Third World

September 22nd. The day of the bus rides. We left the Kubbitz in the morning and drove 15 minutes to the border. We had to unload all of our things and walk through a million Israeli checkpoints to get out of Israel. As soon as we left the Israel border crossing station, it was apparent we were in a different country with a different standard of living. The guards in Israel were all young, well dressed, carrying massive guns, and interested in security. The guards in Egypt were all middle aged, unshowered men, more interested in being friendly(especially with a bunch of yound Ameircan girls.) We had to wheel our luggage down the road to the Egyptian border and go through security and fill out paperwork in a building that hadn't seen cleaning supplies in years. We then loaded up on our new, well, new in a past life, buses. I was a little worried about touching anything and just kept telling myself that no matter what, I could enjoy this bus because it was taking me to the pyramids. In Egypt, each tour bus has to have a armed body guard traveling with them everywhere. We also had our agent from the travel agency with us. It was a packed bus with smaller seats, little air conditioning, and a long drive ahead. I don't know if deoderant is not common knowledge or what, but America should really promote that around the world. The bus driver, the travel agent, and our securtly guard were all stinky! The bus drive to Cairo was 8 hours long. It possibly could have been shorter, but my bus broke down twice so we had to stop while the bus driver patched things up and got on the road again. It was more dirt and nothingness with men on camels every once in a while. As we approached Ciaro, it was very apparent we were entering a place like no other place we had been before. There were 6 lanes of cars crammed into 4 lanes. Camels and donkeys carrying people cruised along the side of the road. The city looked like a bunch of projects or ghettos stretched form miles on end. None of the buildings were finished, making it easier to add more stories if more space was needed. There is somewhere betwenn 17-20 million people living in Ciaro! The best part of the drive was seeing the pyramids right there in the skyline. It looked like they were right in the middle of the city! Oh wait...They were! All the miserable hours on the bus were worth it. We rushed to the hotel, cleaned up, and then sprinted off to the pyramids to watch a sound and light show. They lit up the pyramids and had lasers showing pictures. The show told the history of the pyramids and truthfully, resembled an old british documentary. It was exciting to be so close to the pyramids, and was a great way to get pumped up to see them them next day.