We had a long weekend and didn’t have anything planned. Lisa and I decided to call our friend Ahmed who we play hockey with. We always have fun at hockey and once he mentioned that there is a waterfall in Egypt that he would take us to. We told him we had a long weekend and wanted to do something fun. He said if we had a long weekend that he had 3 things for us to do…. Day One: The Waterfalls. Day Two: Alexandria. Day Three: Fishing for our lunch in Ain Sokhna.
Day One: The Waterfall
We met at Costa Coffee, our regular coffee shop. Ahmed has a car and picked us up from there with his friend Ayman. We drove out to Wadi Rayan. The drive was awesome. We listened to good music and got to know our friends a bit better outside of hockey. It took about 1.5 hours after leaving Cairo. I absolutely love road trips and we don’t get a chance to take them very often because most of my friends don’t have cars in Egypt. It was so nice to not have to worry about a taxi driver or even with all the little things along the way with language barriers and not knowing where we were going. Lisa and I got to totally relax and enjoy the ride! We turned into the town and fields of crops were all around us. It was so interesting. The irrigation system was so old school. Ditches were dug and pumps were used to push water from one ditch to the next. Giant bony cows with long horns were in the fields with people working them. Often people rode by on donkeys. The people were sitting on top of the plants the just picked which were on top of the donkey’s back. It was so neat. Many children alone were doing this job, some adults. All of a sudden the fields ended and the area opened up into a giant lake. The water was calm and beautiful. I always think that Egypt is like a beach without water… I found the water. There were men in wooden fishing boats and a few people along the side.
We met at Costa Coffee, our regular coffee shop. Ahmed has a car and picked us up from there with his friend Ayman. We drove out to Wadi Rayan. The drive was awesome. We listened to good music and got to know our friends a bit better outside of hockey. It took about 1.5 hours after leaving Cairo. I absolutely love road trips and we don’t get a chance to take them very often because most of my friends don’t have cars in Egypt. It was so nice to not have to worry about a taxi driver or even with all the little things along the way with language barriers and not knowing where we were going. Lisa and I got to totally relax and enjoy the ride! We turned into the town and fields of crops were all around us. It was so interesting. The irrigation system was so old school. Ditches were dug and pumps were used to push water from one ditch to the next. Giant bony cows with long horns were in the fields with people working them. Often people rode by on donkeys. The people were sitting on top of the plants the just picked which were on top of the donkey’s back. It was so neat. Many children alone were doing this job, some adults. All of a sudden the fields ended and the area opened up into a giant lake. The water was calm and beautiful. I always think that Egypt is like a beach without water… I found the water. There were men in wooden fishing boats and a few people along the side.
We kept driving to the entrance of the park. We received a map and some information after entering (and the entrance fee for Egyptians in 2 LE which is about 50 cents, and 3 dollars for foreigners which is about 15LE). Turns out that Valley of the Whales is also located near the waterfalls which are a site I have been interested in seeing for quite some time. Ahmed told us we could go there too! The first thing we did was stop at some giant sand dunes. We climbed up to the top. The sand was SO soft. Looking out over the dunes I thought to myself that THIS is what I pictured the desert to look like. It was beautiful! The desert we normally pass (on the side of the road is very rocky and often covered in garbage). We spent some time playing in the sand, jumping off the top edge down into lower areas. Our feet sank down deep into the cooler sand below. It was so awesome!
Next we drove to the waterfall area. There were more people around here. Lisa and I attracted quite the crowd. Everywhere we walk people are ‘sneakily’ taking out photos. It bothers Lisa a little bit, but not me so much. Ahmed said that people there rarely see foreigners except for on TV. I don’t mind when people stare or take photos because I am the one who is different, and sometimes I want to take photos of things they do too!
The water was so clean. After seeing Nile in Cairo, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But people here were playing in the falls. We continued onto a beach where locals were swimming in groups. Women swimming in the water still covered and men wearing whatever they like. Ahmed hired a man to take us for a ride in his row boat. We each had a turn rowing the boat. It was so quiet and peaceful. The man who took us spoke little English. He seemed to really like his job. He took us to the other side of the falls. Ahmed and I decided to go in the waterfall. It was sort of scary. Water is so much more powerful then it seems like it would be. We almost lost Ahmed’s sunglasses as they came off his head. Luckily he found them! After that we walked along the beach… too bad the beachfront had a lot of garbage on it… It was funny – when we started walking it was just us. When we turned around after about 5 minutes there was about 15 people following a short distance behind. They wanted to take photos with us.
