Charlie Brown's Pyramids Visit

We apologize sincerely for what we've been told is an unforgivable delay in our posting.

In Egypt, we were told, "Don't worry about time, don't worry about money, don't worry about your bellies. Just enjoy." So we did (kind of. See below). Oops.

We're out of Egypt (and Jordan) now, so here comes a DOUBLE entry. Get excited. And look forward to a guest entry from two lovely, non-jet-lagged, "girls." (We have been told we are the "little girls," while Jessie and Maggie (newly arrived in Russia! with presents! and toiletries!) are "the girls."

EGYPT.

Things we liked about Egypt:

The pyramids--the most amazing thing(s) we've ever seen. They put Machu Picchu to shame. We went to Saqqara, Dashur (Step Pyramid, Bent Pyramid, Red Pyramid, cool tombs; we got to go inside several, like Indiana Jones, complete with headlamp (IJ was a good precursor for Jordan), and GIZA. The pyramids at Giza were everything we thought they'd be and more.

Charlie Brown--our camel. We caved. We rode a camel at the pyramids. His name was Charlie Brown. He safely transported us to the plateau to take the necessary panoramic shots, then around the desert, and back to the Sphinx.

Charlie Brown's owner--A lovely Bedouin man, with a gift for taking awesome optical illusion pics (soon to come, we promise!), who kindly saved us from scamming policemen.

The Sphinx: (Or, the Sphinkus, as our Egyptian tour guide said. This made both Tori and Amanda laugh (not just Amanda with her love of the word sphincter).) However, as the guideook said, the Sphinkus was SMALL.

Mmmm, taamiya (falafel). Sooo yummy and better than in the states.

The sleeping train from Cairo to Luxor, where you can lock the door and people only bother your to bring you free food (drinks, not so free. timely? not so much. but no one bothers you!)

Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens was pretty awesome, too. The preserved hieroglyphics inside the tombs are still so perfect they almost look fake. The colors are brilliant.

Nuweiba!!! On the Red Sea. Beautiful, quiet, and swimmable! And, full of Russian Orthodox nuns and priests who arrive on a giant tour bus, run into the water either in full habit or in white bras and underwears. An amazing sight.

Fayrouza Village (in Nuweiba). Beautiful huts on the beach complete with ChefMan who cooked us amazing feasts, and only got sketchy when we came into the woman's shower. And cooked without much clothing on. Of most of the men we met in Egypt, though, pretty quality.

THINGS WE'D PASS ON NEXT TIME ...

Egyptians.

Egyptian men.
Egyptian policemen.
Egyptian smoking habits (cause when you're in line at customs, why not? or on a closed bus.)
Egyptian hygiene (bed bug bites are still itchy!)
Egyptian hostel owners who push you to write reviews (if you want a kick, check out the reviews of Regent House Hotel in Cairo on hostels.com and see if you can find ours) and force tours on you when you've arrived in Cairo at 12am.
Egyptian Museum. While the stuff inside was amazing, the handwritten Arabic signs were hard to follow. Overall, it looked a bit like a garage sale of Egyptian artifacts. The mummy rooms, however, with actual mummies with faces and hair, and even small pox scars on Ramses VI, were astounding!
Egyptian vendors. "Please, how can I take your money?"
Egyptian cat calls: "Fish and chips?" "Washing machine?" Still can't figure that one out!
Egyptian ferry services. The "fast" ferry from Egypt to Jordan takes 1 hour! The pre-boarding procedures take 5 hours.

We were thrilled to get off the ferry in Jordan!
More coming tonight or tomorrow. Trust in the power of "the girls."

Kansas? Morocco!

We spent a week in Morocco. After some quality advising to avoid Casablanca as much as possible, we hightailed it out of the airport and directly on a train to Marrakesh. (We spent one night in Casa on the way out, so we could get to the airport, and that advice was AMAZING. Thank you. To everyone else, should you decide to go to Morocco, skip Casa. Go to Trenton, NJ instead.)

At first, we were struck by how different Marrakesh was from Cusco (they say that Latin America and North Africa are somewhat distinct). It was a bizarre combination of tourists, both Moroccan and Western (though very, very few Americans), and locals trying to tout every possible tourist attraction under the sun (and some non attractions--like alleys and dried chameleons). We got many offers of help, marriage (You are beautiful. You want Moroccan husband?); Tori got the requiste comments on her eyes every ten minutes. We were offered snakes to pet and monkeys to hold, fresh juice, mint tea, and more henna than anyone has body space for. It was like being at the circus 24/7; however, we loved the time we spent there. Especially our beautiful hotel (Hotel Medina for anyone looking for a super cheap, gorgeous old, friendly hotel) and the amazing food (mmm, dried fruit, nuts, the best almonds we've ever had, fresh squeezed oj, tanjines, and nougat--just don't buy any pastries in Marrakesh. Fes has amazingly better ones.)

