What a whirlwind couple of weeks. My vacation was supposed to start with a medical visit to Kiev, broken up by a weekend visit to Kim in Konotop pre-Egypt to break up my appointments. Lucky for me, they changed one of my appointments so that they were both on Monday, so I decided to just head straight to Konotop which is on the way to Kiev for me anyway. It was great to see where Kim lives and to hang with the some of the other PCVs in Konotop. With the latest batch of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) volunteers Konotop now has 6 PCVs in town. Wow. Feeling a little left out in Balakleya where I am the one and only volunteer.
Kim and I made the best of it and managed to pack in a really full weekend. We both got great haircuts and pedicures (for Egypt), hosted a dinner/wine get-together for the lady PCVs in Ktop, got together for another dinner get-together Mexican night, and managed to squeeze in a trip to the banya (sauna) with Kim’s co-workers (which in the end turned out to be one co-worker plus me and Kim. Having not been to the banya since the summer, winter adds a whole new element of fun to the sauna experience. Winter means, running outside and rubbing snow on your body after sitting and sweating in the sauna. Actually, it was pretty fun. I can now kind of understand the Polar Bear Club… kind of. You are so warm from the sauna that you are still hot when you step outside. I’m thinking that the cold water is still a really big shock though.
I took an early train to Kiev on Monday and knocked out my medical crap. Then I just waited for everyone to gather the next day. By the time I was up and ready to go from my hostel, Cassie, Kim and Conor were all at the Peace Corps office. John came a lot later and met us for dinner. We had a family dinner at the Doctor Bar and got a reasonably priced steak (actually it was really cheap, less than 10 bucks). It was surprisingly really good. I will be going back there. The wait staff dresses in dirty nurse costumes and serve shots in little beakers in a basement restaurant that is off the beaten track and something you can only find with really thorough directions from someone in the know. (It’s in a back alley, in a basement, without signage to advertise – nonetheless, the place was packed).
The next day we headed to the airport extremely early to be there for a 6:30am flight. Conor and I managed to get seats in the Emergency Exit Aisle for his long legs, and apparently on Ukrainian flights/airlines there is a lot of clapping. Before the plane even hit the ground in Egypt someone had started off the whole plane clapping. I guess I have become so blaisé about flying that I take it for granted that I am in a gigantic silver tube hurtling through the air and the fact that I land safe and sound in a different destination is a small miracle. Well anyhow, Conor and I got a chuckle from the passionate clapping when we landed. No really, there was some seriously heartfelt clapping going on. And then, Hurghada…
The small back-story about Egypt is that from Ukraine you can get really good all-inclusive package deals to resort destinations such as Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheik (a woman was recently killed by a shark there). For flight, transport from the airport to the resort and back, and all inclusive food and beverage for 8 days and 7 nights we each paid a little more than $500 USD. That’s pretty amazing. So we planned a trip for our cluster to spend Christmas in Egypt. We figured we could use the resort as a base and visit the sites from there. We planned to go to Cairo for a couple of days to see the Pyramids of Giza and then to head to Luxor to hit up the Valley of the Kings and Queens. Kim and I put our heads together pre-trip and decided a flight to Cairo, a night train to Luxor and then a bus back to Hurghada and we would do all this in 3 days. Whirlwind, yes, but then we would have a couple of days at the resort to just chill in the sun before we headed back to the darkness in Ukraine.
The resort was nice enough and we got what we paid for. I really wish I bought some kind of mosquito repellant, because our room was filled with mosquitoes – and these mosquitoes loved them some Amy. Any thing that wasn’t covered by the blanked was covered in bites. I can still hear that traumatic high pitched buzz around my ears… Needless to say, I am very thankful that the mosquitoes were not malarial.
We spent a good day and a half chilling at the resort and the beach in the SUN. Yes, there was SUN in Egypt, unlike Ukraine where the sky is grey and the sun sets at like 4 in the afternoon. The resort had two restaurants and it was buffet-style eating. I have never seen the boys eat so much in the time that I have known them. It was really amazing what they packed away. There was also a couple of bars and alcohol was included in our package, unfortunately, the alcohol was served in tiny 2 ounce plastic cups like the ones that you get at the dentist to swish and spit with… yeah, guess how long a beer lasts in one of those cups? But, they also had hookahs or water pipes that we could smoke depending on what you call them. You get to smoke fruit flavored tobacco sans nicotine. Not bad, it makes for a fun group activity anyhow and oddly enough is really relaxing.
