after cairo but still before salt lake.. Siwa and the Sahara!!

Siwa is an oasis about 10 hours away by car form Cairo. We spent a few days there and it was so amazing! It is literally in the middle of the sahara desert and there are thousands and thousands of palm trees and hundreds of natural springs. The cutlture there is also fascinating as it has stayed the same hundreds of years. women still cover themselves completely and i was even asked if i was engaged =] seeing as i am the right age for it. 

Our first day in Siwa we traveled everywhere in donkey carts, which other than motorcycles and bikes is the most common transport in Siwa. I did help drive the donkey cart for a bit =].

First we went to the mountain of the dead where i saw yet another cat =] (above) and afterwards we spent the afternoon swimming in Cleopatra's Bath one of the many natural springs in siwa where cleopatra apparently swam after visiting the temple of the oracle... where we also went. Alexander the Great also visited this temple to ask whether he was the son of a god.
After swimming in Cleopatras bath we watched the sunset over.. i think.. a lake.... in siwa.

It was beautiful the picture doesn't nearly capture it well enough =]

The melted fortress of siwa... is literally just that. It was a great fortress for many many years until it rained for 3 days straight, which in the desert is obviously unusual. Seeing as the fortress was made out of a kind of mud brick.. the rain actually melted it.
Me and my friend Kendall with our new friends in a rug making factory. I helped make that rug by the way... maria.. the girl with the brown head scarf... taught me how and let me make four knots in the rug =] Maria was the one who thought i was engaged to someone else on the trip =]
The Sahara!!!!!!!!! It was sooooo cool!!!! the desert was perfect... you know in the beginning of aladdin?.. yup that is exactly what it is like.. disney never lies  =]

Sahara sunset...

Egypt just has beautiful skies in general.. especially when you are out in the desert. We spent our last night in the desert and me and a few friends decided to actually sleep outside. it got cold and sand was everywhere but that is unavoidable in the desert anyways.. but it was totaly worth it!!!!!! The sky was beautiful there were thousands of start out and i saw at least 8 shooting start that night =]
A group of Siwan men came to play traditional siwan music for us out in the desert and eventually they got us all up and dancing at about 12 at night =] they are playing in the tent which was set up for us out in the desert.
Our last morning in egypt we woke up in the sahara desert and as we were driving away i got a last picture of the sunset  through the window of our big four wheel jeep =]