Out of Egypt!

Today started around 4:00 AM, my ride to the airport was supposed to pick me up at 5:00 AM. He was late. The only saving grace it was Friday morning so most people are at the Mosques so traffic was almost non-existent.

Arrive at the airport and go through security to enter the airport. Had to open luggage so they could see the souvenirs that I have picked up. My scarabs are scary on the x-ray! I guess. Go to the counter and get a boarding pass. Go through another security screen. Get to the area of the gate and wait until it is manned. Then go through another security screening. Each time it is take everything out of my pockets, run everything through the x-ray, some taking my shoes off… Not very efficient. Also, there are only so many lines open so it takes time.

Flight leaves about 30 minutes late, which is a problem as I have a connecting flight to catch in Casablanca… The flight was okay, it was quite long, got to watch three movies… Breakfast and a snack later (how I tell time, how many movies and food…) I was like 6 hours to fly across all of Northern Africa.

Arrive at Casablanca, the weather was hot! I get off the plane and someone is waiting for me, they take me to the counter and get my next boarding pass and I am off to catch another plane. And hey guess what? Security screening again! I wish it was like the States where once you are on the inside you can catch other flights without going through further security. I get in line and there is only one screening station open… slow, and I am looking at the time thinking this will be close. They finally open another line and I get through security. Get to the gate and wait for a bit, then they board the bus, drive all over the airport and finally get to the plane.

The first flight was completely full, the second I had the whole row to my self, 7 seats to pick from… I just stayed where I was at and watched another movie and a half, and had lunch.

I am now in Paris! It is overcast and raining. I got ripped off by the taxi, cost me way too much, from now on, if it does not have a meter and a Taxi sign on top… no deal. But I am now in this little room in the center of Paris, everything is fairly close, which is a bonus! This place kind of reminds me of a few of the places I lived while on my mission. My room, the kitchen is across the hall, and the bathroom is down the hall. hahaha.

Yesterday I walked around Cairo a little. I came across a couple of areas like this. The whole street is like an open-air garage. The street is lined with auto parts stores, pretty much any make or part, little shops like the one visible across the street here. It is down to one lane of traffic, you pull to the side and pop the hood. It was interesting as I walked along, some shops were doing metal work, torches and cutting parts off, next to it was a ball bearing store…

I talked about this earlier, I found a sit-down restaurant that makes only this. Koshari. It arrives like this with the plate behind it, you add your chickpeas, the tomato sauce, and fried onions. Also is the vinegar and hot sauce to the right of the photo…

Poof! this is what you have. It was good, but I think the first one I had was better flavored… will have to find a recipe for this when I get home.

Egyptian sweets thought I would try them. Some were good, some okay. But what I realize is that I have not had a lot of sweets in 5 weeks, it made me sick to my stomach for a while.