Our flight to Cairo was at 4:45am on Christmas Eve, so the plan was to get to Cairo, find a place to stay and see the pyramids as soon as possible. We were kind of walking around blindly and this guy came up to us around 7am and offered to show us around and brought us to a great locals stand to get an authentic Egyptian breakfast (butter bun with jam, falafel, and pita stuffed with what tasted like refried beans). He took us to a local’s alley to get coffee and eat our breakfast, and then took us to a hotel and helped us get a room. We got a passable room for 20 bucks each that included breakfast. Yes! And then he took us on public transportation to the pyramids. Riding the bus was fun. Apparently tourists don’t do it often, because we had a lot of interesting looks. We stopped off at a papyrus museum where he likely got a cut of whatever profit they made on us, but it was interesting to learn how to make papyrus (the paper that the ancient Egyptians wrote on). Then he dropped us at a place where we could rent camels to ride and get a guide to show us the pyramids. We tipped him handsomely, but really, I thought it was worth it since the breakfast was great, we would have bumbled around for a hotel on our own, and we would likely have taken a cab to the pyramids missing out on the local experience.
Riding a camel is likely a necessary venture if you visit Egypt, but it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Camels smell, they fart a lot, mine was constantly doing the shimmy when we stopped so I had to hold on for dear life, and Conor’s camel bit John. Granted the camel bit John’s cargo pocket on his shorts and technically bit the sunscreen in that pocket, but still, John VanGavree got bit by a camel. It was hilarious. Unfortunately, for me, the camels took away from the fact that we were seeing THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA. I spent a lot of time focusing on staying on my camel since he was a dancer. Thankfully Cassie and Conor took a lot of pictures. I had trouble getting my camera out of my bag since I had to use both hands most of the time to hold on.
The pyramids are huge and awe inspiring. I’ve read the articles in National Geographic and I have seen the photos, but seeing the pyramids with your own eyes is a whole new experience. Spoiler: the Sphinx is not that big. Sure it’s big, but in comparison to the size of the pyramids, it’s just a little thing.
After the pyramids we grabbed a quick snack then headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest, and shower (we all wreaked of camel). After a rest, we ventured out to find a restaurant called Farfalle, which was touted as an old traditional Egyptian restaurant with reliable food and a nice atmosphere. Sold. Christmas Eve dinner should be special. Unfortunately, we had a heck of a time finding it. After wandering around for a half an hour we asked someone and it was just across the street, right in front of us. We had an excellent, if not heavy meal, but we were all exhausted so after dinner we headed back to the hotel and passed out.
On Christmas we slept in, got our free breakfast and then ventured out to the Egyptian Museum and spent the better part of 3 hours looking at artifacts that were found in the tombs. Talk about sensory overload. Our guidebook said that you should try to tackle the museum in two days. I saw everything in 3 hours. Did you know they also mummified animals? Mummified crocodile anyone? After we grabbed some falafel at a local joint, we then happened upon the alley that we ate breakfast at the day before and ordered a hookah and some coffee and sat with the locals. This was pretty awesome. The beer we had at the locals bar after that was also awesome. Then we headed back to the hotel to meet our ride to the train station to catch the night train to Luxor to head to the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. (Night train was also awesome).
Luxor was pretty impressive, if not a bit of a blur. It kind of had the feeling of get in this tomb, hit this tomb, get in the van, next tomb, next temple, etc. I definitely saw some cool sights, but I honestly have no idea whose tombs I saw and which temples we visited. Our guide was a bit useless so we gave him the boot once we got our bus tickets back to Hurghada. We ventured off and happened upon a great lunch place. John, Kim and Conor got some awesome meat dish, which I passed on knowing that I had a 6 hour bus ride in my near future. Cassie and I got falafel, which was also awesome, but I kind of wish I got the meat dish. If I could trust my stomach at all, I would have.
Back to the resort and two full days to chill. Beach, pool, sun, relax, read, aahhhh. We did have some thoughts about renting dune buggies and going out on another tour, but at this point we were all toured out so we just chilled. When all was said and done, I read three books. It was great. Leaving Egypt was bitter sweet. I didn’t want to vacation to end, and I certainly did not want to say goodbye to the sun, but at the same time… I was exhausted from all the touts and people harassing you to buy stuff, etc. Strange to say it, but I was kind of excited and relieved when I got back to Ukraine. Great trip, great visuals, great weather, great friends. What more can you ask for… besides an extra couple of weeks in Egypt.
And yes, I did watch Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark when I got back.
