beautiful People
7:50PM, Le Jacaranda Guesthouse, Arusha Tanzania
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday Lynn and I traveled (sans wakeup call, so somewhat frantically) from Sharm to Cairo. We spent our final hours in Cairo lying by the pool and sleeping. I've started my malaria medication and it's making me miserable, so I've had as much downtime as possible in the last two days. I left a sleeping Lynn at around 11:30 last night and ventured out from Zamalek Cairo to the airport...and what an adventure it was! Ramadan is officially over, so almost every citizen of Cairo was partying in the streets. It was fantastic to be part of that special time of the year, even if it's not something that I totally understand...the air was electric with celebration and almost everyone was smiling and happy. Those that weren't smiling were the young kids, ready for bed or sacked out on their parents shoulders. I'm convinced that I saw a Sudanese or Jordanian or maybe even Iraqi shiek at the Marriott as I was leaving - his bodyguards gave me the once over but realized I was harmless. And the man could basically have sat on me and rendered me defenseless with his sheer size alone. It was crazy to feel as if I was so deep in the middle east with women in burkas, bedouins (both of which I'm used to now) and other costumed Muslims wandering around. I think you'd have to be there to understand what I'm trying to say - and I digress. :)
It was fantastic to travel with Lynn. I think we did very well together...and hopefully each learned a little something from the other. Hopefully Lynn can remember sometimes to take a deep breath and enjoy the journey, even if she lives in the fastest paced city in the US...and I can remember that procrastination isn't always the best medicine. Thanks for a great two weeks Lynnie!!
The bad part of yesterday is that I saw a horrendous motorcycle accident which I will not describe to you. I mention it only becuase the driving in Cairo is insane. I tried to video tape it but was unsuccessful as I basically shut my eyes after I saw the accident and until I got to the airport. Please buckle up for safety. :)
I touched the ground of 5 countries today: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. My flight(s) were miserable but the view of Kili peaking through the clouds made up for it when we flew from Nairobi to Kili Airport. As a sidenote, I was the only white person on my first three flights today. Further, I was the only woman traveling alone. Unlike Egypt, I didn't get hassled at all...I got smiles from the beautiful children and their mothers, and strange sidelong glances that turned into smiles from the men on the flights. It's definitely different not to be harrassed at every turn as we were in Egypt!
I landed at Kili and was immediately in awe of the amazingly beautiful massai people. Tall, thin yet athletic, strong features, dark chocolate skin...and each person I saw was dressed in very brighly colored wraps and moving very gracefully, even with 10 gallons of water on his or her head. It was such a contrast to see these stunning people on the brown or green landscape of Tanzania. I cannot wait to have more photo opps!
I've spent the rest of the day packing, unpacking and packing again. I spent a couple of hours with the Massai that works the front gate of my guesthouse. We were talking (via hand signals) about the monkeys that keep him company. Cute little shits, but definitely deviant as they were playing tricks on us almost the whole time we were 'talking' to one another. It is amazing that something as simple as a monkey can bring together two people that don't know one another, dont' speak the same language, have nothing in common yet can somehow communicate - mostly with smiles and laughter. Yet another experience that I'll remember forever (and yes, I may be getting just a little bit sappy at this halfway point of my trip!!).
As my final post before I'm on Kilimanjaro for 6 days (hopefully dominating the crap out of that big-ass mountain)...
A list of 10 things I'll...
...miss about Egypt:
1) Diving in the Red Sea.
2) Hummus and tahini. Yum.
3) Lynn!
4) Sharing 'shisha' (hookah) after a long lazy dinner.
5) Diving in the Red Sea.
6) SAKKARA!! (Has been replaced by Kilimanjaro beer, by the way...)
7) Camels.
8) Swimming in the Red Sea.
9) Lying by the pool.
10) One last time - diving in the Red Sea. Seriously, nothing compares.
...not miss about Egypt:
1) Creepy Egyptian men.
2) Creepy Egyptian men proposing to me.
3) Creepy Egyptian men asking me where I'm from.
4) Creepy Egyptian men following me around the town square.
5) Hit-or-miss food - of all nationalities.
6) The Russian Mob.
7) Creepy Egyptian men trying to bully me into their stores.
8) TV, room service, white bathrobes.
9) Creepy Egyptian men speaking with an Australian or British accent because they don't guess (or can't tell) that I'm American.
10) Driving. On any street, in any town, at any time of day. Not for the faint of heart.
Keep me in your thoughts in the next several days...I had dinner with a man that just came off of Kili, has been doing the 7 Ascents (including Aconcagua and other mountains in the Americas) and he said it was one of the most challenging things he's ever done. I hope that my stubborness wins out over the altitude.
Hope you're all well. Can't wait to see you when I get back! XO
Cheers -
G
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday Lynn and I traveled (sans wakeup call, so somewhat frantically) from Sharm to Cairo. We spent our final hours in Cairo lying by the pool and sleeping. I've started my malaria medication and it's making me miserable, so I've had as much downtime as possible in the last two days. I left a sleeping Lynn at around 11:30 last night and ventured out from Zamalek Cairo to the airport...and what an adventure it was! Ramadan is officially over, so almost every citizen of Cairo was partying in the streets. It was fantastic to be part of that special time of the year, even if it's not something that I totally understand...the air was electric with celebration and almost everyone was smiling and happy. Those that weren't smiling were the young kids, ready for bed or sacked out on their parents shoulders. I'm convinced that I saw a Sudanese or Jordanian or maybe even Iraqi shiek at the Marriott as I was leaving - his bodyguards gave me the once over but realized I was harmless. And the man could basically have sat on me and rendered me defenseless with his sheer size alone. It was crazy to feel as if I was so deep in the middle east with women in burkas, bedouins (both of which I'm used to now) and other costumed Muslims wandering around. I think you'd have to be there to understand what I'm trying to say - and I digress. :)
It was fantastic to travel with Lynn. I think we did very well together...and hopefully each learned a little something from the other. Hopefully Lynn can remember sometimes to take a deep breath and enjoy the journey, even if she lives in the fastest paced city in the US...and I can remember that procrastination isn't always the best medicine. Thanks for a great two weeks Lynnie!!
The bad part of yesterday is that I saw a horrendous motorcycle accident which I will not describe to you. I mention it only becuase the driving in Cairo is insane. I tried to video tape it but was unsuccessful as I basically shut my eyes after I saw the accident and until I got to the airport. Please buckle up for safety. :)
I touched the ground of 5 countries today: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. My flight(s) were miserable but the view of Kili peaking through the clouds made up for it when we flew from Nairobi to Kili Airport. As a sidenote, I was the only white person on my first three flights today. Further, I was the only woman traveling alone. Unlike Egypt, I didn't get hassled at all...I got smiles from the beautiful children and their mothers, and strange sidelong glances that turned into smiles from the men on the flights. It's definitely different not to be harrassed at every turn as we were in Egypt!
