Trip to Egypt, age 17



My father won a Fullbright grant to teach a political science class at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. My family stayed in Israel for 11 months. For passover break, we made a trip from Israel to Egypt. 5 days before and durring the trip, we had to eat pepto tablets which constipated us and turned our poop black!



The bus was really hot in the poorly maintaned vehicle. While crossing Siani, we all had to get out so the bus could climb a 10 degree gradiant. The border crossing was guarded by soldiers that, my father pointed out to me, that had holes in their trowsers where pockets should be, but no pockets. The border guard was a prick, he kept saying "baruch hashem" every time he stamped a passport.
We checked into Ciaro's finest luxury hotel, and were careful not to ingest any of the water when we showered.



Te next day we took a trek out to the souk where I practiced haggling for the first time. I bought a little leather doll of a camel with a cloth arab rider, a small brass hookah, a cotton robe, and a riding crop ( which came in handy the next year the next year a t college ;-) )



The next day we went to Giza to check out the pyramids and the sphinx, whose size can't be explained unless you see them first hand. We went into a tunnel in one of the pyramids to see the burial chamber.



Then we took a train ride to Luxor, and on the train there was an amazing cocktail waiter who would kneel down in the middle of a bunch of tourists with a drink balanced on his forehead, and managed to keep the drink on his head by dodging the tourist's attempts to grab the drink.



Luxor was a huge temple with elaborate ad colorful hieroglyphics which our tour guide explained as a revelation that upper and lower Egypt should be united as one country.



The last thing I remember about the trip was eating squab and flavored rice on the banks of the Nile, thinking how lucky I was.