DAY 25 Wed 7 July

Slept in a little, trying to catch up on lost sleep – I nearly succeeded. By the time I finally got up, Cris had arrived, as Sabine was going to check on Nayzak and see if they could work out what was wrong with him. I went in and helped get some stuff sorted for Maryanne and give the dogs their medicine. Demon was being picky though, and Geo ran in and ate his prozac – oops. In the end I had to drop a prozac down Demon's throat – he managed to eat off all the cheese and the meat surrounding it, leaving me no choice.
I sat inside wih everyone for a bit until the grooms asked if I wanted to head out for a ride – silly question :) They saddled up Nazeer for me – my first ride on him for a couple of years at least. We headed out past Marina – they were actually working on the building before it again, but fortunately there was no concrete mixer or winch up the side, so nothing for the horses to spook at. Turned left at Marina and down along the canal, which was actually rather full and clearish (in places at least). There was the requisite view of people fixing pumps, and donkeys and donkey carts galore. That is always a nice sight riding down that side – there are the nice little mud brick and palm front animal shelters – and a proper brick building with huge cracks in it – sometimes you wonder how buildings stay standing around here. We got to the bottom of the canal where we turn back and ride up the other side, and Tatoush was there on one of his HUGE warmbloods it stands taller than 1m 76cm at the withers. They headed in our direction but along the path on the other side of the canal, and when they went cantering past, all the horses seemed to think it was time for a race – Nazeer was jumping all over the place, throwing in little bucks. So much so that I had to tuck my camera into the waistband of my trousers so that I had both hands free for the reins – I'd say he is pretty much over the strangles, and feeling very good with all the good food he has been on – he was very frisky!
I also saw some of the perch in the canal – these ones were about the size of a finger, though Maryanne has told me they can get to about the size of a hand (not my hand size but a normal persons hand size). I have also been meaning to write about the dragonflies for quite a while – they are all different colours – there are ones with red bodies and red transluscent wings, and others that are red with clear transluscent wings. I have also seen some with blue bodies as well. The ones I like the best however have a black body and the majority of their wing is transluscent, except for two black bits at the end, so they look really cool while they are fluttering around – and they will often follow along beside the horses as well. The local butterflies are also nicely coloured and will flitter alongside the horses. They are orangey brown, with black and white on the edges of their wings – I have actually seen them before in one of the butterfly houses in New Zealand (can't remember if it is in Thames or at Butterfly Creek at Auckland Airport, or both). We turned to head across the field, but the farmland around had been submerged under water, and the path we usually ride along was very wet and pugged up, so we headed back out beside the canal and continued on our way. At one stage, there was a pump pumping water across the track and straight into the field, so we had to wait while they turned it off before making our way across – but little Mohamed was having a hard time getting Farhan to walk across the wet spots in the track, so they started it up again, but had to stop it for him to get across.
The ride wasn't so exciting this time as we pretty much walked down one side of the canal and back up the other, but there were still neat things to see, and the countryside changes from day to day – you are always likely to see something new. And as we rode past Marina, there were three kids on the back of a donkey talking to another kid – it's amazing to see how many people can fit on the back of a donkey, or a motorbike, or a scooter over here. While we were waiting for someone to come and open the back gate, I noticed a horse tethered to the end of a fence a little further along. When I went to look, it had this hideous leopard skin print over the saddle (which I think was one of the dancing horse saddles) – talk about tacky! That certainly required a photo!
Because the temperature has snuck upwards again, the heat of the afternoon has been spent inside relaxing. I headed over to Morad's place to watch the soccer, Germany vs Spain. There was a bit of a wait till the game started, and to fill in time Morad did some channel surfing and we watched a bit of I think it was Ocean's Twelve. From the time the game started, Spain clearly had the upper hand in terms of possession and they played better than Germany, but they hardly even tried for the goal – it was kind of frustrating, and I was starting to doze off while the game went on – not quite sure why I was so tired.
At half time we switched back to Ocean's Twelve for a bit which I must admit woke me up somewhat, and then Morad announced we were going to go and watch the rest of the game in airconditioning, so we hopped in the Jeep and drove down the road. We pulled into a driveway, with Ramy not far behind us, and walked into a house (well, house isn't really the right word for it – it was just one room – Ramy's place I am assuming. Because it was a nice small room, the air conditioning unit cooled it nicely (almost too well by the end of the game!). Ramy didn't stay for long, dropping off some dorito's and pepsi and then he went on his way. Finally Spain scored (it made Morad happy because he was cheering for Spain, though he thought Germany would win. We were joined towards the end of the game by another brother of Ramy and Saber's, though I didn't catch his name, and he gave me a lift home in Morad's Jeep after the game had finished – I really needed sleep. It wasn't until we were driving out however that I realised just how close it was to Maryanne's place – just a walk across a field.
Oh well, that time of night isn't exactly the best time for a single foreign female to go wandering around.

