DAY 13 Fri 25 June

Managed to sleep in today for the first time since getting here – the riding last night probably helped with that, and the fact that it has cooled off from the 40+ degree days we had been having. At 8 I climbed out of bed and went over to the house to check with Maryanne what time we would be heading out, and then went back across to the guest house to wake Mona so she could also get ready.
The grooms went and collected Lilly, Dooby and Amira and saddled them up. Maryanne was riding Amira the Mule, Mona was on Dooby and I rode Lilly. She has a nice new bridle since last time I rode her two years ago, which is very good – the last time, after Maryanne and I had finished a gallop across the desert, wondering why Lilly kept drifting to the right into Dooby we realised that the only thing holding the bit in her mouth was me holding the reins – her bridle had broken. She was a good girl though.
We headed out the back gate and out towards the desert, and as we ride through the village you get all the local children looking and waving and calling out "Allo". As we were crossing the main road – there was a boom box convention. What is a boom box convention you might ask? Well, Maryanne has labelled the local tuk tuk's as boom boxes on wheels, as you will often hear the doof doof doof of the speakers long before you see the tuk tuk! And they are mainly driven by kids too – some probably aren't even in their teens.
Out in the desert Dooby took the lead, though his sense of direction isn't exactly the greatest, and Maryanne would have to keep giving Mona directions on which way to point him once he started drifting off course. We were heading out towards an area with ancient?!? pot shards that we had visited last time. It was a lovely clear day in terms of visibility, and what made it even nicer was there were actually some clouds in the sky and a lovely breeze blowing. What a day for pyramids! For a change there was a lovely clear view out over the Giza plateau, we rode past, very close to the pyramids at Abu Sir, the area with the pot shards was just a little west of the pyramids at Saqqara, and we also had a clear view further south to the Red, Bent and Black Pyramids and others at Dashur. An amazing day!
The area close to the pot shards has a site where a small amount of excavation has been undertaken, and looking closely at the pot shards in the area, there were even some with paint on them – they were beautiful examples of pot shards! It is amazing the things you can find lying out in the desert.
We headed back closer to Saqqara to an area labelled as the Bone Yard. It is in this area that they dump all the unwanted material from excavations at Saqqara. This unwanted material includes pot shards, old marble and limestone, ancient mud bricks, and numerous bones of many species, including human remains. In fact last time I was here and we visited the Bone Yard, we saw mummy wrappings, bits of ancient wood work, and even a pair of mummified feet. It feels rather sacriligious in a way that all this history is just dumped out in the desert. Along with the remnants of ancient civilisation there is also the trash of the excavators – beer cans, pepsi cans, plastic bags and other detritus of modern civilisation is also littered through the Bone Yard. You will find a human femur just inches away from a pepsi can, and then there were the jackal or dog skulls lined up in a row on a piece of wood. Bone fragments and entire bones litter the area, including skulls. It is amazing what you can see in there.
Back in past the pyramids at Abu Sir, and then through Saber's garden to get back to Maryanne's place, for a much needed glass of water after 2 ½ hours out in the desert.
Soon after we got back Sabine turned up, and the four of us sat outside waiting for prayers to finish for the afternoon – otherwise you cannot negotiate the road because of men outside the mosque on their prayer mats.
After prayers had finished, Sabine headed out, and Mona headed back to check on her Mum who has been sick, while Maryanne and I headed first it to a saddlery a couple of villages over, to buy some new fly masks for some of the horses. There was an interesting western saddle in the shop. It had been made by the owner of the store. It had the requisite Egyptian bling on it, with some of the stitching done in some sort of silver wire or something along those lines. It was interesting to see.
From there we went to Pat's place to help her bathe her dog. Willie knows where home is and isn't too keen on going outside – but life outside has obviously been tough on him – he is the sweetest 3 legged dog however. I had to carry him up to Pat's neighbours so they could hose him off, shampoo and rinse him. He was then left in the yard to dry off while we sat out on a nice wooden table eating Cheeto's and drinking Coke – it was one of those days for giving in to cravings. I have never had Cheetos before, but they are kinda like very thin Rashuns, though the cheese flavouring reminds me more of the heavily buttered microwave popcorn than Rashuns.
I then carried Willie out to spend some time on the lawn with us, but he didn't stay there for too long before he told Pat that he definitely wanted back inside!
After leaving Pat's we stopped at the chicken shop in Shoubramont, where we picked up the kofta and kebab that was waiting for us – Egyptian takeaways – yummy :)
After the birds had been fed, we were able to have dinner outside. As I was carrying out the plate of food (with a trail of dogs behind me looking longingly at the plate), I saw a falcon fly past, and land up on the roof of Maryanne's house. I wanted to head around and have a look, but the dogs would have attacked the plate the minute I was out of sight, I'm sure. But when Maryanne got there I was able to peer round the corner and briefly see the falcon perched on the roof, before it flew off to join another falcon flying around – they are lovely little birds (relatively speaking compared to other birds of prey).
The kebab was divine – lovely tender meat, and a basic, but very tasty seasoning for a truly mouthwatering dinner. The kofta was also nice, but couldn't hold a candle to the kebab. Add that to lovely fresh Egyptian tomato and cucumber, and a nice cold glass of water, it was a wonderful dinner!
The rest of the evening has been spent relaxing, though as the sun set, I did get a chance to watch Maryanne's young horses hooning round and round their paddock, chasing one another, while the oldies in the paddock stood with their heads in the feed bins.




