After a quiet night in Eilat we headed for Dolphin Beach to scuba dive with dolphins. At the beach we were reminded again how small the world is when we ran into a family from Washington that Becca recognized from one of the DC synagogues.
Scuba diving with dolphins was truly a remarkable experience. The Red Sea is extremely deep and clear, so we were able to just swim into the coral reef and dolphin area. Given that we were inexperienced divers, we both had an instructor assigned to dive with us which was extremely helpful. The added benefit of this was that our instructors have a relationship with the dolphins. The highlight of the dive was when Brad's instructor played with one of the dolphins for several minutes. From our time in the water it was pretty clear how social dolphins are and how much they enjoy interacting with each other and with humans they know. If you ever have the opportunity to swim or scuba with dolphins, it is well worth it. At one point, one of the dolphins swam right into Becca's feet to say hello!
One side note, in discussions with Brad's instructor, the topic of global warming came up. His instructor noted that this summer they recorded the highest water temperatures in recorded history in the Red Sea. If the temperature rises another 1 or 2 degrees Celsius the coral in the Red Sea (some of the best in the world) will die.
After finishing our dive we returned our rental car, said goodbye to Israel and headed for the Israel-Jordan border. The border crossing was opened a little more than 10 years ago after the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan was signed. After exiting Israel we literally walked with our luggage 100 yards or so to the Jordanian border. There was little doubt how different the country we were entering was - there were pictures of King Hussein everywhere and the signs that were previously in Hebrew, Arabic and English now were only in Arabic and English. After clearing customs we arranged for a cab to transport us to our nearby hotel.
Riding through the streets of Aqaba, we were struck by the differences between Israel and Jordan. The roads weren't nearly as well maintained, the cars were significantly older and the houses looked very poor. Arriving at our hotel we were surprised that we had to go through gates and metal detectors just to enter the lobby.
Jordan seemed to be a country of contradictions as well. It was extremely common to see a fully covered woman on the beach with her young children in bathing suits. Unlike Israel, where observant men dressed as modestly as women, most the men at the resort dressed like any westerner would. We also rented waverunners to use on the Mediterranean which were VERY funny
After a couple of relaxing days in Jordan we prepared to fly to Cairo. We were very nervous when our hotel assured us that we should leave at 8 am for our 9 am flight on the day of our departure. We arrived at the airport with 30 minutes to spare and ended up making it through intense security in about 10 minutes - a far cry from airports in the U.S. While checking in for our flight our passports were checked no less than 6 times each, including before our van even entered the airport. Despite this intense security, only Brad was required to pass through a metal detector. Becca was instead just lightly patted down in a separate booth used for all women travelers - apparently they don't feel that females are potential terrorists.. The flight from Amman was interesting, they had a horrible snake movie on the tv the entire time which was not so pleasant. It's also such a contrast from the states where someone who dresses typically "Middle Eastern" attracts significant attention in the post 911 world, we Americans stood out the Royal Jordanian flights
After flying through Amman we arrived in Cairo for the last leg of our trip together. As we rode from the airport to the hotel we were struck by three things. First Cairo is a huge city of 22 million people. Second it is an incredibly poor city, which was very evident during our drive in. Apparently unemployment is over 20%! Third, the drivers are terrible. Lane markings are ignored - they are more like decorations on the road, street lights are never used and really are just suggestions and horns are used all the time. Even the worst American drivers are highly skilled as compared to Egyptian drivers. The scariest part of Egypt was crossing the street - it felt like a game of frogger.
Friday night we enjoyed a wonderful dinner cruise on the Nile River. The cruise was highlighted by traditional Egyptian songs and dancing. The best part of the cruise, however, was the waiters. They seemed to be particularly interested in Becca, waiting on her with great care (especially when Brad left the table). They were very disappointed; however, when they found out we were married, although they continued to blow kisses to her and give her their email address! Becca also re-discovered her favorite Egyptian dish (which she first had when she visited Egypt in 2000). It is called coshery, it is made of lentils, pasta, rice, garbanzo beans, onions, and a sour sauce - quite fabulous! The Egyptians really enjoy their chick peas - they call whole chick peas "hummus" and they even served us chick pea soup (which was actually disgusting).
The following day we met our tour guide and headed out to see the sights of Cairo. We started at the Egypt Museum – an incredibly large museum that houses artifacts dating back over 4000 years of Egyptian history. We were blown away both by the size of the museum and its contents. It was remarkable how well the many sculptures, paintings and other artifacts have held up over thousands of years. The detail work and colors used were unbelievable and we left the museum even more impressed with Egyptian history than when we arrived.
After stops at the Papyrus Museum, where they make the ancient Egyptian art on paper from the papyrus plants that grow in the Nile, and an oil shop that sells Egyptian perfumes and oils, we headed for the Pyramids. While I had been to the pyramids before, Brad had not. He was blown away by their immense size. The largest of the pyramids took over 17 years to build and is construction by over 2 million blocks that were floated up the Nile River from southern Egypt. They truly are a wonder of the world.
Brad and I, being the political dorks that we are, spent a lot of time asking our guide questions about Egyptians' views on the United States, Middle East politics and the Egyptian government. We found the discussion both fascinating and sad. Our guide talked at length of America's diminished reputation in the region. He said this was due to both the war in Iraq, President Bush's perceived arrogance and the U.S.' strong support for Israel. We found it interesting that he viewed Arafat with great affection and Abbas with great disdain. While we didn't share his sentiments, we found the healthy exchange of ideas to be valuable and insightful. At the end of our day our guide thanked us for the discussion and debate.
The next morning Brad and I headed to the airport separately. He flew back to Washington and I continued my journey to Greece with my brother. As he finished he trip he wrote down the following thoughts which I thought you all might like to read:
I found our two weeks of traveling to be an insightful, educational and immensely enjoyable experience. I won't soon forget literally touching history in the 2000 year old tunnels under the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem or having my picture taken on a camel with the great Pyramids behind me. I've wanted to travel to this part of the world for many years. Being able to finally do it was really a dream come true.
My time in Israel left me with great admiration for the Israeli people. I don't think I quite comprehended how small and vulnerable the country is until we started to drive around it. In spite of the daily dangers faced by the Israeli people, I was inspired by their determination to live their everyday lives with as little disruption as possible.
I was also greatly impressed by the infrastructure and development of Israel, especially compared to Jordan and Egypt. In 60 short years they have built a modern state out of mostly desert. While there certainly were parts of that country that were poor, I didn't get the same sense of poverty that I witnessed on the streets of Aqaba and Cairo. I think that is a testament to the ingenuity of the Israeli people and their commitment to the development their country.
It truly was a remarkable trip that we took and we can't wait for our next visit there soon.
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