I landed at Kili and was immediately in awe of the amazingly beautiful massai people. Tall, thin yet athletic, strong features, dark chocolate skin...and each person I saw was dressed in very brighly colored wraps and moving very gracefully, even with 10 gallons of water on his or her head. It was such a contrast to see these stunning people on the brown or green landscape of Tanzania. I cannot wait to have more photo opps!
I've spent the rest of the day packing, unpacking and packing again. I spent a couple of hours with the Massai that works the front gate of my guesthouse. We were talking (via hand signals) about the monkeys that keep him company. Cute little shits, but definitely deviant as they were playing tricks on us almost the whole time we were 'talking' to one another. It is amazing that something as simple as a monkey can bring together two people that don't know one another, dont' speak the same language, have nothing in common yet can somehow communicate - mostly with smiles and laughter. Yet another experience that I'll remember forever (and yes, I may be getting just a little bit sappy at this halfway point of my trip!!).
As my final post before I'm on Kilimanjaro for 6 days (hopefully dominating the crap out of that big-ass mountain)...
A list of 10 things I'll...
...miss about Egypt:
1) Diving in the Red Sea.
2) Hummus and tahini. Yum.
3) Lynn!
4) Sharing 'shisha' (hookah) after a long lazy dinner.
5) Diving in the Red Sea.
6) SAKKARA!! (Has been replaced by Kilimanjaro beer, by the way...)
7) Camels.
8) Swimming in the Red Sea.
9) Lying by the pool.
10) One last time - diving in the Red Sea. Seriously, nothing compares.
...not miss about Egypt:
1) Creepy Egyptian men.
2) Creepy Egyptian men proposing to me.
3) Creepy Egyptian men asking me where I'm from.
4) Creepy Egyptian men following me around the town square.
5) Hit-or-miss food - of all nationalities.
6) The Russian Mob.
7) Creepy Egyptian men trying to bully me into their stores.
8) TV, room service, white bathrobes.
9) Creepy Egyptian men speaking with an Australian or British accent because they don't guess (or can't tell) that I'm American.
10) Driving. On any street, in any town, at any time of day. Not for the faint of heart.
Keep me in your thoughts in the next several days...I had dinner with a man that just came off of Kili, has been doing the 7 Ascents (including Aconcagua and other mountains in the Americas) and he said it was one of the most challenging things he's ever done. I hope that my stubborness wins out over the altitude.
Hope you're all well. Can't wait to see you when I get back! XO
Cheers -
G
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
A Desert Climb
10AM, Sharm Marriott
The last time I posted we’d just finished diving in Dahab and were looking forward to day two. We did dive day two…it was a rough start: the jeep broke down (how many Bedouins does it take to change a tire?) and we forgot our weight belts. But the dives were fantastic. It was Lynn’s navigation, compass, and night dives. The night dive was the best of the day – at depth during the day, you lose some really bright colors…but when you have a torch at night, you can see them as they should appear during the day. We saw fantastic reds, and blues and even purples. There were HUGE moray eels and a few really big unicorn fish. Excellent dive with great visibility – a great way to end our diving in the Red Sea.
That night we went out on the town – which really is quite mellow compared to our NYC and Seattle standards. A dive guide who’d just gotten off of a week long live aboard (dive boat) with 36 S Africans asked us to meet him and his friends for a drink…so we went to the bar and spent about 3 hours talking to two young Bedouin men about life in Egypt for them. It was fascinating. The first part is that they have different English accents than any other Egyptians – they sound British or even S African. In fact, we asked Shady (the dive guide) for ID to prove that he was Egyptian. They were dressed in normal street clothes – something that men would wear in the US – but they also wear the traditional Bedouin garb, which consists of long caftans and pants (Lynn asked what they wear under their kaftans and meant is it pants or shorts…but of course, the humor of that one translated and they gave us quite a bit of shit J) and colorful head wraps. Shady explained that he started working on the promenade selling handmade scarves and bracelets when he was 6…then grew up to go to Cairo University to study Business Administration. He decided that wasn’t the world for him, so now he dives for a living, although he’s taken the GMAT and hopes to get into MBA school sometime in the next couple of years. Not a bad job in the interim, I must say. It really was so interesting to spend time with them and ask them questions about a lifestyle that is so foreign, yet so familiar in some respects.
We left Dahab yesterday morning and hired a car to drive us to Mt Sinai. We drove through the desert for two hours and finally reached the mountain in the mid-morning. It was spectacular. Most people hike it at night to avoid the sun, then sleep on top of the mountain and watch the sunrise. I wasn’t too keen on that idea as I want to be rested to start my Kili climb on Friday, so we decided to hike during the day. We arrived at St Katherine’s monastery at the base of Sinai at 10AM. We toured the monastery, which still houses 22 Greek Orthodox monks, for about 45 minutes. We saw the burning bush – which is said to be from the same stock as THE burning bush. It’s the only plant of its type on the Sinai Peninsula and is always green, regardless of being deep in the desert. It was a humbling experience for me to see all of the many different types of people from all around the world brought together by their faith. Lynn actually reached up and pricked her finger on the bush…we’re trying to determine if that means she’s going to become immortal or is just a klutz. We still haven’t decided.
We entered the monastery museum and were immediately befriended by a crazy Greek monk. There is no photography in the museum, but he followed us around taking our pictures with our cameras. He seemed to want to show us everything as a personal tour and talk all about the places he’d been in the US. It would have been creepy…but come on, he’s a monk. So we laughed it off and said our goodbyes to the crazy Greek man.
Our driver had hired us a guide – a 28 year old Bedouin man, who looked about 50- to lead us up the mountain. It’s not an easy life that they lead – living in the desert, which I’m convinced is the harshest climate on earth, and making very little money to support huge families (the Bedouins that we’ve spoken to have mentioned families up to 30 children). It’s also Ramadan, which means no eating or drinking of any sort during the day…and we’d decided to climb 6000+ vertical feet in the heat of the day…in the desert.
The climb was spectacular. The landscape is so foreign to me: sharp, craggy, red mountains rising out of the yellow sand. Layers upon layer of mountains make up the horizon and disappear into the haze of the hot desert. I took a million pictures, but as with most truly amazing experiences, the feelings and exact view/lighting does not translate.
