An Afternoon at Leisure

Our New York City - Cairo EgyptAir flight went well and delivered us an hour or so early. After clearing immigration and customs, the twelve or thirteen of us on the plane met Ibraham Tara, our Egytologist guide, for the short ride to the Iberotel Le Passage Heliopolis hotel where we will spend out first night in Egypt before flying on to Luxor tomorrow afternoon.

Not that we are really integrated into Egyptian society out here on the edge of the airport. There are Egyptian families staying here, we suspect celebrating the conclusion of Ramadan; however, the atmosphere is otherwise "just like home." In fact we spent much of the afternoon poolside, soaking up the sun, snacking and swimming beneath a sunny sky spotted with (unexpected) white, fluffy clouds.

On our descent into the Cairo airport, we did pass over the Nile Delta, a green patchwork quilt surrounding clumps of sand-colored villages, the same color of the desert on the horizon.

And at the pool, one family group included two young women dressed to swim in tight-fitting unitards covering them from neck to foot, over which each wore a cotton pinafore-like tunic. Their heads and long hair were stuffed into swim caps as well. But once in the water they appeared to enjoy themselves every bit as much as the young European women across from them wearing hardly anything at all! Talk about cultural dissonance!

Orientation followed by a Welcome Dinner constitutes the extent of this evening's activities. We'll head off the bed thereafter and should emerge in the morning all bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go!