Countryside ride 13:
Distance - 4.23km
Time - 0:55:31
Average speed - 4.6kmph
Max speed - 12.5kmph

DAY 24 Tue 6 July

Weird dream last night - three dodgy looking businessmen turned up wanting to go for a ride, but it was supposed to be a two day ride. I didn't feel comfortable taking them out though, and Maryanne couldn't come out to talk to them because she was housebound, so Sherif I think it was was trying to deal with them. Then the scenery changed and we were at the loading dock of a warehouse or a train station or something like that and Maryanne got out of the Jeep (even though she was still injured and shouldn't have been up and about). All Maryanne's staff came running to protect her, jumping barriers and dodging security guards, and she also had protection from some of the Cullens from the Twilight series. Dr. Cullen was there, and so was the blonde sister (I've temporarily forgotten her name). Dr Cullen was standing guard, and the girl was standing on a mattress. The bad vampires (there were two of them) were also around another mattress around 2 metres away. First one of the bad vampires stands on the mattress and levitates himself and the mattress, so our female vampire does the same thing, but lifts the mattress higher. Then the bad vampire gets off the mattress and each of them picks up a corner of the mattress (on a diagonal) and they shake the mattress and another bad vampire falls out of the mattress. I think (because apparently I have seen it before) that there is an angel on the bottom of the mattress who keeps dropping out these evil vampires, and I'm about to tell them how to defeat the bad vampires and the angel in the mattress. It is at this time that a fly runs across my forehead in real life, and I wake up with a start – now that was a really weird dream. The fly is rather insistent and each time he gets brushed off he comes back again, so I decide to get up, and I head over to see how Maryanne is doing. I talked for her for a while, and then I noticed that the small raised lumps on Buffy were caused by tiny immature ticks, so then we frontline'd every dog in the house (and Bella who had snuck off to the guest house).
I then got to head out for a ride with the grooms with me on Wadi. Hassan was on Negmadin, Essam on Dory, big Mohamed on Diva, and little Mohamed on Farhan and Waleed on – hmm – I'm trying to remember if Waleed actually came – maybe not. It was a great day for seeing people out and about, and I tried a new method of camera taking, which involves just holding it and shooting in the general direction of people – some came out okay, others were photos of the ground – lol. There were a lot of people out at the fountain in the village just by Tatouch's place, and a lot of salesmen on their donkey carts. The sweet potato man was also in the village. Then there was the gas bottle delivery truck – er I mean donkey cart, followed by the gentleman selling tomatoes, chilli's and onions, also from the back of his donkey cart, the children washing the dishes in big metal tubs outside the house, while the adults baby sit the young children. The gentleman trying to fix his pump on the side of the road, while a young boy stands watching him.
Little Mohamed was perched on Farhan's back on a bareback pad, but did well walking along, and often trotting to catch up – Maryanne is trying to get Farhan into the hang of life on her farm, he certainly isn't used to the fun of trekking out.
Came across one of the dredges today, but at least this time it wasn't working at the time we passed it – and also it was in an area where there were two canals very close together, and it was on the middle section out of our way. Not far from there were some gentlemen sitting under the shade of a tree, beside their field smoking their sheesha – I tried to get a photo, but instead all I got were the bikes (and slightly blurry at that) – oh well, I'll get it one day. The bikes are really cheap chinese crap that probably won't last that long, but there are certainly a lot of them around Egypt at the moment.
For the second day in a row there were women in a field cutting the long grass – different, field, different ladies, but a lot of the time they seem to sit in the shade of the grass chatting, and every once in a while cutting another sheath of grass.
At the end of the lane was a kid hitting his blindfolded donkey with a stick to keep it walking around in a circle, and once he got it going, he would rest on the crossbar behind the donkey, with his feet in the air, while his sister was sitting off to the side near a sheesha pipe (not sure where the men were who were likely to be smoking the pipe. From there we passed down the path to the next village – the ground here was damp, and unfortunately Wadi wiped my leg down the wall – darn it. Not too much damage done however, and we kept riding. As we headed up towards the main road, there were two people riding down the road on dancing horses. One had large white facial markings, and I think was possibly a paint (but that much white on the face in Egypt can't be a good thing for horses. The other was a pretty grey ridden by a small kid. As we walked along the opposite side of the canal from the main road, I saw the hot potato man going down the road. It was an awesome countryside ride (though I am pining for the desert!)
