EGYPT!!!

I know the title of this blog is "Costa Rican Adventures," but I am now traveling in Egypt and hope to be able to share my adventures and photos with friends and family who I know are praying for me and supporting me. I wish "world traveler" were a major or a career, because I love traveling and feel so blessed to have had these opportunities to visit other cultures and peoples and see so much beauty and diversity in each of them.

We set off for Egypt on tuesday, and just arrived last night, so those were two long travel days. We did get to spend about five hours in Amsterdam, and I think I had my fill. It was fun to see the little streets and canals, and we got to see the Anne Frank house as well. But we were so exhuasted from flying and not sleeping much that we ended up getting ice cream and setting in Dam Square and watching people. On our way back to the station we found ourselves in the red light district, so that was quite the adventure. And of course the air had some interesting scents...

Our plane arrived at about 2 in the morning and we were welcomed with a blast of hot egyptian air. Luckily our hotel is beautiful, complete with a pool, air conditioning, and specially folded towells. This morning we went to the Egyptian Museum and saw artifacts from thousands of years ago, including the golden head mask of King Tut and the actual mummy of Ramses II. It was so awe inspiring to stand among all of those artifacts and think of how old they were...many dated back to the time of Moses and Joseph and even well before that and still had the original gold platings and paint colors. It was truly fascinating, but our group was exhausted so it was tough to walk around that much. Even now I am feeling a little dillusional (perhaps a combination of the heat and exhaustion) and can't wait to go back to the hotel and dip in the pool before a dinner boat and youth group tonight. We have our own tour guide and everything is so nice. The people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. I have been trying to speak a little arabic but so far all I know how to say is "no" and "thank you." but so far everyone I have met speaks english.

Tomorrow we go either to the pyramids or to coptic and muslim cairo, then off in a sleeper train to Luxor and the valley of the kings. I hope to keep you all posted and I can't wait to see more of Egypt!