On the Road to Cairo

Finally, some time for reflection. Since my return to the states I have been frantically playing catch up with papers I still have to write for my classes in Jerusalem and also keeping up with the assignments for the classes I'm taking this quarter here in Denver. Not to mention I moved apartments and had to squeeze in a weekend in the mountains , a birthday party, and taxes. This is only the start of the ever growing "to-do" list. But now I'm sitting in bed with eyes that are too tired to read another page . So I thought I might come back to my old friend and reminisce of exciting times traveling through the dessert.


In my last blog entry I was asking for prayer and well wishes so that the visa process would be expedited. Well....whatever you did worked! Thanks!
Upon arrival to Tel Aviv we decided to grab a quick bite to eat and go to bed early. We woke up bright and early and headed out to the Egyptian embassy. We obtained the proper paperwork and went in search of some place that would take passport sized photos (a requirement for the visa application). So we went around the corner to a travel agency and found that for a little extra we could bypass the entire visa application process and head straight to Cairo! (upon learning this information the angels began to sing and the light from the heavens shone down upon our smiling faces). So we raced back to the hostel and gathered our things and boarded a bus within the hour. We were on our way! No fuss. No muss.


Five hours later we had arrived to the Egyptian Taba Border Crossing. It is currently the only entry/exit point between the two countries that handles tourists. But surprisingly it was not too busy and we got right in. After a few cheesy photos that is...

Thanks! I feel very welcome thankyaverymuch.

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Once on the other side of the border we hopped in a van and continued on the second half of our journey. This one turned out to be the long leg but had some nice scenery for us along the way.

photo taking from inside the van on the way to Cairo

Katie pointed out the game plan in the Lonely Planet (map of Cairo)

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The van came to a skretching halt and we all lurched forward then back into our seats. All because this friendly fella decided to cross the road right in front of us. My cat like reflexes allowed me to snap this one photo before we went our separate ways.

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We Made it! Photo of Cairo from inside the Taxi. on a bridge crossing the Nile River
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View from our Hostel. Old buildings in Downtown Cairo. In the center is the statue of Talaat Pasha Harb, the father of the modern Egyptian economy.

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Inside our Hostel...check out the movie playing on the old school t.v.

yup, nice stache' my friend. nice. *note you can click on the photo to enlarge* you really want to get in there and see what he's all about.

So now in Cairo with lodging we were ready to discover al-Qāhira (Cairo in Arabic) which means "the Triumphant" and is the largest city in Africa with 8 million people in Cairo proper and 17.8 in the greater metro area. Pretty Big.

to be cont...