THE NEWS THAT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING TO HEAR: YES, STEAV AND BILL HAVE ARRIVED IN CAIRO!

Although our travelling fivesome is no longer "en route", unfortunately, I cannot get that title to change . . . SORRY! Here are the latest updates from Tom, Lisa, and Bill from the "Cradle of Civilization"

• Day 2:

We (Bill and Lisa) spent our second day (morning) in Cairo walking along the river Nile promenade and saw the opera house. Later after Tom arrived and got some sleep we (Tom, Bill & Lisa) decided to meet at the Egyptian Museum. The walkie-talkies more than paid for themselves in trying to make even that simple of a connection.

We went straight to the room that held King Tut's burial artifacts- his gold coffins, death mask, jewelry, etc. We then saw mummified animals- baboons, cats, and even a hugemongous crocodile (15 feet) and perch fish (3 feet). We toured the rest of the museum and saw many stone tombs. There was also a royal mummy room but it was twice the price of the museum's admission so we go back another time with Bill & Steav.

For dinner we ate at Abou Tarek, a crazy place known for its koshari- an egyptian dish of rice, pasta, lentils, fried onions and tomato sauce. It was delicious and only $1 per serving.

• Day 3:

Steav and Bill arrived sometime in the wee hours this morning so while they sleep, the 3 of us started early and took a taxi to see the Citadel. The Citadel contains 3 beautiful mosques and a couple small museums and has great views of Cairo. We could even see the Giza pyramids in the distance. To tour the (not currently used) mosques was technically free, but men were there to guide you and expected bakseesh in return- one guide demanded as much as our taxi ride after our (very informative English) tour of 1 mosque, but still only $4.

After haggling with 3 drivers over price, we had a great taxi driver on our return to Capsis who is also a tour guide. He told us all about salaries and education in Egypt. He was an accountant but he makes more money now as a taxi driver and a guide. He went to university and speaks 4 languages.

We enjoyed an Egyptian brewed Stella beer back at the hotel. Now we are ready to set off to walk thru the european section of Cairo: Zamalek (we are waiting to see if Bill and Steav will be awake soon to join us).

• This addendum just in from Tom:

Cairo is very busy and crazy. People and cars everywhere. Hussles occurring constantly. To cross the street you do as one Egyption suggested, "Close your eyes, pray to Allah, and go across."