We caught the train to Fes. We spent 7 hours on a train with scenery that looked like ... Kansas. With mosques scattered throughout. As the train got more and more crowded, we got to spend some quality time and space with native Moroccans. Including the ever present boy who wants to practice English, man who wants to show us a better hotel, and the boy who wants to play music for everyone on his cell phone. It was an awesome train ride. Amtrak looks better and better.

Fes was awesome! Very different than Marrakesh, a very busy city, complete with tons of people, donkeys, horses, bulldozers that had no intention of stopping, and very angry taxi drivers who were unhappy with our bargaining skills!!

So much fun! Now we are in Egypt, exhausted after a full day at the Pyramids (LIFE GOAL ACCOMPLISHED)! To bed!
More to come ...

Me , Myself, and Sexo

We´re back in Cuzco, headed to Morocco tomorrow (well, first to Lima for 12 hours, then Sao Paulo for 8 hours, then Rome for 2 hours, and finally Casablanca... cheap flights are wonderful, aren´t they?). We spent 5 days on the Inca Trail heading to Machu Picchu! Despite being exhausted, it was AMAZING and we highly recommend it to anyone. Either do the trek if you can handle ridiculously early mornings, 1200 meters gain all at once one morning, CRAZY guides who disappear for hours, and temperatures fluctuations that rival menopausal women (so we hear), otherwise, take the train - or, preferrably, take the ¨Hiram Bingham¨train for around 400 dollars and then stay in the Sanctuary Hotel for 700 dollars a night. But definitely go.

Since we´re only two weeks out of the educational system, and headed back in two months, here is what we learned:
- the Incas were better at everything
- chewing Coca leaves prevents diseases from diabetes to osteoporosis - it´s why the incas never died from anything but old age, they chewed it all the time (not because they died at 40, or anything)
- the incas liked to build terraces. sometimes they were for decoration, others for farming, others just for cultivating medicinal plants, others as retaining walls. while we couldn´t tell any differences between them, they had very specific functions. the incas knew best.
- while Hiram Bingham may have ¨discovered¨Machu Picchu, a young Quechuan boy pointed him in the right direction. Bingham just stole all the credit.
- only Peruvian archeologists know what´s right.
- when you really got to go, you will have no qualms about desecrating an Inca site. even the ¨priesthood site¨
- when your tour guide tells you to call him ¨Sexo¨, sleep in a separate tent
- when your tour guide speaks english as a third language, he will often inquire if you understand english - ¨virgins, you know, virgins?¨(we wanted to ask for a definition, but were afraid to ask ¨Sexo¨)
- alpalca tastes like chicken
- alpalca hats are warm
- apparently we´re not friends of the alpalcas
- sometimes 3 wool blankets is not enough. even inside.

That´s all for now! We´re off to pack and head to bed.
Solpike Pichicoes!! (We think that means ¨thank you, boys!¨ in Quechua, but as ¨Sexo¨told us, it may instead mean ¨F* off, nancy boys!¨)

P.S. Cary Mosley: we met one of your best friends from high school on the inca trail. he said he was from san diego and had a friend who went to pomona. we asked if it was you. it was.

A man a plan a canal panama ... and now PERU!

There are two of us, and though we are not men, we had a plan to spend twenty four hours in Panama and see the Canal.

We spent a day in Panama ... We saw the Canal.
We walked around.
We went to the hotel. There were already people in our new room. We got a new room. We watched an ER marathon. We went to bed at 7pm.
There was not much to see in Panama.

Check.

Now we are in Lima, Peru! There appears to be much more to see and do here already than in Panama.

At the airports in Panama and Lima, everyone was wearing surgical masks. And we had to fill out forms before we could get off the plane detailing where we had been and if we had any symptoms. Apparently they take their swine flu more seriously than JFK ... haha.
In Panama, we had to stand in front of a thermographic camera before we were allowed to go through immigration to make sure we weren´t febrile. They didn´t seem to care that we claimed we were bringing absolutely no money into the country, but the thermographic camera was clutch.

We´re in Peru for the next 7 days (including Amanda´s birthday in the Cloud Forest in Machu Picchu!) ...

More to come.