We hiked on the camel path for about 2 hours and reached the final 750 steps (said to be prescribed to be built as a punishment for…one of the saints I think? Gabe – you’ll have to fill me in on the exact biblical significance when I get back. J ) We reached the top and were literally the only three people as far as the eye could see. We’ve been very lucky on this trip to avoid the crowds at these typically touristy places. We sat in silence on the top of the mountain, off in our own worlds, listening to Salama (or guide) pray in the mosque behind us. I think Lynn and I both felt that we’d not only conquered a mountain, but we really were part of something bigger than ourselves that was allowing us the amazing good fortune to have that particular experience. Even for me, it’s hard not to get spiritual and philosophical about one of the most important places in almost all of the original organized religions. Needless to say, there were some silent prayers of thanks to The Big Guy from me.
We hiked down the 750 steps and decided to take the camel path (instead of the 3,000 steps of the alternate route) down. Our guide was literally falling asleep while walking. I kept trying to convince him to stop or take a drink of water, but he assured us he was ok. Lynn and I kept up a brisk clip in front of him as he was an accident waiting to happen and neither of us wanted to see it in progress. It was probably a very poor decision for him to not have eaten (certain professions can have a ‘free pass’ during Ramadan if they absolutely must have food/water during the daylight hours, and he was in one of the professions). When we reached the car, I told our driver, Ehab, about the experience and he said – ‘Don’t feel bad. We CHOOSE this.’ Yet another example of the amazing faith and strength many Muslim people exhibit. I’ve come to have the utmost respect this religion and the people that follow it, even though it previously has been incredibly foreign to me.
Ehab drove us back to Sharm (2.5 hours) and spoke to us about Islam and its tenets, his family, life in Dahab, and a multitude of other topics almost the entire way. Exhausted, Lynn and I ate an early dinner and fell into bed…to awake this morning to spend our last day in Sharm lying by the pool.
We’ll head to Cairo tomorrow (hopefully – business hours here are a complete cluster, so we’ve not been able to book tickets yet) and I leave at 3:30 AM on Thursday for Arusha. I’m excited for the next leg of my journey but will dearly miss my travel buddy. Couldn’t have worked out better for us I don’t think…we’re both so grateful for the amazing two weeks we’ve had together! We’re already planning our next adventure.
The next time I write I’ll be in Tanzania. There are some exciting things in the works for me there that I can’t wait to write about…I don’t want to jinx myself by writing about them yet, but I am again (as I often am on the trips that I take) humbled and thankful for the kindness of complete strangers.
Hope you all are doing well. Keep sending me updates – I love to hear about all of the fun I’m missing!
Cheers!
~G
The last time I posted we’d just finished diving in Dahab and were looking forward to day two. We did dive day two…it was a rough start: the jeep broke down (how many Bedouins does it take to change a tire?) and we forgot our weight belts. But the dives were fantastic. It was Lynn’s navigation, compass, and night dives. The night dive was the best of the day – at depth during the day, you lose some really bright colors…but when you have a torch at night, you can see them as they should appear during the day. We saw fantastic reds, and blues and even purples. There were HUGE moray eels and a few really big unicorn fish. Excellent dive with great visibility – a great way to end our diving in the Red Sea.
That night we went out on the town – which really is quite mellow compared to our NYC and Seattle standards. A dive guide who’d just gotten off of a week long live aboard (dive boat) with 36 S Africans asked us to meet him and his friends for a drink…so we went to the bar and spent about 3 hours talking to two young Bedouin men about life in Egypt for them. It was fascinating. The first part is that they have different English accents than any other Egyptians – they sound British or even S African. In fact, we asked Shady (the dive guide) for ID to prove that he was Egyptian. They were dressed in normal street clothes – something that men would wear in the US – but they also wear the traditional Bedouin garb, which consists of long caftans and pants (Lynn asked what they wear under their kaftans and meant is it pants or shorts…but of course, the humor of that one translated and they gave us quite a bit of shit J) and colorful head wraps. Shady explained that he started working on the promenade selling handmade scarves and bracelets when he was 6…then grew up to go to Cairo University to study Business Administration. He decided that wasn’t the world for him, so now he dives for a living, although he’s taken the GMAT and hopes to get into MBA school sometime in the next couple of years. Not a bad job in the interim, I must say. It really was so interesting to spend time with them and ask them questions about a lifestyle that is so foreign, yet so familiar in some respects.
We left Dahab yesterday morning and hired a car to drive us to Mt Sinai. We drove through the desert for two hours and finally reached the mountain in the mid-morning. It was spectacular. Most people hike it at night to avoid the sun, then sleep on top of the mountain and watch the sunrise. I wasn’t too keen on that idea as I want to be rested to start my Kili climb on Friday, so we decided to hike during the day. We arrived at St Katherine’s monastery at the base of Sinai at 10AM. We toured the monastery, which still houses 22 Greek Orthodox monks, for about 45 minutes. We saw the burning bush – which is said to be from the same stock as THE burning bush. It’s the only plant of its type on the Sinai Peninsula and is always green, regardless of being deep in the desert. It was a humbling experience for me to see all of the many different types of people from all around the world brought together by their faith. Lynn actually reached up and pricked her finger on the bush…we’re trying to determine if that means she’s going to become immortal or is just a klutz. We still haven’t decided.
We entered the monastery museum and were immediately befriended by a crazy Greek monk. There is no photography in the museum, but he followed us around taking our pictures with our cameras. He seemed to want to show us everything as a personal tour and talk all about the places he’d been in the US. It would have been creepy…but come on, he’s a monk. So we laughed it off and said our goodbyes to the crazy Greek man.
Our driver had hired us a guide – a 28 year old Bedouin man, who looked about 50- to lead us up the mountain. It’s not an easy life that they lead – living in the desert, which I’m convinced is the harshest climate on earth, and making very little money to support huge families (the Bedouins that we’ve spoken to have mentioned families up to 30 children). It’s also Ramadan, which means no eating or drinking of any sort during the day…and we’d decided to climb 6000+ vertical feet in the heat of the day…in the desert.
The climb was spectacular. The landscape is so foreign to me: sharp, craggy, red mountains rising out of the yellow sand. Layers upon layer of mountains make up the horizon and disappear into the haze of the hot desert. I took a million pictures, but as with most truly amazing experiences, the feelings and exact view/lighting does not translate.
We hiked on the camel path for about 2 hours and reached the final 750 steps (said to be prescribed to be built as a punishment for…one of the saints I think? Gabe – you’ll have to fill me in on the exact biblical significance when I get back. J ) We reached the top and were literally the only three people as far as the eye could see. We’ve been very lucky on this trip to avoid the crowds at these typically touristy places. We sat in silence on the top of the mountain, off in our own worlds, listening to Salama (or guide) pray in the mosque behind us. I think Lynn and I both felt that we’d not only conquered a mountain, but we really were part of something bigger than ourselves that was allowing us the amazing good fortune to have that particular experience. Even for me, it’s hard not to get spiritual and philosophical about one of the most important places in almost all of the original organized religions. Needless to say, there were some silent prayers of thanks to The Big Guy from me.