Desert ride 2:
Distance - 11.3 Kilometres
Time - 2:24:07
Average speed - 4.7kmph
Max speed - 14.7kmph

DAY 12 Thur 24 June

Fagr, aka Figgy and I out in the desert June 08.

Of all the nights to get a really good night's sleep, did it have to be last night? I woke up and it felt like I had slept in, so I reached across to get my phone to see what time it was. Clicked the button and saw that I had missed a text from Maryanne while I was sleeping. My heart dropped when I saw that – it wasn't going to be good news, and as I read it, it was with a sense of shock. Figgy had looked like he was going to pull through, but it wasn't to be. Either one of the internal abscesses burst or he had an embolism. It was so sad. Maryanne hadn't woken me because it wasn't a pretty sight, and while I'm glad I didn't have to see it, I wish I could have been there for her. I didn't hear a thing – not the grooms, not Maryanne driving out, not the bulldozer as it came in. I was out for the count. It was the one night I didn't wake up during the night because I was too hot. It was an unreal feeling walking out of the house and knowing that Figgy was no longer there. Maryanne summed it up perfectly tonight – "There is a Figgy sized hole in the farm" figuratively and not literally that is. It is never easy, but I also feel that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. While animals leave a big hole behind them when they leave your life, they also give you so much while you are alive. I couldn't imagine going through life without my animals, even though when it is time to let them go it is very hard.
I waited until I saw Maryanne come online before I went over to the house to give her a big hug. I spent most of the morning over there, until she decided that she needed to head into Shoubramont to get some medication for Groucho.
Random things we saw on the way there – the overloaded truck, loaded with wooden pallets on a definite lean to the left, a guy who looked like he was riding two donkeys, and the random judder bar (speed hump) warning right in the middle of the road. And then when we got there the goose themed icecream cart which you apparently never ever have an icecream from, as it is likely to kill you.
Before we went out to do that, I was joking with Maryanne that maybe we needed to put her on Groucho's medication for kennel cough to deal with her cough. And then in the car I suggested that maybe she had given the kennel cough to Groucho. Which made it rather amusing when the pharmacist suggested she take the same medicine that Groucho was on.
The pharmacy from the outside was really indistinguishable for what it was – certainly nothing at all like western pharmacies. Inside, it was obvious that that was what it was – but it was also different. It was wall to floor with medicines behind the counter – they were all arranged by alphabetical order, but there was hardly an inch of wall/cupboard space that wasn't full of medicine. They seemed to be doing very good business too. There was a young kid, who was probably under 10 bandaging a guy's hand. It was an experience – they obviously had a lot of customers through as well, because the lino on the floor was worn through in places, and if it hadn't worn through completely, all the pattern had been worn off.
Once back at the farm it was time to relax, until lunch time, for which we were joined by Laura and Mona. Then after Laura had headed home, three horses were saddled up and Maryanne, Mona and I headed out for a quiet ride around the countryside. Maryanne was on Gameela, I was riding Negmadin, and Mona on Sondos. We hadn't gone far before there were all these egrets resting on a wall. As we got closer, they flew off, but just to the next corner of the wall. While riding through one of the villages we saw the most gorgeous baby donkey – he was whitish in colour, with a light grey cross on his back and huge enormous ears – soo sweet.
Further along there were also a baladi dog and cat drinking out of the same puddle – you don't see many cats out roaming around because they are often taken out by the dogs, but these ones looked like they had probably grown up together.
As we got closer to home, there was also a donkey tethered to one of the irrigation wheels – you don't often get to see them working. It was a clever donkey though – even with a blindfold on it knew it was going round and round in circles, and would often stop.
Then there was the random fence that Maryanne thinks consists of the sides of cheese containers – it had just been painted, and behind there was a roundabout and some old childrens playground equipment.
There were a few things that scared a couple of the horses – for Gameela, it was the cart coming up behind her on the opposite side of the canal. For Negmadin, it was of all things, a kid on the roof that he wouldn't go past without Sondos' protection – big sook!
We also saw one of the evil icecream bikes, and in one place over the farms and houses you could see the pyramids at Abu Sir, and the desert as well :)
Once back at the farm, the horses were being fed while we sat outside at the table making the most of the cooler weather and a lovely breeze, and after a while Sabine turned up so we sat talking, snacking and in my case watching the bats fly around. At first I thought it was a swallow. When at last it was time to head in to bed, I checked my e-mails first and then waited as the power came on and off – thank goodness for laptops! Now I'm lying on the bed typing, with no power. Fortunately today there is a nice breeze blowing, so I'm not missing the fan at all!

