Nairobi!

 We took the red eye to Nairobi and arrived at 5am, pretty tired. Egypt Air is not impressive, but it is still better than Air Canada. We slept until like noon and then contacted Sonya's friend, Alex, who took us around. He tried to talk us into a restaurant called Carnivore, but it was clearly a tourist trap, so he took us to his favourite place: Nyama Choma at the Exit 11 Inn and club. It was.. incredibly Kenyan. a dirt lot full of food stalls all making the same dish... barbecued goat. We were definitely the only tourists and stuck out a bit. It was awesome. Couldn't walk past the stalls without people literally putting goat meat into your mouth with your fingers. (and we only eat with out right hands now.) Tried the local beer, Tusker (and they bring you 2 if you order one because they're practical like that) and got served the best damn unknown wilted greens 've ever had, a huge share platter of goat, the maize porridge that is the "spoon", unreal goat broth in a mug, and sausage that I liked but Chris did not.

Then we were gonna go dancing but the clubs here are 24 hours and don't get hopping until 2am. so to bed and a meat coma.

Woke and Alex picked us up and took us to Hell's Gate national park but first a quick stop off at a scenic overlook absolutely full of school kids who all wanted to touch my hair lol. It was gorgeous there.

Then into Hell's Gate, which is a huge gorge full of life. We rode mountain bikes 8k through fields and mountains and waterfalls and herds of zebras and goats, saw giraffes and monkeys and baboons, and wandered down to the bottom of the gorge where the river is low right now. It. Was. Awesome.

The whole area is super geothermal with vapour and hot waterfalls and sulphur and it was so, so super cool.

After that we went to Lake Naivasha. It's a huge lake outside the city full of hippos and herons and ibis (I learned that Egyptians called them the "sacred ibis" because they were the only thing that ate locusts)

and the shores were teeming with zebras and giraffe and life.

 We fed tilapia to the Fish Eagles that look a lot like a bald eagle but with a brown stripe on the wing, and saw kids net fishing off the rocks.

This is Jamal, the cutest little co captain ever.

The trees are full of comorants and herons and ibis.

hippos sound very much like sea lions.

the lake rose so much a bunch of the acacia trees died.

Alex, us, and the Captain.

The prettiest monkey I have ever seen. Colobus monkey.

Barbecued tilapia for dinner and the guys played pool while I wandered the village. I saw puppies, pet a goat, let kids take a million photos with me and touch my hair, helped a guy carry water to his hut, showed the kids that I could, in fact, ride their bicycle, chatted with farmers on the farms, got asked if I was lost a thousand times, then headed back to the boys and then home.

Until tomorrow! And Cari and Russ arrive tonight!

Cairo day 2

 Well, we did not spend enough time in Cairo so we packed it all in one day. We got picked up at 8am and headed straight for the pyramids. Traffic is just nutty here, yo. There's lines on the road but they are just decoration... motorbikes everywhere with flip flops and no helmet, Huge G class wagons apparently just hunting pedestrians. There's traffic cops drinking tea on the roadside but I never saw one in motion, perhaps because there aren't any rules.

So, the pyramids. It got hot fast. Oh, I think I just learned how to type italics. Well, that's that then. 

The pyramids were astounding, grounding, breathtaking... so much bigger on the outside and smaller on the inside than I would have thought. One of my favourite parts were the cute TikTok tourists trying to climb them in kitten heels and white dresses.

shes wearing heels, lol. 

they make you do this. It's a rite of passage. O, where did my italics go?

We also went inside the great pyramid (the italics are back lol) and I did not have a claustrophobic panic attack but damn it was close. You hike up a ramp doubled over for a very long time while people are also trying to come down and it's so tight and at the end you end up in a sarcophagus that feels just like a sarcophagus. It was a good 40 minutes of just convincing myself I would get fresh air again one day. But, I've been inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, so there's that.

its a 45 degree incline with rings and the tunnel is maybe 4 feet high? Throw in a bunch of tourists and it's unpleasant.

Sarcophagus shot: 

and crawled out.

The sphinx is also really cool and way larger than I had thought. It was just epic to walk these roads and see these incredible testaments to... well, narcissism really. Read up on the 3 pyramids at this site. 

Also this is exactly where Pink Floyd played Dark Side of the Moon when they were here. 

Then into the brand new Grand Egyptian Museum. It opened 3 months ago and was co built by Egypt and the Japanese... and I'm sure I have the Japanese to thank for the unreal organization of the place. It's gorgeous.

This is just the entrance corridor to the Museum. Inside it is arranged by timeline, with each period divided into society, kingship and beliefs. And a whole separate section for Tut's tomb and the hella hella gold that was in it. Every time I say something that was 7000 years old, and that's a lot of things, I thought of Canada being 159 and kind of laughed my ass off. Also, craftsmanship has really gone down hill. 

Here's some of my favourite things:

Tuts not only got gold sandals, but he added gold toe looking toe holes for extra bling.

I mean, there it is! The man, the myth, the legend. In solid gold. It's crazy.

I loved these guys and here's the writeup because I'm now at the airport and tired lol. But they are from 1279 bc. My God. 

We also went and saw how papyrus was made, to an apothecary, a cotton .. maker place,  a spice market, and I got to try hawashi, an Egyptian meat bread that was on my must try list and it was delicious. Back to the hotel to grab dinner and change and run for the airport where I now sit for the red eye to Nairobi. An amazing day, truly.

Last sunset on the Nile and the hilarious party boats that start as soon as the sun goes down.

I'll miss you, Egypt! Until we meet again.