Tomorrow we leave Egypt and head to India. Mumbia, then down south to Kerala...up to the desert to do a "camel safari" and on to Delhi. One last parting shot...foreign tourists are awesome and so plentiful. And to think...I was concerned about going out without a head scarf.

Egypt by night!

Reliefs like this cover (or once covered) the surfaces of the temples throughout the valley. To the left is the god Horus (I believe) -- the one with the falcoln head.

Scenes from the banks of the Nile.

Ram-headed guardians of the temple.

Scenes from "inside" the Karnak Temple, near Luxor.

On the rooftop deck of our Nile cruise boat. We sailed from Luxor to Aswan, stopping to visit temples along the way. It was a great way to see the Nile valley and the sights.

We also visited the Egyptian Museum yesterday, but were not allowed to take photos inside. It's probably for the best (for your sake) since we saw a ton of mummies in various stages of decay (cloths off!). Jeff asked me how much he would have to pay me to kiss one. It would be in the thousands for sure. The Museum was really impressive, unlike anything else we've seen. It has the contents of King Tut's tomb, which is the only tomb found intact in modern times.

The Sphynx, standing guard over the pyramids and their inhabitants (although they were raided long ago and the dead guys are no longer there).

Close up of the Great Pyramid.

The famous pyramids at Giza, surprisingly close to downtown Cairo. The one on the left is the great pyramid...the three were built for father (left most), his son (middle), and grandson (right). The left hand one is actually the tallest.

A scene from the busy streets of Islamic Cairo.

Wandering the deserted streets of Cairo between the Citadel and Islamic Cairo. As you can probably see, I was pretty hot and uncomfortable and not in a jolly mood.

With a few of my new friends in Cairo at the military museum at the Citadel.

Cairo

Photos will come later, as this computer is uncooperative. We arrived in Cairo last night. It is insane. We wandered around today, dodging traffic (very literally...we saw more than one donkey cart trying to hang with the lane-less traffic on the highways, which was pretty impressive and very dangerous!) and getting dusty. According to our guidebook, a day in the Cairo pollution is like smoking 30 cigarettes. I am not sure if that is true but it was pretty hazy. We wandered to an old fortress, where we were quite the attraction for the local school kids, who each wanted a photo with us. Meaning...they asked us to take one with them. So the tables were turned and Jeff and I are now the stars of about 30 kids' camera phones. We are not sure why we were such an odd sight in a city with a lot of tourists...although we actually did not see many other t. In the afternoon, we wandered through the Islamic section of town, through crowded bazaars and narrow streets. It was pretty sweaty, with long sleeves and pants and a head scarf (had I not worn one, I would have been the only woman without). We are off to see the pyramids at Giza tomorrow. In a car. A relief!

What remaıns of an ancıent mosaıc ınsıde of the Aya Sofya (573 AD) ın Istanbul.

The vıew from the restaurants ın Gumusluk.

More Turkey

We have just arrived back ın İstanbul after spending 4 days in Gumusluk, a village on the Southwestern coast of Turkey, where the Aegean Sea meets the Medıterranean. Many thanks to Lin for the use of her house! We got some sun, ate some calimari, and I celebrated my 29th birthday wıth a baklava bırthday cake.

Also, the cruelest of ironies...before we left, İ was extremely concerned with makıng sure that İ would be able to vote from abroad. İ fıgured out how to get an absentee ballot, and secured a place ın Turkey to have ıt sent to. Jeff also sent hıs ınformatıon at the last mınute, but defınıtely rode my coattaıls wıth respect to securıng a ballot. When we arrıved ın Turkey, you guessed ıt...only Jeff's ballot arrıved! Dısenfranchısement, a terrıble bırthday gıft.

Inside of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. The area behind the panels is where the women sit.

The spice market in Istanbul. One stall of about a thousand!

The Aya Sofya in Istanbul. We arrived in Istanbul last night and proceeded to have a great dinner, super cheap but putting Droubi's to shame. We sightsaw today, and are now making our way through the half kilo of turkish delight that the man in the market convinced us to buy.

Me, chilly in Valparaiso, with my old pal Pablo Neruda. He had a ridiculous house designed like a boat up on a hill above Valparaiso.

Adios to South America

After Mendoza, we spent a few days in Santiago, which was a pretty nice city, lots of art in the parks, nice weather...and stayed at the world´s most awesome youth hostel, which had cable TV in our room, a most serious and unheard of perk for a hostel. After Santiago, we headed up into the Andes for some outdoor adventure. We rode horses...which I was not terribly excited to do, and was even less excited as we headed down an extremely steep path with Jeff´s old horse skidding and slipping ahead of me. We also went whitewater rafting, on a river formed by snowmelt from the Andes. It was probably less than 60 degrees outside, but the water was WAY colder...and we got plenty of it on us, though nobody went in. After a month, we have to say adios to South America, and kiss our last time speaking the native language goodbye. Jeff tried out a few Turkish phrases and it was pitiful! We´re taking off on our longest flight leg of the trip, Santiago to Madrid to Istanbul...about 16 total hours in the air. See you in Turkey!

La Virgen, overlooking the city of Santiago, Chile.

In Mendoza, in the heart of the wine region in Argentina.

Jeff "Che" Barnes, drinking his yerba mate.

Mendoza

We have been in Mendoza for the last 3 days, eating beef and drinking malbec. It is hard to leave but it will be better for our health. Jeff tried to be like Che Guevara and drink yerba mate (a strong, unfiltered VERY bitter tea that the Argentines drink out of a hollowed out gourd type vessel and drink through a metal straw) but could only bear to put away one gourd full. We went to another soccer game, this time a second division game between Independiente and CAI in Mendoza...a safer scene for sure, although there was still a decent amount of razor wire. What I will miss most about Argentina though is the mullets. Everybody´s got one, and some are very creative. Jeff wants one but I said no. We are about to head on to Santiago, flying the same route that the stars of "Alive" were flying when they crashed in the Andes. Jeff just finished reading that book and informed me of that -- I felt like it was a poor choice in happy vacation reading!

Buenos Aires

We are verging on week three of the big adventure. We definitely miss W&W alot and the big population of stray South American parros doesn´t help to alleviate our separation anxiety. But we hear that W&W are very happy in their new forested setting. So far, we´ve determined that a tell-tale sign of the economic status of a community is whether dogs are leashed or have collars. Uncle Mort can include that in his next AP test.
We have spent the pàst three days in Buenos Aires. To both Krista and me, we feel more like we´re in Western Europe than South America. BA has a much more European feel than anywhere we spent time in Peru. We´ve tried our best to adust to the Portenos schedule and have really enjoyed indulgent 2pm weekday lunches of steak and wine. But unlike the locals, we have had trouble straying from our premidnight bedtime.
Tomorrow we are off to Mendoza, the wine region of Argentina. We expect to continue enjoying great meals, but in a smaller city. It will be our first and only rental car experience of the three month trip (friends, don´t worry, KB won´t be behind the wheel).