Countryside ride 2:
Distance - 5.43 Kilometres
Time - 1:06:18
Average speed - 4.9kmph
Max speed - 7.1kmph

DAY 11 Wed 23 June

I slept later today, probably because of the music from the night before and the interrupted sleep, and then when I woke up, I was in no hurry to be up and doing stuff. In fact, it wasn't until I heard Maryanne outside that I decided it was time to get dressed.
I went out and there were Dory and her two kids slurping up juice from the two big bath tubs where Maryanne soaks the beet pulp. Figgy was looking so much better today – many of the abscesses have started to shrink, and there isn't as much of a blockage around his windpipe. His muscles also were much more relaxed. His condition is now listed as serious, not critical thank goodness – it was such a relief to Maryanne to see him looking so well that she decided it was time to go swimming. As we were about to leave, Figgy and Dory were grazing on the front lawn :)
We hopped in Mohamed's Volkswagen Beetle, and headed to Babsi's for a swim in the pool. We took the VW because Mohamed was running around Cairo doing all these errands in the Jeep.
Now this is a special VW. I hopped in the car and Maryanne told me to turn on the airconditioning before we got started, which involved winding down the windows. As we were driving out, the glove box kept falling open also – it may be an oldie, but it is a goodie and it keeps running and running.
The last time I was visiting Maryanne's we had stopped briefly at Babsi's, but just at the stables. The last time I saw the house and pool area was about seven years ago, when the house was only a shell. I think they may have just started digging out the pool as well. The place is just beautiful – lovely landscaped lawns with amazing trees, and the pool is huge.
After getting changed, it was lovely to hop into the pool, it made the stinking hot day (though the temperature was lower than the last three days) very very bearable.
There were a lot of birds around too, sparrows, swallows and crows mainly. Any bird that flew low over the pool looked like they had blue breasts with the reflection of the bottom of the pool. It kept throwing me
We got out at one stage and talked to Babsi, and then I got a phonecall from Mona who had turned up at the farm and was wondering where we were, so she came out and joined us.
We spent a long time soaking, so much so that fingers resembled raisins more than anything else when we finally got out and headed back to Maryanne's for some food (conversation in the pool had kept going back to food, which made both Mona and I hungry). We had a lovely chicken salad for dinner, sitting outside in the shade, with a breeze blowing which made it quite pleasant (well relatively speaking for that heat).
The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, and then when Mona left, Disney, the dizzy dalmation jumped up from behind the bushes beside the gate and ran out the gate, followed closely by Bella – darn dogs! Eventually got Bella back, though I cheated and after she came up to me I carried her to the gate (she is fortunately a medium sized desert dog). Disney however was playing hard to get. Eventually Magda and I gave up on her and went back inside, and Maryanne went out to the garden to call her, to no effect. Maryanne then realised that with the new fence that had been put up across the field, there was no easy way for her to loop round and come back, without heading out to the main road, so I grabbed my keys and headed out to the back gate to see if she was there. As I was walking along the edge of the large paddock I could see her between the fence and the corn field, so I called her and unlocked the gate. There were baladi dogs out there that Finn, Bella and Buffy who had come with me were barking at, and I don't think Disney wanted to come out onto the road with them around. Instead she found a hole in the fence (or exploited a weakness, I'm not sure which) and made her own way back into the place. After closing and locking the gate, I headed back with the dogs to the house to let Maryanne know that Disney was home, and about the hole in the fence, and then it was over to the guest house to head off to bed!