Once back I went over to see Maryanne and Sabine, and we were visited by Erin, who is an equine dentist over here. Sabine insisted on treating my knee. The knee was only slightly grazed and a little swollen, but not too bad.
After a nice lunch outside, consisting of some of the leftovers of Pal's roast and some lovely fresh Egyptian tomatoes, I headed back to the guest house to relax for a little bit, and when I headed back to the main house, Tatoush was there visiting. He has a flat that he took Sabine and I to have a look at. He has a beautiful house, with some lovely cats and dogs, and the flat, even though it isn't finished is going to be amazing. It is up on the second floor with the lovely domed roof. And even with no air conditioning and no fan, it was entirely bearable up there. The front door opens out onto the roof of Tatoush's house, and looking across, I could see one of the pyramids at Giza – and then Tatoush showed us the view out over the pyramids at Abu Sir from the other direction. If I was living in Egypt and had the money, I wouldn't mind renting a place like that. And on the plus side for Sabine, she can also take her horse Elvis and keep him in one of Tatoush's boxes – it is absolutely perfect for her! She has a new home :) ... at least she will have once it is finished :)
After a couple of glasses of water and a few cat fights, and a good long conversation, we had to leave when Tatoush had to head out to a showjumping competition (it was a good time to escape), and we drove back and chatted to Maryanne before she headed off to bed and Sabine headed out to check on Elvis.
Here I am typing – a little mouse keeps coming out from under the other couch and running back in if I even look at him – and now a baby gecko is scooting across the floor – he was going to head under the other couch, but he may have been a little scared of the mouse – the body of the gecko is only about 2cm long – and unfortunately I have neither my camera or my cellphone here to get a photo of the little thing – and no doubt if I move,he will run away. In fact, he just ran across the carpet and under my legs, and is now hiding under the table in the centre of the room – he is so tiny and cute!
As I was getting my diary up to date, I had to run into the bedroom to grab my phone off the charger when Morad rang – he suggested I come around to watch the Netherlands vs Uraguay semi of the world cup, so after doing a bit more work on the computer I headed round. Even though it was 9.30 at night, the village was very busy, and all the kids were still up and running around. That is the trouble with a place like this that is so hot – it does promote staying up late and enjoying the cooler weather in the evening.
Morad had friends popping in and out during the game, and the Netherlands won to Morad's disappointment. He actually disappeared before the end, when the score was 3-1, so he missed Uraguay's comeback, when they came so close to actually drawing and taking it into extra time. He was out with another friend (the one who had driven us to see the horses). I joined them outside, and Morad got Birdie out of her stable, and she grazed on the lawn while we sat outside in the cool of the evening with a nice cold beer in hand. Birdie's foal was as inquisitive as ever, and at one stage when I had Birdie's rope in one hand and a full can of beer in the other, he grabbed hold of my teeshirt with his teeth – little ratbag. We sat out on the front lawn for ages, with a nice breeze blowing through – looking up to the north, there was a light in the sky – I'm assuming the pyramids are that way, and that was the light from the light show out there. Birdie really enjoys her time grazing on the lawn, and at one stage, a motorbike turned up – KFC delivery out in the boonies – when I commented on it, Morad said that everyone in the neighbourhood put it under Ramy's name, and they get so much business that it makes it worthwhile. KFC tastes different over here – the secret herbs and spices are the same, but the chicken itself tastes different. Even the coleslaw wasn't as moist, and because of the different taste of the vegetables over here. The chicken was actually a chicken panini – tasty if it wasn't for the gherkins, which I picked out. The coleslaw was probably healthier than NZ stuff – it didn't taste as sweet. And I passed on the rice – give me the chips with extra seasoning any day.
Eventually it was time to head home, and Ramy walked me home.
It was good to collapse into bed at last.

