how many camels for the pretty girl?

Hello everyone! I've been in Egypt for about a week now and it's been one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. The week went by super fast. We were on a cruise down the Nile for a few days, which was so awesome. We just got off the boat today and are now in Luxor. It is so hot here. I didn't get burnt until yesterday when I was laying in the pool on the top deck of the ship during cocktail hour.

We got up early this morning to beat the heat and go to the Valley of the Kings. It was really hot, even at 8am, and I think I got burned more, even though I was wearing SPF 55, but it was incredible. There, out in the middle of nowhere, are all these ancient royal Egyptian tombs (including King Tut's tomb!). I got a chance to go in 3 of them. The craziest one was Tutmosis the Third. You had to go up all these rickety stairs that took you up into the middle of the mountain, then go down all these scary/cramped/hot stairways until you got to the bottom, which was right in the heart of the mountain. It kinda smelled disgusting but was really cool. The sarcoffigus (coffin) (I think I butchered the spelling) was there and there were crazy cool hierglifics everywhere.

That's only one of the many many awesome experiences I've had in the past week. The big ancient temples and monuments are really cool, but so is just going to an Egyptian market or taking a small boat down the Nile. The markets here are crazy. The venders are so agressive and bartaring is expected. I thought I was getting good at bartaring, but after several pretty good deals I managed to get really ripped off by a creepy Nubian man who kept saying things like "How many camels???" (Which, by the way, is the classic Egyptian pick-up line). I got stuck in his shop and he talked fast and took advantage of the fact that I'm confused by the currency. In my attempt to get out of there really fast, I ended up paying way too much for a purse that I am too embarrassed to wear yet because I don't want to tell other people on the trip how much I got it for. I made up for it the next day though, when I bought new shoes for what would be the equivalent of about 5 American dollars. So I'm back on my bartaring game.

I think my favorite thing so far though was the Nubian village that we visited. After a long ride in a small boat down the Nile, we came to this village where people walked their camels down the street and everyone had pet crocodiles. We were able to spend time with one family that showed us their house and gave us all henna tattoos. They didn't really speak English, but they were nice and had cute kids who could say "Hello!" and "Coca Cola!" So we sat in their colorful, mudbrick house, drinking Coca Cola, holding crocodiles, and dancing to this old dude playing some sort of guitar-esque instrument. It was beautiful. The old guy said something in Arabic and our guide translated it as "I am here to play music and you have to dance." So we had a dance party. I think it's one of the best dance parties I've ever had.

Haha, not all dancing related experiences on this trip have been positive. There was this awful, jiggly, creepy belly dancing lady on the cruise ship one night. I sat in the wrong spot during the show and ended up getting pulled up onstage by her. There was no way to escape and I had to dance with her and a bunch of old stiff European men while my entire group (including my profs) watched. Awk-ward.

Speaking of awkward - Internet cafes in Egypt are not that glamourous. I mean, everyone smokes everywhere anyway so everything kinda smells like cigarette smoke or hooka, but since Internet cafes tend to be small, they are super stinky. *coughs*
That being said, I should probably give the little guy at the counter his 10 pounds now and go get in a pool at the hotel. :)

Thanks for reading if you've made it this far! I'll probably be able to update this again soon now that I'm in Luxor.