DAY 10 Tue 22 June

Woke up early this morning, and got up early as Maryanne was heading off to Alex. First stop was Figgy to see if there was any change since last night. He was standing between his mum and his big brother munching on hay – and he had a brighter look in his eye. His legs however were more swollen than the day before.
I went over to talk to Maryanne before she left, and we went out again to have a look at Figgy.
After she had gone, I went over to the house to do some work on the computer. Unfortunately I got sick of the sound of the dogs, especially Demon, barking at Maryanne's staff, so I gathered all my stuff together, and like the pied piper, walked out of there with a trail of dogs behind me. Once in the guest house in the airconditioning, the dogs crashed out on every available bit of floor or couch space.
At one stage I got a phone call from Maryanne, asking me to take another look at Figgy, so I went out to have a look, with the dogs trailing behind me as if I was Maryanne – lol. For a change Figgy was actually standing in the shade! While I was standing talking to Figgy, one of the grooms bought him the leaves of corn for him to munch on, which he started eating with relish. Then I was left holding the leaves for Figgy, while Bunduq kept stretching out his neck trying to steal them. Eventually Figgy gave up on the leaves and wandered across the drive and started munching on the grass, and then Figgy was given a bowl of pelleted food, held up for him so he didn't have to stretch down – he's going to want the royal treatment when he is better I'm sure! He cleaned out the first bowl and started on a second, and then Sabine turned up. After she had had a look at Figgy, the prognosis was hopeful – though there was more swelling in the hind legs, the forelegs hadn't swollen up any more, and the abscess weren't as hard as they had been. We then headed back towards the houses and shade, me taking the dogs into the guesthouse, while Sabine went to find some breakfast. It wasn't long until she called me over to the house though because Groucho was coughing. He stopped not long after I got over there – though it was hard to tell because all the dogs had followed me over, and were barking at the workers, so I got banished back to the guest house.
Eventually Sabine made it over to the guest house, and we proceeded to put up her massage table and she gave me a massage, working on my troublesome right shoulder. If anyone is over in Egypt, and looking for a massage to relax tired weary muscles after too much sight seeing or riding, I can certainly recommend her!
We went out in the afternoon heat to check on Figgy again – he was just finishing another bath, and then they led him over to the shelter, and he stood with his head in the shelter while once again Prince Figgy was hand fed – he certainly deserves it though, that boy is a fighter! He hasn't given up at all, though at times it must be very tough for him.
While Sabine was treating Figgy, I had to give up and head back inside to the cool of the guest house. Hopefully there aren't many hot days like these last 3 days left in my time in Egypt!
Not long after Sabine got back inside, she had to run off home, as she had guests coming round. I need to meet her flatmate before I go – Hala teaches belly dancing and makes costumes – sounds like the perfect person to take shopping with e to buy belly dancing stuff!
It was then just a matter of waiting for Maryanne and Mohamed to get back from Alexandria, and when they did the dogs were very happy to see them (as was I because it meant the pack would follow Maryanne, and I would just have Buffy and maybe Bella as my shadows. We checked on Figgy once more, and as we were heading back inside, Maryanne was talking to one of the grooms, and we found out that the neighbours in what she calls the Disney house (because it looks like something you would expect to see at Disneyland) were planning a party for the night. Hmm – an Egyptian party right next door – uh oh. So she left plans with the grooms of what horses needed to be kept away from the fence. Looking over the fence you could see them draping lights down the side of the building.
I had retired to the guest house when Maryanne called, wanting the key to the back gate, so I handed that over and went in to get my camera, to take some photos of the lights on the house – no fairy lights over here in Egypt – they use regular sized coloured bulbs!
They were opening the back gate to let in a vet to have a look at Demon's eye, and to check out Groucho's cough. Poor Groucho has kennel cough and has been prescribed medication for that, and there are also 3 medicines to go in Demon's eye – he isn't at all happy about that!
As it started to get dark, I thought maybe it would be a good time to head over to the guest house and maybe try to get a little sleep before the party started – didn't happen though – I started reading a book and then talked to Morad for a bit on the phone as the music played in the background. It wasn't too bad though – the music was loud, but the walls of the guest house dampened it quite well, and I dozed off to sleep for a bit with the music going, but about an hour later I woke up again for some reason, and stayed awake until the music stopped at 12. There was the music, and I could hear kids yelling, but there were no gun shots or any of the louder noises I had expected. In fact, it was almost subdued for an Egyptian village party.

