Alexandria and MINA!!!!

Our sole purpose for visiting the much acclaimed Alexandria was not for the views of the Mediterranean but to see our beloved friend Mina and his family. We arrived in Cairo after a long and uneventful bus ride from Sinai (7 hours) followed by another painful train ride (3 hours) before stepping foot into Alex. In was dark by the time we arrived so we checked in to our hotel, ordered room service and watched movies on the satellite TV we had in our room. The only other interesting thing to comment on was the crazy taxi driver (who took us from the bus depot to the train station) in Cairo – he was very impatient and attempted to drive away as we had one foot still in the cab. Needless to say, he did not receive his baksheesh.


The following day we slept in and spoiled ourselves with a movie. By the time it was over, we figured it was time to get off of our lazy buts and sight see. We walked along the Corniche for 3 hours but really could not appreciate any of the beauty. There was garbage everywhere – lined in the streets, piled against all buildings and floating in the water. Although we did not think it was nearly as dirty as Cairo, it was still really bad for our Canadian Standards. On top of all this, people would just whip out their wookie's and pee wherever they felt the urge (also something we noticed in Cairo). We saw tons of fishermen boats floating in the water...and one sunken boat which made me smile and think of my dad and his unfortunate boat experiences (don't worry dad...I bug you because I love you!).


After touring a mediocre fish museum at the end of our walking tour, we hailed a cab and told him to take us to our much beloved Carrefour. Even before leaving the parking area our cabbie got into a massive yelling match with the local cars around him. At first we thought it was quite comical because their was a little girl in the passenger seat of one of the vehicles. She joined in with her mom and leaned out the window and joined in on the yelling. Everyone was laughing...everyone that is except for our cab driver. He then got really angry and must have told the woman off because the fighting then started all over again but this time with a heightened tone to it. We only wish we could understand Arabic.


We made it to our destination safely and with our tummy's grumbling, we made a bee line to the food court. We could not believe our luck when we saw a FuddRuckers...just what we were both craving. We sat down and glanced at the menu even though we both knew what we wanted. We could not believe the variety this FuddRuckers had over ours and on top of that, the burger building station even had a variety of salads including a very delicious potato salad. We ate in bliss and as usual, went through a dozen napkins. When we received the bill, we noticed it was a lot more than what we were expecting...precisely 25% more. When I went to inquire, I was told that 13% was taxes (fair enough) and 12% was a service fee. I was then told that I still had to tip the server as this service fee was for the restaurant only. We then remembered our Lonely Planet book warning travellers of this. I guess it was a good thing that we rarely ate out at restaurants and stuck to the 'street food' and thankfully for us, we never got too sick from the street food.


We shopped around and treated ourselves to “Shutter Island”. We were somewhat disappointed as the movie was not what we were expecting. But...what we also were not expecting was a completly deserted theatre that at half time took a 7 minute intermission. I can only assume that this is done to give a break to all those smokers in the country. Cigarettes are as little as $1 a pack and everywhere I looked, people were lighting up. After the movie we headed back to Carefour. After my experiences in Carrefour, I will never enter a WalMart and think it is busy or be annoyed at the crowds. I have never seen so many people in one giant superstore in my entire life. The whole experience is both exhilarating (well...some what) and exhausting at the same time. The security at the store is very advanced and it goes a little something like this;
1)Upon entering the store, a security guard collects your belongings and puts them together in a clear bag in which he seals via heat. If you have a drink, it is confiscated. A water bottle is permitted but the bottle is stickered indicating approval.
2)When looking at electronics, you must wait your turn at which point you will be helped. When you have selected something you wish to buy, the clerk gives you a piece of paper in which you have to wait in another line to pay. Once the transaction is completed, you go back to the electronic counter where the clerk reviews your receipt and stamps that it has been paid. He hands you your purchase at which point you think you are free to go – right???
3)Wrong, you now must wait in another line to exit. The security guard reviews you receipts and your purchase, hands you a bag to put your purchases in and stamps on your receipt, “Security Out”.


Sound complicated? Well, it really is not that bad and you do get used to it. Jeremy and I would recommend to be organized and try and limit all your purchases to one visit unlike one of our days where we had 3 or 4 – call us crazy!


From our recent journey to Sinai, we were more than convinced that we needed a new camera. We were not enjoying our picture taking as we had been in the past and we figured this would be a decision we would not regret. We still could not find our beloved G11 so we settled on a Canon 1000 EOSD. We did not buy the camera that night because we wanted to double check on some of the reviews.


The following day (aka Easter Sunday) we were awoken to Mina calling. We were in deep sleep as it took him two calls to get a hold of us. He picked us up outside our hotel and here we met his family. Lena was his beautiful and pregnant wife of 8 months and Malina was their absolutely adorable five year old daughter. Malina was hungry so we all stopped for some lunch at McDonald's. From here Mina took us to the Library of Alexandria which is the first and oldest library in the world. It had been burnt down during the reign of the Romans and was rebuilt later to a grander scale than before, to illustrate the importance of this once grandoise library. It was unbelievable and seemed to be larger than a football stadium. The library had something like three museums and all sorts of neat gadgets – a machine that could print a fully copy of a book from start to finish (scanning, printing and binding) in about twenty minutes. It was very neat.


It was not until we got back in to the car that Malina had finally warmed to us (she was very very shy at first). She entertained us with all of her toys in the car (I could not believe all those toys could fit into a car) and we sang songs and played games. We both immediately fell in love with her and we were sad to say our goodbyes. Mina and his family had a Easter family gathering but we would meet us later that night. So we figured since our beloved Carrefour was on their way, it would be a fantastic place to kill some time. We watched another movie (Wolf man...a big disappointment yet again) and then window shopped. There were so many beautiful things I wanted to buy but I had to limit myself as I knew we just did not have the space. We ended up purchasing the EOS Canon Camera (and have never once regretted it) and some gifts for Mina and his family as a “Thank you for all of your help and essentially being our saviour while in Egypt”. We met up with Mina again at night and he graciously drove us to the bus station where he helped us buy tickets for our bus ride back to Cairo.

The following day Mina picked us up from our hotel and we had tea and dessert at his house. I was thrilled because this meant getting to see Milana again. She was shy for the first 2 minutes then before you knew it, she was whipping out the gifts we had given her. We had such a great time and so enjoyed their company. After drinking our cup of tea and eating dainty after dainty we took lots of pictures and said our goodbyes. We only hope that we can meet again in the not too distant future perhaps in Canada (as they are hoping to immigrate to the East) or somewhere closer to their home. It was from Mina and his amazing Egyptian hospitality that we discovered that travelling is not just about where you go and what you see but who you meet along the way. And, it is these people, these experiences and these friendships that you will remember and cherish forever.


We decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon at Carrefour. This probably seems crazy to you but we were so exhausted from all of the sight seeing. It was Easter Monday and we were homesick and what we felt we needed more than sight seeing was a little bit of comfort and we found this at the mall. We ate another meal at FuddRuckers (and yes, this meant paying an additional 25% in taxes on top of the menu price) and watched yet another movie. This time we lucked out. We watched the latest Mel Gibson movie called, 'The Edge of Darkness' and it was exactly what we needed. We headed back to our hotel feeling refreshed and ready to go...ready to take on Morocco – a whole new chapter in our amazing journey.