The Writeventures of Ema Leecious: Cairo Diaries- March 2019

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Cairo Diaries- March 2019

Hello April!

It's so good to see you. April is such a lovely month for me- So many birthdays- my mum, my husband, my amazing friend, another great friend and so many others I can't even count. For me April just reminds me of soft flowers and beautiful times.

Chris and I at the concluding Dinner at AUC

So, I'm sharing details of my recent trip to Cairo, Egypt. I had a week off work to go to Cairo to attend a summit by the African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative (AWEC).

AWEC organized a year long Business training for 200 Women all Africans (including those in Diaspora and it was a mind blowing experience.

They engaged us for a whole 12 months and taught us basic prinicples of business, took us through everything we need to know and provided us with seasoned experts who gave us everything we need just to grow our businesses FOR FREE! Yep, you got that right, it was all at no cost to us. To crown all these we gathered mid-year (in September 2018) in Kigali, Rwanda for a mid-year summit and an end of year summit again in Cairo Egypt, both times in 5 star Hotels (oh, the luxuriousness of the experience!)

AWEC Peer Group Heliodor at Dinner at AUC

With Karen on Day 1 of the Summit at AUC

For the Gram

I came, I saw, I conquered!

With Tanya (roomie from Kigali) and Rachael (Roomie at Cairo)

My paddy- Clara

So this post is basically about my Cairo trip.

I've always wanted to explore the world but I always felt I couldn't do this on my own, didn't have enough funds or was just to afraid to do this. So when this opportunity for Cairo came along, I didn't even think about it, I knew I was going to extend my trip and have fun and explore.
Funny, Egypt wasn't among my top 5 countries to visit, but i knew I was going to have fun after work of course!

Getting an Egyptian Visa was very difficult for my group of Ladies and I. It may have been because we are Nigerians, I don't even want to dwell on that, but at some point, I was exhausted with the process and secretly said I wouldn't follow through. Then, we had to all go to Abuja in person, to the Egyptian Embassy after they had held our passports for over a month. This was totally un-planned for both financially and in terms of time. I almost gave up. Then I thought, after this stress, I just can't give up now (haha, Thank you Mary Mary) packed my bags for a night out in Abuja then went for the interview. It wasn't even an interview per-say. They just wanted to see our faces and be sure we were real. We got our Visa but couldn't take our passports till the next week.
Visa acquired now time to buy tickets...I was very lucky to get an affordable ticket. Some of my friends were not so lucky and paid a very high fee. (we paid out of pocket because we planed to extend our trip. For those who were staying only the duration of the program, their tickets were booked for them- we will get reimbursed though, have no fear! They just wanted us to sort out our details ourselves so there wouldn't be any form of confusion.)
The day we finally got to travel is very memorable for me. We met with faces we had spoken with our interacted with in the last 6 months and this time we had things in common, had topics to discuss, had collaborative ideas which we could each learn from. It was a great experience that I will remember always and cherish.

The first shocker we got was the cold. It was very windy and cold but it was delightful feeling compared to the Lagos heat which is really really hot. I'm not sure a single air conditioner was turned on all through my stay there, and I didn't even feel it.

After the intensive 2-day AWEC conference, my friends and I had booked a tour with a tour company on Egypt via one of us Cohort members so we gathered together, got on the tour bus and went on to have the time of our lives. I really don't want to talk about the tour because it was very disappointing. The tour guide was more interested in his commissions than in us ladies having a beautiful picture of the amazing landmarks, sights and sounds of Egypt.

The Sphinx guarding the Pyramids

He took us to Giza where we saw the pyramids and the Sphinx. He almost didn't want to stop for us at the Sphinx but we were having none of it. We got down very briefly, took photos from the road of the sphinx and moved on to another location. At the Pyramids, we rode the camel. This was very new to me. I had the guide record me climbing the camel and I still laugh till date. The camel ride was fun though, but I was super glad to be back on solid ground. We rode all the way into the desert and took great pictures with the pyramids on a line behind us. It was such a fantastic view.

I can touch the peak :)

I came, I saw, I conquered!

My understanding of our next stop was to stop at a place where we could view the process of the famous Egyptian Oils which have been known to have many uses as far back as the time of the Pharaohs. We didn't expect him to take us to a perfume shop (Siva Oasis) where they sold oils and scents. The oils were a bit pricey, but they lady who explained the uses to us is a great saleswoman and had us thoroughly entertained and bringing out our hard earned money to buy oils. I bought a box of 6 oils.

At Siva Oasis trying to make a decision on the oils.

Our next stop was to see the great papyrus flower which the Egyptians use to make original paper which is washable. We went to a store where they took us through the steps of making the paper from the flower and showed us the difference between the original papyrus paper and regular paper which had been dyed to look like it. It was an ahhh moment for us when she dipped the paper in water with all the colours, washed it and squeezed it and the paper didn't tear. We went through their gallery and a few ladies bought some items and we moved on.

From there we headed on to the market to buy souvenirs for our loved ones. I personally felt the items were over priced and only bought some fridge magnets. To be fair, the Egyptian currency is pretty stable compared to the Dollar at 17 Pounds to $1. This is coming from me, a Nigerian with our Naira at $1 to N 365. and about 20 Egyptian pounds to N1. An item which is reasonably priced in pounds would have been a bit high in Naira.

As we finished shopping, we started our drive to the Nile where we would end the day with a cruise on the Nile. We had looked forward to this cruise and were super excited about it. By the time we got to the port for the cruise, the cruse ship was just returning to prepare for the last voyage for the day.
Unfortunately, a few ladies had to go back to the airport for their trip back home so they were going to miss out on the Nile cruise. They were totally upset and this was understandable. I personally felt our guide could have planned the tour better, as we didn't get our Money's worth. Rather than go to the market, Siva Oasis and the papyrus shop, we could have gone to the Museum, the Coptic church and then made the Nile cruise before the ladies had to go back.

We kind of lost our zeal for the trip as we were cold, hungry and super tired. By the time we were halfway on the cruise, a number of the ladies had dozed off. The day was super packed and the cool breeze from the water was really soothing.
After the cruise, we hailed 3 taxis and went to look for our new hotel. As the conference was over, a couple of us had made reservation at a hotel for the rest of our stay.

When the taxi pulled up in front of the hotel, we almost didn't get down from the car as the environment looked like he had brought us to the stables. He pointed at the hotel and we saw the name boldly written, we had to get down. We approached the hotel with trepidation not knowing what to expect, what with all the horses and camels walking around lazily. To our surprise and delight, the hotel was a totally different world entirely. The hotel had a beautiful fragrance and the ambience was not just welcoming but beautiful and the hotel staff were super friendly too. Unfortunately, my friend Uche and I had to go to a sister hotel a street away to sleep as our room was still occupied.
The next day we got back to the original hotel, had breakfast, played about a bit then went to the roof top to explore only to discover to our delight that the rooftop directly overlooked the Sphinx and the pyramids. What joy!!

We went shopping, sight seeing and generally enjoying the scenery and had loads of fun. I had a great time exploring, sleeping and bonding with the new contacts-turned-friends I had made. We giggled to ourselves when we needed directions and couldn't find our way even though the directions were clearly written out...in Arabic, or when we needed to bargain for an item or when we used our phone calculators to converse in either USD or Arabic Pounds. It was a great trip and helped reinforce my thought that a girls trip would be fun, fun fun!

I look forward to my next trip with more amazing ladies!