We hiked down the 750 steps and decided to take the camel path (instead of the 3,000 steps of the alternate route) down. Our guide was literally falling asleep while walking. I kept trying to convince him to stop or take a drink of water, but he assured us he was ok. Lynn and I kept up a brisk clip in front of him as he was an accident waiting to happen and neither of us wanted to see it in progress. It was probably a very poor decision for him to not have eaten (certain professions can have a ‘free pass’ during Ramadan if they absolutely must have food/water during the daylight hours, and he was in one of the professions). When we reached the car, I told our driver, Ehab, about the experience and he said – ‘Don’t feel bad. We CHOOSE this.’ Yet another example of the amazing faith and strength many Muslim people exhibit. I’ve come to have the utmost respect this religion and the people that follow it, even though it previously has been incredibly foreign to me.
Ehab drove us back to Sharm (2.5 hours) and spoke to us about Islam and its tenets, his family, life in Dahab, and a multitude of other topics almost the entire way. Exhausted, Lynn and I ate an early dinner and fell into bed…to awake this morning to spend our last day in Sharm lying by the pool.
We’ll head to Cairo tomorrow (hopefully – business hours here are a complete cluster, so we’ve not been able to book tickets yet) and I leave at 3:30 AM on Thursday for Arusha. I’m excited for the next leg of my journey but will dearly miss my travel buddy. Couldn’t have worked out better for us I don’t think…we’re both so grateful for the amazing two weeks we’ve had together! We’re already planning our next adventure.
The next time I write I’ll be in Tanzania. There are some exciting things in the works for me there that I can’t wait to write about…I don’t want to jinx myself by writing about them yet, but I am again (as I often am on the trips that I take) humbled and thankful for the kindness of complete strangers.
Hope you all are doing well. Keep sending me updates – I love to hear about all of the fun I’m missing!
Cheers!
~G
Friday, September 26, 2008
Dahab
Random Internet Cafe, Main Street, Dahab Egypt
5:04PM
We've ventured further up the Sinai peninsula to Dahab, which is really what we've been looking for all along. Sharm was beautiful - but as the Egyptians say, really, really touristic. Huge hotels and resorts everywhere; not much good food; angry Russian women dressed like teenagers at every turn. Dahab is the opposite - in many ways, it reminds me of some of the islands in Thailand that I visited. There is definitely still the annoyance of Egyptians and Bedouins selling their wares at every shop you pass; but there's a relaxed atmosphere, including bars on the beach that have only floor cushions and low tables instead of real furniture, restaurants on rooftops, and backpacking tourists with hair messy from the salt water and skin as dark as mud.
I didn't think much about being American and visiting the Middle East before I set out on this trip but it's very apparent that Egyptians are not at all used to seeing us Americans. Lynn and I get asked if we're British or Aussies...even after we speak. We're positively received though, which is nice, in spite of the fact that we're American. As in the past, I refuse to say I'm Canadian, so it's easier that I don't have to even deal with any negative repurcussions of being American.
Our main focus in Dahab is soaking in the sun, eating good food and, of course, diving. Lynn decided to do her advanced cert here - it's almost as cheap as if she were to do free dives, and she can do some of the most famous dives in the world here with the next level of training. Yesterday we arrived by bus in the mid morning and found a dive center/resort combo. The room we're staying in is much simpler than the Marriott which is a nice change. It's too easy to snuggle down into the comfy covers of the Marriott beds while wearing the complimentary white robe and watching American TV (we only did that one night, but still feels like one too many). Here there is much to see and many people to meet, so we spent the majority of the day yesterday - after dropping off our bags - wandering the streets and taking pictures. Last night we saw the lights from an oil company on Saudi Arabia - I feel like I could swim to it. We had fresh shrimp and calamari on the beach then wandered around trying to avoid the rogue camel we'd spotted earlier in the day in the darkness of night.
We awoke this morning and went diving. We headed north from Dahab via a dirt road that runs along the coast. We passed about 500 camels, several Bedouin families, and many other dive companies. We did two dives - the first was Lynn's deep dive - I maxxed out at 36M and she at 30M. It was beautiful and warm, even over 100 feet under the water. The second dive, and possibly the most famous I've ever done, was the Blue Hole. It was a little bit eery to see the memorial to the divers that have died there posted on the beach. The blue hole is basically a huge (7M across) deep coral tunnel. Divers come from all over the world to test their deep dive limits, and many have died trying to get to the bottom of the 106M shelf, and maybe even further to the 1000+M bottom. We were nowhere that deep and safe the whole time. Yet another fantastic dive complete with nudie branch, cornetfish (my favorite so far - the like to follow you and are very playful, which makes the diving more entertaining), napolean fish, many hard and soft corals, stonefish, and hundreds of other amazing species of fish and marine life.
Tonight our dive guide is taking us to his favorite restaurant in Dahab (Italian food) and we'll likely go to one of the bars near the beach for a few cold Sakkaras. I hope we have Sakkara in the states - it's my new favorite. Tomorrow and Sunday we'll continue diving. We can't fly Monday as it'll be too soon after diving, so we're going to try to hike Mt Sinai and see St Katherine's monestary, then head to Luxor for the day on Tuesday and back to Cairo on Wednesday. I fly out Thursday morning (3:30AM) for Kilimanjaro; Lynn leaves soon after for NYC.
Nothing else figured out about the duration of my trip after Kilimanjaro except that I have tickets from Zanzibar to Joburg S Africa, and again from Joburg to Cairo for the return. I anticipate 2 days of misery on the way back - I'll fly from Joburg to Cairo (9 hours) then 4 hours in the Cairo airport; Cairo to NYC (12+ hours), then 3 hours in JFK; and finally, JFK to SEA (6 hours) with an arrival in Seattle on Oct 22 at midnightish. I think that will be enough travel for me for a while!
Hope you're all well. I'll try to find something exciting to write about beyond diving before I post again. I can only imagine that you're tired of hearing about fish and coral.
Off in search of Sakkara...
~G
5:04PM
We've ventured further up the Sinai peninsula to Dahab, which is really what we've been looking for all along. Sharm was beautiful - but as the Egyptians say, really, really touristic. Huge hotels and resorts everywhere; not much good food; angry Russian women dressed like teenagers at every turn. Dahab is the opposite - in many ways, it reminds me of some of the islands in Thailand that I visited. There is definitely still the annoyance of Egyptians and Bedouins selling their wares at every shop you pass; but there's a relaxed atmosphere, including bars on the beach that have only floor cushions and low tables instead of real furniture, restaurants on rooftops, and backpacking tourists with hair messy from the salt water and skin as dark as mud.
