OK! So looking at the last blog entry for where we left off... ah, the White Desert. Well, quite a lot has happened since then, so let's get to it before our time at the internet cafe runs out. I'll gloss over a bit, as I am going to try and cover a week's worth of travels.
After coming back to Cairo, we stayed one more night in our hostel, grabbing a bite to eat at the felafel stand around the corner. We made our way on foot to the Victoria Hotel, where we were instructed to meet our Intrepid group. On arrival at the hotel, they let us know that the meeting place was moved to the Capsis Hotel, which was not far away and they would call us a cab. The hotel turned out to be so close that it would have been a two or three minute walk, but with the way the streets in Cairo are laid out (all one way, for fear of some horrific accidents the way people drive here) it turned into a ten minute cab ride. We made our way inside and met up with our group.
Our group is twelve travelers, mostly from Australia, two from Britain, and us four Americans. They range in age from 20 to around 50. Our tour guide,
Esam Abd El
Salam, recently won the Paul Morrison Award for tour guides (
http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/article.php?page_id=2174), meaning he is the BEST GUIDE IN THE WORLD! He is from Egypt, and after traveling with him for a week, we realize he knows every single person in the country.
After an initial orientation meeting, we headed out for a walk around Islamic Cairo. We had already been to this area, so we were able to show a few people in our group some of our favorite places. We got a tea and sheesa at Fishawi's, one of the oldest coffeeshops in the market. We went into the al-Azar mosque, one of the largest and oldest in Cairo. When we get the first chance, we will be uploading photos! After our walk (which was quite similar to the ones described before) we met up to go into the Sufi Dancing building. Every Wednesday and Saturday, the Ministry of Culture in Cairo puts on Sufi Dancing for free in a restored traditional Islamic House. This house, around 4 stories tall, has a cavernous courtyard in the center, where guests to the house would gather and be entertained. A stage was set up on the far side, and we gathered to watch the dancing. Sufi dancing is some of the most bizarre, enchanting, and nauseating dancing there is. I only say nauseating because of the nature of the dance. The show begins with some intense drumming, horn playing, and singing. The dancers then come out on stage, dressed in large dress-like robes, and begin to spin in place for around 30 minutes (!). This is thirty minutes of non-stop spinning, at varying speeds, all across the stage. We all got a bit dizzy ourselves after a 90 minute show. After the show, we headed back to the hotel.
I realize now that it will be a bit unwieldy if I try and fit everything in one post, so the rest will be split up.