DAY 9 Mon 12 June

It was a disturbed night last night with the dogs running off and barking at all hours, but I managed to sleep further into the morning than usual (that means I actually made it through till 7am – lol).
Since then we have been spending time out with Figgy – it didn't look too good first time I got out there – he was lying down... but he seems to be resting. And when he gets up he is more than happy to eat. It was forecast for another scorcher today, and it lived up to that. We spent a fair amount of the morning out checking on Figgy. While he was laying down the grooms would cool him off with water, as he had found the most comfortable place to lie down – unfortunately it was in the hot sun. He seems to have an aversion to shade. There were some shenanigans amongst the other horses, with Dory and Nazeer hooning around a bit, and two of the youngsters making a break for it.
Eventually it became too hot and I had to escape inside. I have pretty much become acclimitised to the heat over here, but today and yesterday were extreme.
In the afternoon I had a phonecall from Morad, and was heading round there to visit. It was at this stage I realised just how hot it was out there. The metal of the front gate was almost hot enough to burn, and as I was walking around, there was an equal amount of heat radiating off the sand as coming down from the sun. In fact the soles of my feet were getting very very hot, even through the thick soles of my sneakers. Add on top of that that about five minutes after stepping outside your throat is so dry. I was really looking forward to getting to Morad's and having a cold drink of water. Unfortunately the field I walk across had been completely blocked off near the road by a new fence. So I had to turn around and walk all the way back. When I got back to the farm, Jack was there checking Figgy over. The prognosis was not good - poor boy. I didn't really want to leave after that, but I had told Morad that I would head round, so I borrowed a key to the back gate and went out that way. Once again I nearly burnt my hand on the gate, especially getting this one closed, but eventually I managed to get it closed and locked, and headed up to Morad's. He was outside talking to a friend but it didn't take long until we could head inside into the slightly cooler house, and I finally got a nice cool glass of water. Needed more than one glass to get the throat back to feeling like a normal throat however. We watched a little bit of the soccer on TV – Switzerland versus Chile. Switzerland is the team I managed to draw in the work pool, and I have absolutely no idea how they are going – lol.
When I got back to Maryanne's, Sabine was mixing up some stuff to massage him, and I cooled off for a bit in the airconditioning before heading out to see how he was going – it was so hot walking to and from Morad's.
Figgy's legs were really stocked up, which is to be expected when his heart isn't working so well, and Sabine spent quite a while out there with him massaging with her special stuff – I put some on his ouchy bits too, and it was really quite interesting how it made my hands feel – a mixture of hot and cold (I couldn't work out which) and almost numb – pretty potent for vinegar and essential oils!
While spending the evening inside with Maryanne, the power went out :( It was out for about 2 hours, some of which we spent on the computers in the dark. Then the modems started playing up so I gave up and went to bed, but not to sleep – for one thing, it was stinking hot, and for another because most of Maryanne's staff were still here because of the fact that her and Mohamed were going to Alexandria, and because Figgy was so sick, they were all outside making the most of the cooler air outside.
The power finally came back on around 11pm, and I decided to crash in the lounge, hoping to make the most of the airconditioning.