I didn't think much about being American and visiting the Middle East before I set out on this trip but it's very apparent that Egyptians are not at all used to seeing us Americans. Lynn and I get asked if we're British or Aussies...even after we speak. We're positively received though, which is nice, in spite of the fact that we're American. As in the past, I refuse to say I'm Canadian, so it's easier that I don't have to even deal with any negative repurcussions of being American.
Our main focus in Dahab is soaking in the sun, eating good food and, of course, diving. Lynn decided to do her advanced cert here - it's almost as cheap as if she were to do free dives, and she can do some of the most famous dives in the world here with the next level of training. Yesterday we arrived by bus in the mid morning and found a dive center/resort combo. The room we're staying in is much simpler than the Marriott which is a nice change. It's too easy to snuggle down into the comfy covers of the Marriott beds while wearing the complimentary white robe and watching American TV (we only did that one night, but still feels like one too many). Here there is much to see and many people to meet, so we spent the majority of the day yesterday - after dropping off our bags - wandering the streets and taking pictures. Last night we saw the lights from an oil company on Saudi Arabia - I feel like I could swim to it. We had fresh shrimp and calamari on the beach then wandered around trying to avoid the rogue camel we'd spotted earlier in the day in the darkness of night.
We awoke this morning and went diving. We headed north from Dahab via a dirt road that runs along the coast. We passed about 500 camels, several Bedouin families, and many other dive companies. We did two dives - the first was Lynn's deep dive - I maxxed out at 36M and she at 30M. It was beautiful and warm, even over 100 feet under the water. The second dive, and possibly the most famous I've ever done, was the Blue Hole. It was a little bit eery to see the memorial to the divers that have died there posted on the beach. The blue hole is basically a huge (7M across) deep coral tunnel. Divers come from all over the world to test their deep dive limits, and many have died trying to get to the bottom of the 106M shelf, and maybe even further to the 1000+M bottom. We were nowhere that deep and safe the whole time. Yet another fantastic dive complete with nudie branch, cornetfish (my favorite so far - the like to follow you and are very playful, which makes the diving more entertaining), napolean fish, many hard and soft corals, stonefish, and hundreds of other amazing species of fish and marine life.
Tonight our dive guide is taking us to his favorite restaurant in Dahab (Italian food) and we'll likely go to one of the bars near the beach for a few cold Sakkaras. I hope we have Sakkara in the states - it's my new favorite. Tomorrow and Sunday we'll continue diving. We can't fly Monday as it'll be too soon after diving, so we're going to try to hike Mt Sinai and see St Katherine's monestary, then head to Luxor for the day on Tuesday and back to Cairo on Wednesday. I fly out Thursday morning (3:30AM) for Kilimanjaro; Lynn leaves soon after for NYC.
Nothing else figured out about the duration of my trip after Kilimanjaro except that I have tickets from Zanzibar to Joburg S Africa, and again from Joburg to Cairo for the return. I anticipate 2 days of misery on the way back - I'll fly from Joburg to Cairo (9 hours) then 4 hours in the Cairo airport; Cairo to NYC (12+ hours), then 3 hours in JFK; and finally, JFK to SEA (6 hours) with an arrival in Seattle on Oct 22 at midnightish. I think that will be enough travel for me for a while!
Hope you're all well. I'll try to find something exciting to write about beyond diving before I post again. I can only imagine that you're tired of hearing about fish and coral.
Off in search of Sakkara...
~G
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Whale Sharks!
5:49PM, Cairo Marriott
I love to dive. I miss my dive buddy Hank, but I love to dive. And yesterday I went to Thistlegorm - absolutely amazing. The best wreck I've seen yet.
I got up at 3:30 AM and met the crew (10 of us total, two groups) for our early morning departure. We hung out at the port with the army for a while and when they agreed to let us through we sat on the end of the dock and watched some cats for a while. I only mention these two seemingly useless facts because an hour is a LONG time to wait when you really only want to be sleeping. We boarded the boat and I immediately fell asleep until Sharky - my dive guide and buddy - woke me for the sunset. I had another of those moments that Lynn and I keep talking about - my life is amazing and I am so blessed. Wished you all could have been there to share it with me!
We reached the dive site and descended about 100 feet. The wreck is huge - 120 feet long, and still has many of the original pieces of cargo that went down with the boat in the 40's. To start, we only circled the wreck - we saw the captains quarters from the outside, the propeller, the machine guns on the outside of the boat. With the next dive, we penetrated the wreck. Amazing. I saw parrotfish swimming amongst 40's era motorcycles; Napolean fish skirting the edges of submerged tank (the kind that people ride in, not the kind fish swim in); a locamotive; and a blue spotted ray hiding among cartons of big ass bullets labeled 1929. We were facing horrendous currents - the kind that you have to hang onto the mooring line with both hands in order not to be swept away. Sharky's amazing, though, so he timed the dive just right and we were all safe.
As if that wasn't enough, we came back thruogh Ras Mohammed National Park and dived Shark Reef to Yolanda Reef. We saw a whale shark - my first shark (today I saw my second - a reef shark). Uncanny to be that close. The bugger was about 20 feet long and I think I actually saw him first out of the group...looks just like a shark and I must be paranoid. He was swimming in the blue looking for unknowing divers (JUST KIDDING - they're docile). Anyway, that was something I can cross off my life list. The best way to describe that dive was like we were watching a big screen tv. I was literally in the midst of an amazing aquariam - like the one at Hattie's Hat, only 100 times better. It was also a drift dive so we got in the horizontal position and just watched the Red Sea pass us by. Another 'thank you God!' moment for sure.
Today was Lynn's first day as a certified diver - she did really well. We made three dives in the straits of Tiran and actually dove in Saudi Arabian water. We saw a reef shark and a ton of beautiful coral and a couple of non-submerged wrecks...generally great diving, but I'm excited to get back to Ras Mohammed tomorrow.
Tonight we'll both go for massages and end the evening in a local bar, probably talking about diving, and certainly drinking a few cold Sakkaras. More diving tomorrow, then off to Dahab for a few days and then onto the final unknown country for Lynn - possibly Israel. We're both doing very well and enjoying the heck out of traveling and each other - I think we would import friends and probably bagels & cream cheese (there are neither of those things over here), but other than that, we're at about a 24 out of the 1 to 10 scale.
Hope you all are doing well. Talk soon!
Cheers - G
I love to dive. I miss my dive buddy Hank, but I love to dive. And yesterday I went to Thistlegorm - absolutely amazing. The best wreck I've seen yet.
I got up at 3:30 AM and met the crew (10 of us total, two groups) for our early morning departure. We hung out at the port with the army for a while and when they agreed to let us through we sat on the end of the dock and watched some cats for a while. I only mention these two seemingly useless facts because an hour is a LONG time to wait when you really only want to be sleeping. We boarded the boat and I immediately fell asleep until Sharky - my dive guide and buddy - woke me for the sunset. I had another of those moments that Lynn and I keep talking about - my life is amazing and I am so blessed. Wished you all could have been there to share it with me!