Countryside ride 12:
Distance - 3.37km
Time - 0:58:12
Average speed - 3.5kmph
Max speed - 6.9kmph

DAY 23 Mon 5 July

Woke up at a respectable time this morning after a good night's sleep – I hadn't heard the dogs at all – and Buffy was happily curled up in a little nest in the blanket at the foot of the bed and had hardly stirred at all. The first thing I did was get out the computer and catch up with Mum on MSN, and read all the birthday messages on Facebook – it is nice being able to have that sort of contact with home and friends, even when you are on the opposite side of the world. I was still on the computer when I heard a horn at the front gate. It was Cris coming out for a ride. I felt bad cos I was still in my nightie, so I poked my head out the door to say Hi, and that I was about to get changed – she arranged with the grooms to have Nayzak and Shaboura saddled up, and when I was dressed I went over the house to catch up with Maryanne, Sabine and Cris.
We went out for a nice ride, through villages and around through the farmland – saw the door to door fruit seller this time, he head melons and tomatoes, and a set of scales to weigh them, and the donkey cart was complete with a sun umbrella to keep the sun off the produce. It also appeared to be washing day, and there were a lot of clothes hanging from ropes strung between trees – no proper washing lines out here around the villages, but it does make for a rather colourful ride with all the clothes hanging beside the canal.
There were also very large gatherings of people around any of the taps that give fresh water – everyone was filling up their water containers.
Then there was the young boy in the village just behind Maryanne's who keeps asking to have his photo taken – I stopped Shaboura this time and got a very nice photo of him – will have to see if I can get some of them printed out for the kids before I go home.
After getting back it was over to the house to see how Maryanne and Sabine were getting along, just in time to see Sabine wrap gladwrap around Maryanne's knees to keep them dry while she had a shower. One of the grooms then asked if I wanted to go for another ride – why not, it's my birthday after all, so they saddled up Bunduq for me (I haven't had a chance to ride him this visit), and with Waleed on Dooby and Hassam on Gameela we headed out through the villages and farmland again. Most of the time Waleed was leading, but there were times when Dooby decided to be his Doobyis self and I pushed Bunduq into the lead – the only problem with this is that although I am getting rather familiar with the trails and how the join together, I'm never sure of which way they are wanting to go, so I have to look back over my shoulder and take directions from them. Gameela was being a naughty girl too, and sidling over to fields to eat the grass – sneaky.
Once back, I sat talking to Pal and Sabine for a bit until Pal headed home, and then Maryanne decided to get some rest – Sabine and I then headed over to the guest house to try and get one of the rooms set up with her massage table in it – we disturbed so many geckos in there – they are so cute – unfortunately in moving one of the mattresses off the bed, there were some gecko eggs underneath the mattress – some got squashed, but I managed to rescue two – hopefully they will hatch. And we have managed to keep Buffy from chasing any of the geckos as well.
Sabine also showed me a dove's nest in one of the guest room windows, between the mosquito mesh and the shutters – how sweet :)
Cris and her husband Amr, along with Pat were the first to turn up, followed closely behind by Mona and her husband Brendan, who had just flown in from Istanbul. Cris headed straight into the kitchen where she started cooking up some lovely pasta. Not far behind were Pal and his wife, bearing a lovely roast of beef and roast vegetables.
After a little red wine and white wine (after it had chilled), we tucked in to a very very nice dinner. Great food, great company, great location, and the perfect time of day – we were all outside with a nice cool breeze blowing through. Unfortunately Maryanne was having a bit of a rough afternoon, so she was not able to join us (and the doctor has her on house arrest at least until the staples are out of her knees). But she was provided with some of the food also.
It was a lovely evening spent with good friends, but unfortunately it finished rather early, as people had to head back home to have a rest (and it isn't a nice drive out from the farm in the darkness). After everyone had left, Morad and Ramy turned up, so we sat outside some more, with a beer in hand, chatting.
After Ramy and Morad headed on their way, Sabine and I stayed up for a little bit longer before heading back to the guest house and off to bed.