After the falls we headed to Valley of the Whales. It said it was 44 kms away. It took a long time to get there because they were all on sand road. I was very excited for this part. Lisa, Ahmed and Ayman were pretty indifferent. There was absolutely no one around when we got there. We weren’t sure if we were in the right place at all. Finally we found the buildings and got some information. Valley of the Whales is an outdoor museum showing rock formations caused by erosion and 40 million year old Whale Fossils. We decided to take the short tour. The first set of bones was interesting – half a jaw bone that was about a foot and half and some of the vertebrae bones. The rest of the bones were a little bit disappointing. There was one giant set but it was totally covered in sand. After being out all day, my friends were poking fun at me for making them go to see the site. “Really? We had to drive all the way to see this? You really find this so great?” It was a fun day. The sand formations were the highlight of the site. Giant mountains piles of sand that look so strong, but when you touch them the sand falls away as if you were brushing sand off your skin. Just beautiful!
After that it was time to go home. We were all exhausted after a great day. Turns out that it wasn’t over yet. Earlier in the day Lisa and I had expressed interest in attending an Egyptian wedding. On the way home Ahmed received a phone call from a friend whom we play hockey with, his brother had a wedding that night and we were invited. Of course we said yes! We had another great drive home, took about an hour to get all dressed up for the wedding then Ahmed picked us up again and off we went!
The wedding was definitely and experience. There were three weddings at the same ‘club’. A club here is an area that is fenced off from other areas. Inside the club there were 2 separate areas. The wedding we attended was a double, with two sisters getting married to each their own groom. Almost all of the other women there except the brides wore hijabs, so Lisa and had a lot of attention. We tried not to let it make us feel uncomfortable. There wasn’t really a ceremony at all. The brides and grooms came in and had their first dances. Men here steal the show when it comes to dancing, one groom in particular. His hips could move better then mine ever will. The guys we were with tried to get us dancing several times, but Lisa and I felt intimidated because a crowd circles the dance floor watching. We avoided dancing all night until the guy we play hockey with told his brother and the bride to come and get us. So when the bride and groom asked us to come and dance with them we had to say yes. They dance in circles and there seems to be some set moves, which of course Lisa and I do not know. We were laughing the whole tie and pretty embarrassed although I think it was fine. We eventually got out of it by telling the bride how beautiful she was and joined the outer circle of men clapping. The place was beautiful with many sparkly lights and sparkling women. It was fun!
Day Two:
We met Ahmed and Ayman at Costa again in the morning. We also met up with some guys, most of whom we had met at the wedding the night before. The drive to Alexandria is about 2.5 hours. Again the drive was a highlight. We listened to music, learned new dances and learned more Arabic. Once in Alex we met up with a tour guide who the guys were all friends with. We had heard his wife was Canadian so we were very surprised when we met her that her head was covered. Lisa and I would never convert and cover our hair, we couldn’t believe it.
Anyway, the tour guide gave us some ideas of places to go… he was heading back to Cairo for the day. The first stop was a park. It was right on the coast and it was beautiful. It was so nice to put our feet in the water and explore the rocks. In the winter the water is so strong that it breaks the rocks. After the park we went to a citadel. It was really neat. After the citadel we had pizza on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. We were exhausted after that and decided to go to a café. Lisa and I had a great time getting to know all the new people. And even better is learning so much Arabic from them. They laugh at us when we try to speak the words, but we laugh at them when they mess up the English too, it’s all fun!
Again the ride home was a highlight. We were all very tired, for the first hour we were falling asleep, but after that we woke up. We had to stop at a market on the way home and we ended up having a parking lot dance party showing off all the new dances we know. Egyptian boys love dancing.
I woke up for Day Three feeling exhausted. I had to drag myself out of bed. I knew it was going to be one of those weekends where I needed a weekend to recover. So it worked out ok when Ahmed called saying his grandfather was ill and had to cancel… so we will fish for our lunch in Ain Sokhna another time!
Adventure Weekend Photos
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