DAY 8 Sun 21 June

Woke up reasonably early this morning, more because of the light than anything else. In fact, even though I was in the middle of Maadi, it was much quieter than being out on the farm – no dogs barking, or donkeys braying – lol. And there wasn't much in the way of traffic that I could hear either, whether because it is pretty well sound proofed or there wasn't much or the room was away from the traffic, I'm not sure.
Spent the morning talking to Susan before Mohamed turned up to pick me up. We had a couple of stops along the way on the way home – the first was for Mohamed to pick up some tubes so that they could do a blood test for Figgy. The second was at the train station so he could pick up some tickets to Alexandria. It was a good place for people watching while waiting – from the guy shining shoes to the people walking up and down the road, and hopping in and out of buses.
Once back at the farm I felt pretty bleuch – Pharaoh's curse – something from dinner last night obviously didn't agree with me. And to top it off, it was stinking hot, and the haze was really bad – a lot of dust and pollution in the air. So I spent most of the afternoon hiding inside reading or dozing. Figgy still appears to be doing well.
I crashed for the night over in Maryanne's house on the dog bed – under the airconditioning – at least that helped to keep it slightly cooler.

DAY 7 Sat 19 June

Was lying in bed in the morning contemplating getting up, when out of the blue a large dog jumped up on the bed and draped herself over me asking for a pat. I had no idea how Bella had got inside until I looked out the bedroom door and saw that the front door was open just wide enough for Bella to sneak in. But I knew I had closed it last night, so I climbed out of bed and saw that not only was the front door open, but so were the doors to both of the other bedrooms in the guest house. That didn't make any sense at all until I saw the car outside, and figured either Mona had come back during the night or Sabine had crashed for the night. As I was climbing back into bed for a bit of a lie in I heard splashing, and looked out the window to see Figgy playing around with his water bucket and effectively spilling it all out on the ground – silly boy.
Soon Sabine got up and we had a look out the window at Figgy and a bit of a chat before she hopped in the shower. I was back in my room when I heard a noise from out the window that didn't sound right at all. I looked out to see Figgy having some sort of seizure and shaking, so I ran over to the house to get Maryanne. The grooms let Figgy out of the ICU, and he went to see his mum and his brother, and was a lot happier. The three of them were given the run of the entire farm, and it was good to see Figgy with an appetite. I also went and got the camera to get some photos of the horses being silly – especially Nayzak and Dooby. The majority of the rest of the day was spent keeping an eye out for Figgy, until 4.30 when Mohamed took me into Maadi to meet a friend of Maryanne's, Susan, who is a teacher here. I got to meet her dog and cats, and we sat talking for a while before another of her teacher friends, Paul turned up, and we caught a taxi out to Khan el Khalili. We had dinner in a nice restaurant close by – the menu was an interesting mix of Middle Eastern and Indian food and was rather tasty, except maybe the kofta. After dinner was finished and we had had a look at the upstairs room of the restaurant, which also had a very nice view out over that area of Cairo, as well as being very nicely furnished, we walked down the road to find the old building, Wikalet El-Ghoury, in El-Hussien in Islamic Cairo. It was here that Sultan Qonsuah Al Ghoury, the last of the Memluke sultans used to host foreign merchants. Each merchant was given five rooms. The ground floor was used as a showroom, the 2nd floor as an office, the 3rd floor as a living area, the 4th floor for the servants, and the last for the wife and the children. It is in this building where three times a week, there is a free Sufi display, otherwise known as the Whirling Dervishes. We got in early enough to get seats, but to get a decent view, I went and sat on the fountain – not the most comfortable of seats but the best place for photography.
The music was great, and the pipes they used sound similar to the scottish bagpipes at times. The dancing was also wonderful. I'd seen whirling dervishes two years ago in Turkey, but it was one person at a time, where as this was a whole group of people up on the stage, maybe one whirling (though at times three), and the rest dancing around, often with an instrument – it was a whole nother kettle of fish! One guy was whirling for about ½ hour. It got to the stage where you just wanted him to stop – round and round and round and round and... it made the audience dizzy. And when he stopped, he was able to walk in a straight line. I have managed to answer the age old question of what a Sufi mystic wears under their skirt – the answer is in fact, another skirt!
It was a great night, the colours were amazing, the music was awesome, what an experience.
I stayed the night at Susan's because the show didn't finish till 10, so it was easier to stay there than have to work out how to get back to Maryanne' at that time of night.