We reached the dive site and descended about 100 feet. The wreck is huge - 120 feet long, and still has many of the original pieces of cargo that went down with the boat in the 40's. To start, we only circled the wreck - we saw the captains quarters from the outside, the propeller, the machine guns on the outside of the boat. With the next dive, we penetrated the wreck. Amazing. I saw parrotfish swimming amongst 40's era motorcycles; Napolean fish skirting the edges of submerged tank (the kind that people ride in, not the kind fish swim in); a locamotive; and a blue spotted ray hiding among cartons of big ass bullets labeled 1929. We were facing horrendous currents - the kind that you have to hang onto the mooring line with both hands in order not to be swept away. Sharky's amazing, though, so he timed the dive just right and we were all safe.
As if that wasn't enough, we came back thruogh Ras Mohammed National Park and dived Shark Reef to Yolanda Reef. We saw a whale shark - my first shark (today I saw my second - a reef shark). Uncanny to be that close. The bugger was about 20 feet long and I think I actually saw him first out of the group...looks just like a shark and I must be paranoid. He was swimming in the blue looking for unknowing divers (JUST KIDDING - they're docile). Anyway, that was something I can cross off my life list. The best way to describe that dive was like we were watching a big screen tv. I was literally in the midst of an amazing aquariam - like the one at Hattie's Hat, only 100 times better. It was also a drift dive so we got in the horizontal position and just watched the Red Sea pass us by. Another 'thank you God!' moment for sure.
Today was Lynn's first day as a certified diver - she did really well. We made three dives in the straits of Tiran and actually dove in Saudi Arabian water. We saw a reef shark and a ton of beautiful coral and a couple of non-submerged wrecks...generally great diving, but I'm excited to get back to Ras Mohammed tomorrow.
Tonight we'll both go for massages and end the evening in a local bar, probably talking about diving, and certainly drinking a few cold Sakkaras. More diving tomorrow, then off to Dahab for a few days and then onto the final unknown country for Lynn - possibly Israel. We're both doing very well and enjoying the heck out of traveling and each other - I think we would import friends and probably bagels & cream cheese (there are neither of those things over here), but other than that, we're at about a 24 out of the 1 to 10 scale.
Hope you all are doing well. Talk soon!
Cheers - G
Sunday, September 21, 2008
French Toast
Sharm el Sheikh Marriott, 5:30PM, Sunday
what a ride. we've been here for 3 days and have accomplished more than i expected to the entire time we were in egypt. starting from the beginning...
we had the good fortune of hearing that a friend of a friend of lynn's was going to be in cairo at the same time we were (by the way, the shift key here is mini, therefore i will not capitalize. i love vacation rules.) so, on thursday night, after walking around the city and getting hassled by every person possible, lynn and i awaited the arrival of mark, his father, and his business partner abdul. the three are in egyptian rugs. they have 6 factories in cairo alone, and although mark is american, he travels throughout the middle east and the states dealing in all things rugs. mark and abdul are in their mid-20's; mark's father is a self-proclaimed 48, although i would guess him closer to 60. he is the perfect charicature of an iranian man, complete with big bushy mustache. he was fantastic.
we met the men at our hotel for drinks, and after enjoying their company for a couple of hours agreed to go to a very exclusive locals-only restaurant/hookah bar called sequoia. abdul is apparently very well connected here - he was able to get us in with 5 minutes notice (he knows the owner and called him on his vacation in europe to ensure us a table). he also knows the restaurant manager, so got us the best available table...all of this around 12:30 at night. it's ramadan here during the month of september, which is a muslim holiday. muslim's fast during the day from sun up to sun down - and thus the nightlife is very busy. so - when we got to sequoia it was packed. we ordered food and drinks (amazing egyptian food, including pita, hummus, meat-on-a-stick - obviously the correct term - and fruit juices). no alcohol during ramadan, so we smoked grape flavored hookahs (very common social activity and not at all illegal, mom and dad) and watched from the shores as the nile lazily floated by. lynn and i returned to our hotel around 3am and fell into bed.
the next day, abdul, mark and mr. mirabibi picked us up at 1pm - about 45 minutes after we woke up - and gave us a personal tour of the pyramids. once again, abdul knows everyone and can strike a deal with anyone - so we got in after the pyramids had closed, bought tickets even though they were sold out and not a tourist was to be found anywhere, took pictures, and proceeded to take a 4 hour horse and donkey ride around the pyramids/sphinx and through the streets of giza. we were the only non-egyptian people during our tour. egyptian children are so beautiful - everytime we'd pass, they'd smile their hugest smile and wave 'hello'. anyway, it was a somewhat brutal yet altogether unforgettable experience
after the ride, we headed to dinner at a restaurant called al-azhar, by way of the citadel. once again, abdul had the hookup - we dined with high society egyptians in the most beautiful setting ever - an open air restaurant (really closer to a palance) with a view of the lights from the pyramids, the citadel, 100 mosques, and 1,000 minarets. unbelievable experience - one that i'll remember forever. lynn will too as she happened to be the only blonde our of about 500 people.
we left dinner, toured the park near the restaurant and headed to khan khalili market. unbelievable. we arrived after 11pm and all of cairo seemed to be celebrating in the streets (15+ million people). it was as many non-US markets are: chaotic, frenzied, annoying, beautiful, loud, and hectic - but at the same time, it was somewhat relaxing to be in a sea of people all busily rushing to and from something of vital importance. we stopped at abdul's friend's silver shop, where shop i did...all with the equivalent of a friends and family discount. we went to the best hookah dealer in cairo - once again with discount. and finally, about ready to fall off of our feet, we happened into the oldest cafe in cairo - fasiwah - and had pomegranate juice, mint tea, and grape hookah (abdul's favorite). thus ended the rich-and-famous tour of cairo and our time with the three muskateers.
lynn and i were fully prepared to fall into bed, but we decided we'd seen more of cairo in 30 hours than any non-abduled person could in a week - so we headed to the airport for a 5am flight to sharm. we arrived, delirious, tired and sweaty...but happy. of course happy - we're in one of the most beautiful deserts in the world, on the red sea, preparing for a week plus of relaxation. we are truly blessed and both look at each other about 10 times a day incredulously at just how lucky we are.
we slept until early afternoon and spent the rest of the day deciding our travel plans, finding a dive shop, and wandering the streets of sharm. sharm is more a huge resort made of different hotels than anything - 99% of their revenue comes from tourism and it's clear that, like cairo, the egyptian people will try to sell you anything. the night ended with an empty bar on the beach, some sakkara's (egyptian beer), a mint hookah, and an egyptian band and belly dancer catering to the 3 of us (lynn, me and an egyptian friend of the band) that remained in the bar.
