Picking up from yesterday –
So, after scuba diving, a different person picked me up. (I’m gonna get into all that when we tell the wild story about the hotel.)
Sadly, the library of Alexandria, which is like the most famous thing there, was closed. So, we went to the last main tourist side I hadn’t seen yet, which was Kom el-Dikka, which is like an amphitheater.
There was nothing really to write home about about that, we just kinda walked out. The woman who was taking me around was telling me what it was like to grow up in a Muslim country, and how she didn’t go to school with boys, etc.
And I asked if it felt stifling to have so many rules, but she said it didn’t bother her at all. I guess so often we just compare things to what we’re used to. It’s hard to have a truly just blank canvas of what life could be or what we want. I think we’re all kinda like “yeah, it was totally fine.” Like when people from Asia or Europe talk to us (Americans) about things that they’d be bothered by, it’s kinda like “I dunno, I’m used to [xyz].”
But anyway, yeah, so after the amphitheater, she wanted to stop by this dessert place that she says she always stops in, anytime she’s in Alexandria, as it’s the best. So, that was cool. And while we were there, I got $3 shoes from a street vendor that were awesome. They did fall apart right after the trip, but how long can you really expect $3 shoes to last?
Then we rode back to Giza. And we passed this giant fancy building. When I asked what it was, it was a prion! I’d love to know what Egyptian prison looks like inside, because outside it looks super fancy.
We also passed “Africa Safari Park.” And I asked if we could go, but they didn’t want to.
Now, I think this is probably important to be clear about what you’re buying/getting anywhere you go, but I think *especially* in Egypt where everything felt too fluid or weird, in many ways (at least for me, on this specific trip), you really have to be like very specific in what you’re buying.
Because I had paid for day with a car and guide. And the plan was for them to come to Alexandria and show me around Alexandria, and then we make our way back to Giza, and maybe see some things in Giza, if there’s time.
I had paid like a flat fee for the ‘day’. But what does day mean? Like, is it a number of hours? If we find something cool, can we stop off and do it? We hadn’t completely decided on what things we’d do in Alexandria, but considering I’d done most of them and one was closed, we spent less time in Alexandria then they thought. So, I didn’t push going to the safari, but I would’ve liked to, and I think we should’ve gotten to!
Like, they were supposed to be a driver and guide I had for the *day* to take me around – not just a service to get me from Alexandria to Giza (which the fancy hotel in Alexandria actually offered for less money, and tbh, I should’ve just done that, looking back, but whatever).
[We’ll get there later, but I ultimately got my Covid test to go back to the States at a Ritz Carlton, and they had cars you could rent by a specific number of hours, and I wish I would’ve done that rather than this unspecific ‘for the day’ stuff.]
So, anyway, we skipped the safari in favor of… shopping. Shopping in Giza.
And I’ll pick up here next tim!