today was also fantastic - we awoke early and headed to the dive shop...lynn so she could finish her cert (loved it which is GREAT to hear because there will be LOTS of diving in our future!) and me to take three boat dives in naama bay. the red sea is absolutely amazing. unbelievably so. i saw blue rays, eels, and a sea turtle (so freakin' cool!). i swam through a school of baracuda, saw about 500 trumpet fish, and heard the little tiny trigger fish (non-lethal) munching on the coral. i met amazing people, had amazing food, and spent 3 peaceful hours under the water. can't beat a day like today.
tomorrow lynn takes her last two cert dives and i get up at 3:30AM to travel to Thistlegorm (http://www.ssthistlegorm.com/) where I'll do two wreck dives, followed by a single dive in Ras Mohhammed National Park on the way back. We plan to dive on Tuesday and Wednesday too, with three more local dives and a final three dives in Ras Mohammed before we head to Dahab for the second portion of our beach journey. We haven't made it to Luxor or Aswan yet but it's still on the list. We may try to head to Israel or Morrocco for a couple of days as well if we have time at the end - no reason not to as they're relatively close and we have the time!
hope you all are doing well - have thought of my real and friend family so much. would love to have each and everyone of you here...although that would make for a crowded hotel room and i'm sure that some of you would hate the 100+ degree heat. send me an email to let me know what i'm missing back home and i'll continue to let you in on our fun. love you guys!
~G
what a ride. we've been here for 3 days and have accomplished more than i expected to the entire time we were in egypt. starting from the beginning...
we had the good fortune of hearing that a friend of a friend of lynn's was going to be in cairo at the same time we were (by the way, the shift key here is mini, therefore i will not capitalize. i love vacation rules.) so, on thursday night, after walking around the city and getting hassled by every person possible, lynn and i awaited the arrival of mark, his father, and his business partner abdul. the three are in egyptian rugs. they have 6 factories in cairo alone, and although mark is american, he travels throughout the middle east and the states dealing in all things rugs. mark and abdul are in their mid-20's; mark's father is a self-proclaimed 48, although i would guess him closer to 60. he is the perfect charicature of an iranian man, complete with big bushy mustache. he was fantastic.
we met the men at our hotel for drinks, and after enjoying their company for a couple of hours agreed to go to a very exclusive locals-only restaurant/hookah bar called sequoia. abdul is apparently very well connected here - he was able to get us in with 5 minutes notice (he knows the owner and called him on his vacation in europe to ensure us a table). he also knows the restaurant manager, so got us the best available table...all of this around 12:30 at night. it's ramadan here during the month of september, which is a muslim holiday. muslim's fast during the day from sun up to sun down - and thus the nightlife is very busy. so - when we got to sequoia it was packed. we ordered food and drinks (amazing egyptian food, including pita, hummus, meat-on-a-stick - obviously the correct term - and fruit juices). no alcohol during ramadan, so we smoked grape flavored hookahs (very common social activity and not at all illegal, mom and dad) and watched from the shores as the nile lazily floated by. lynn and i returned to our hotel around 3am and fell into bed.
the next day, abdul, mark and mr. mirabibi picked us up at 1pm - about 45 minutes after we woke up - and gave us a personal tour of the pyramids. once again, abdul knows everyone and can strike a deal with anyone - so we got in after the pyramids had closed, bought tickets even though they were sold out and not a tourist was to be found anywhere, took pictures, and proceeded to take a 4 hour horse and donkey ride around the pyramids/sphinx and through the streets of giza. we were the only non-egyptian people during our tour. egyptian children are so beautiful - everytime we'd pass, they'd smile their hugest smile and wave 'hello'. anyway, it was a somewhat brutal yet altogether unforgettable experience
after the ride, we headed to dinner at a restaurant called al-azhar, by way of the citadel. once again, abdul had the hookup - we dined with high society egyptians in the most beautiful setting ever - an open air restaurant (really closer to a palance) with a view of the lights from the pyramids, the citadel, 100 mosques, and 1,000 minarets. unbelievable experience - one that i'll remember forever. lynn will too as she happened to be the only blonde our of about 500 people.
we left dinner, toured the park near the restaurant and headed to khan khalili market. unbelievable. we arrived after 11pm and all of cairo seemed to be celebrating in the streets (15+ million people). it was as many non-US markets are: chaotic, frenzied, annoying, beautiful, loud, and hectic - but at the same time, it was somewhat relaxing to be in a sea of people all busily rushing to and from something of vital importance. we stopped at abdul's friend's silver shop, where shop i did...all with the equivalent of a friends and family discount. we went to the best hookah dealer in cairo - once again with discount. and finally, about ready to fall off of our feet, we happened into the oldest cafe in cairo - fasiwah - and had pomegranate juice, mint tea, and grape hookah (abdul's favorite). thus ended the rich-and-famous tour of cairo and our time with the three muskateers.
lynn and i were fully prepared to fall into bed, but we decided we'd seen more of cairo in 30 hours than any non-abduled person could in a week - so we headed to the airport for a 5am flight to sharm. we arrived, delirious, tired and sweaty...but happy. of course happy - we're in one of the most beautiful deserts in the world, on the red sea, preparing for a week plus of relaxation. we are truly blessed and both look at each other about 10 times a day incredulously at just how lucky we are.
we slept until early afternoon and spent the rest of the day deciding our travel plans, finding a dive shop, and wandering the streets of sharm. sharm is more a huge resort made of different hotels than anything - 99% of their revenue comes from tourism and it's clear that, like cairo, the egyptian people will try to sell you anything. the night ended with an empty bar on the beach, some sakkara's (egyptian beer), a mint hookah, and an egyptian band and belly dancer catering to the 3 of us (lynn, me and an egyptian friend of the band) that remained in the bar.
today was also fantastic - we awoke early and headed to the dive shop...lynn so she could finish her cert (loved it which is GREAT to hear because there will be LOTS of diving in our future!) and me to take three boat dives in naama bay. the red sea is absolutely amazing. unbelievably so. i saw blue rays, eels, and a sea turtle (so freakin' cool!). i swam through a school of baracuda, saw about 500 trumpet fish, and heard the little tiny trigger fish (non-lethal) munching on the coral. i met amazing people, had amazing food, and spent 3 peaceful hours under the water. can't beat a day like today.
tomorrow lynn takes her last two cert dives and i get up at 3:30AM to travel to Thistlegorm (http://www.ssthistlegorm.com/) where I'll do two wreck dives, followed by a single dive in Ras Mohhammed National Park on the way back. We plan to dive on Tuesday and Wednesday too, with three more local dives and a final three dives in Ras Mohammed before we head to Dahab for the second portion of our beach journey. We haven't made it to Luxor or Aswan yet but it's still on the list. We may try to head to Israel or Morrocco for a couple of days as well if we have time at the end - no reason not to as they're relatively close and we have the time!
hope you all are doing well - have thought of my real and friend family so much. would love to have each and everyone of you here...although that would make for a crowded hotel room and i'm sure that some of you would hate the 100+ degree heat. send me an email to let me know what i'm missing back home and i'll continue to let you in on our fun. love you guys!
~G
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Cairo during Ramadan
5PM, Cairo, Marriott Business Center
We've arrived. After 20 hours of flying and backpack wrangling, I met Lynn in the Cairo airport. We were immediately hassled by almost every person we passed...and have continued to get hassled by almost every person since then. Luckily Lynn and I are good at giving the cold shoulder...although after just a few hours, it is starting to get really frustrating!! I've even tried to be completely mute-that particular Egyptian hassled us for a block before finally laughing and walking away. I will perfect my 'don't talk to me' look by tomorrow afternoon, I'm certain.
I expected to like Cairo more than I do. It's a big dirty city with no crosswalks and lot of cars. Lynn and I just returned to the hotel after a few hours of exploring...we saw the Nile and the Egyptian Museum. When I say we saw the Egyptian museuam, I mean after getting kicked out twice for trying to smuggle in cameras, we walked around hapzardly wondering what we were looking at. It was probably the least organized museum I've ever seen...no placards telling you what you're looking at, which means I've made up stories for half of the mummies I saw today. I'm wondering how my stories compare to the reality...probably not half as entertaining as I'm going on about 8 hours of sleep in the last few days. That said, it was enough museum for me for likely the whole Egypt portion of the trip. Check that one of the list.
The only other thing of note is that I got in trouble today from a random man on the street. He called me 'not a very nice girl' as I was eating a piece of candy (I think it was candy but my Arabic is a bit rusty...it tasted like orange fruit leather). Anywho, apparently it's bad form to eat in front of a people that are fasting for religious purposes. Duly noted.
I'm headed upstairs to shower off the Cairo grit and head out on the town (no alcohol here so not sure what that means) with friends of friends. First though going to get my first taste of authentic Egyptian food. Excellent. Headed to the pyramids tomorrow (got a sneak preview from the plane - exciting!!) and from there, likely down the Nile to Luxor. Hopefully many more stories to come.
Cheers!
~G
We've arrived. After 20 hours of flying and backpack wrangling, I met Lynn in the Cairo airport. We were immediately hassled by almost every person we passed...and have continued to get hassled by almost every person since then. Luckily Lynn and I are good at giving the cold shoulder...although after just a few hours, it is starting to get really frustrating!! I've even tried to be completely mute-that particular Egyptian hassled us for a block before finally laughing and walking away. I will perfect my 'don't talk to me' look by tomorrow afternoon, I'm certain.
I expected to like Cairo more than I do. It's a big dirty city with no crosswalks and lot of cars. Lynn and I just returned to the hotel after a few hours of exploring...we saw the Nile and the Egyptian Museum. When I say we saw the Egyptian museuam, I mean after getting kicked out twice for trying to smuggle in cameras, we walked around hapzardly wondering what we were looking at. It was probably the least organized museum I've ever seen...no placards telling you what you're looking at, which means I've made up stories for half of the mummies I saw today. I'm wondering how my stories compare to the reality...probably not half as entertaining as I'm going on about 8 hours of sleep in the last few days. That said, it was enough museum for me for likely the whole Egypt portion of the trip. Check that one of the list.
The only other thing of note is that I got in trouble today from a random man on the street. He called me 'not a very nice girl' as I was eating a piece of candy (I think it was candy but my Arabic is a bit rusty...it tasted like orange fruit leather). Anywho, apparently it's bad form to eat in front of a people that are fasting for religious purposes. Duly noted.
I'm headed upstairs to shower off the Cairo grit and head out on the town (no alcohol here so not sure what that means) with friends of friends. First though going to get my first taste of authentic Egyptian food. Excellent. Headed to the pyramids tomorrow (got a sneak preview from the plane - exciting!!) and from there, likely down the Nile to Luxor. Hopefully many more stories to come.
Cheers!
~G
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Africa Tomorrow
Weird. I'll be in Africa tomorrow. I'm almost packed and have no idea how I'm going to carry everything that I need around with me for 5 weeks...two backpacks full of stuff. I guess I'll have to be one of those people of whom I've made so much fun in the past - strapping a backpack to my chest. Lame.
The next two weeks should be a blast. Meeting Lynn in the airport in Cairo (fingers crossed that the meeting goes well - I'll be without cell phone for the next 5 weeks)...then headed out for a few days in Cairo and Giza, down the Nile to Luxor and possibly Aswan, east onto the Sinai peninsula for some diving, some hiking, some partying...then back to Alexandria for a few relaxing days before we return to Cairo. From there, Lynn goes back to reality in NYC - I'll head to Kilimanjaro to attempt a 6 day climb. I'm hoping the group I'm going with (none of whom I know) speaks English. Or maybe Spanish. If they speak Spanish we can talk alot about cold beers, where the bathroom is, and potentially the weather and time - that's about all I remember from my years in highschool and college.
After Kili it's a big unknown - would like to see as much of Tanzania as I can, head to Uganda for another trek into gorilla country, go over to Zanzibar or Madigascar (I did a report on lemurs in the 8th grade and have wanted to see one in real life ever since...), then hopefully down through S Africa to tour the wine country and cage dive with a great white. Who knows how much I'll actually be able to get done.
Here's to 90 degree weather, big ass pyrmaids, and a new adventure...
The next two weeks should be a blast. Meeting Lynn in the airport in Cairo (fingers crossed that the meeting goes well - I'll be without cell phone for the next 5 weeks)...then headed out for a few days in Cairo and Giza, down the Nile to Luxor and possibly Aswan, east onto the Sinai peninsula for some diving, some hiking, some partying...then back to Alexandria for a few relaxing days before we return to Cairo. From there, Lynn goes back to reality in NYC - I'll head to Kilimanjaro to attempt a 6 day climb. I'm hoping the group I'm going with (none of whom I know) speaks English. Or maybe Spanish. If they speak Spanish we can talk alot about cold beers, where the bathroom is, and potentially the weather and time - that's about all I remember from my years in highschool and college.
After Kili it's a big unknown - would like to see as much of Tanzania as I can, head to Uganda for another trek into gorilla country, go over to Zanzibar or Madigascar (I did a report on lemurs in the 8th grade and have wanted to see one in real life ever since...), then hopefully down through S Africa to tour the wine country and cage dive with a great white. Who knows how much I'll actually be able to get done.
Here's to 90 degree weather, big ass pyrmaids, and a new adventure...
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