Countryside ride 10:
Distance - 3.22km
Time - 1:03:12
Average speed - 3.1kmph
Max speed - 8.3kmph


Countryside ride 11:
Distance - 2.84km
Time - 0:56:16
Average speed - 3.0kmph
Max speed - 7.9kmph

DAY 22 Sun 4 July

Waiting to leave hospital is pretty much the same in Egypt as it is in any other country – waiting for clearance from the doctor etc – the only difference is that in Egypt you are likely to have an argument over your hospital bill and they won't let you out without paying. At about 2pm we finally got out of there thank goodness, and were on our way back to the farm, with a stop at Shoubramont to pick up some kebabs – we were both starving. While we were waiting for the kebabs (although Mohamed had rung to order them not long after we left the hospital), I was watching two young kids who would have a drink from the water fountain and then hold some in their mouth and spray it at each other. Once they tired of that fun, one of the girls came up to the window of the jeep and stood there looking in with those big puppy dog eyes. I enjoy sitting there waiting and watching as people pass by there – there is always something new to see. There is a bridge over the canal just ahead of where we were parked, and it has high walls around it – at once stage, a tree started coming around the corner – it was on a ute, tied over the roof and sticking out probably a metre in front of the ute, with another tree in the back pointing backwards – unfortunately I couldn't get my camera working fast enough.
There were also a lot of guys in military uniform around the place – Maryanne said they were probably heading back after the weekend at home.
As we started driving the last bit home, there was a donkey cart ahead of us, pulled by two donkeys, with two young kids on it – one driving, the other sitting with his legs dangling over the back, with a bucket on his head – how is that for random. We just turned the corner and we stopped because the sweet potato man was cooking his potatoes on the corner, so Mohamed picked some up to go with the kebab. The sweet potato man also came over to say Hi to Maryanne.
Back at the farm, the jeep was driven right up to the front door, and Maryanne was firmly ensconsed in her computer chair before they let the hounds out. They were so happy to see her again! But Demon was missing – apparently he was hiding out on the farm away from Sherif, so Mohamed and I headed out to find him.
After a nice lunch/dinner of chicken and beef kebabs and fresh cucumber and tomato, I headed over to the guest house to relax a little while Maryanne snoozed. When I headed back to the house, Sabine was over there getting Maryanne all sorted out which was good. I stayed and chatted for a while before heading out to the gate to give something to Ramy, I decided to head off to bed early though, to catch up on lost sleep from the last 4 days or so, and after bidding them adieu, Buffy and I headed over to the guest house to crash.

DAY 21 Sat 3 July

What a rotten night last night – I thought I had the worst of the dogs inside with me, so that there wouldn't be too much barking... I was wrong – big time – especially when I had all the rat terriers inside the house howling for some reason. Argh.
Though I think in the latter part of the night they did start to settle down – but by that time I had about 8 or 9 rat terriers on the bed (and the great dane had also been trying to settle herself down on the bed – I had to draw the line at sharing the bed with Morgana – she is a little too large.
When I got up, it was time to make sure I had all the chores out of the way before Maryanne's clients arrived. That consisted of chasing after Demon, because he didn't want to be caught for his meds – he has got to the stage when he refused to eat his cheese and meat around his tablets – crafty little sucker.
When Cris turned up (and I am so glad the clients decided to come in the morning when Cris was also due to ride Nayzak), we got the horses saddled up and waited for them to turn up. We ended up deciding on taking out Shaboura and Nayzak for myself and Cris, and Lilly, Dooby and Nazeer for the clients, and Waleed took out Dory.
The clients were very nice, and we had a nice ride around the countryside. Saw the little donkey with its ears tied together (well one of them anyway – baby donkeys are just soo cute! The travelling salesman today was selling tomatoes, not mats. And the storks, they were taking off from a field as we went past - probably at least 50 of them – it is really quite amazing to watch as the sky fills with them.
When we got back, Cris had to head off home, and after taking some more photos around the farm, so did the clients, so I had time to fill in before I was due to head out to the hospital with Mohamed.
Mohamed had arrived in time to talk to the farriers who had to trim and or shoe all of Maryanne's horses, and after he finished talking to them, he informed me that we would be heading to the hospital at 5pm.
I then used the time to try and catch up on a little lost sleep (seems like whenever I lie down to snooze the phone will ring – lol), and on some computer stuff.
At 4.30 I made sure I had everything packed to take to the hospital, and in Egyptian time, we were on our way (Egyptian time runs on exactly the same time frame as Island time).
We went down a new bit of road to get to the ring road. While the road is in better condition it seemed to have more traffic, and I think we may actually have lost some time. There was a traffic jam at one stage (nothing like an egyptian traffic jam. On a two lane road, you will have one lane in one direction stopped, so they form another lane, which still allows room for the oncoming traffic – until the two lanes become three).
Also saw a camel as we were driving along – not too common to see them except in the touristy areas. Then there was the ute, with the tray full of egg cartons, tied down with rope (with egg cartons protecting the areas with ropes – seems like a rather dangerous way of carting your eggs round, but that is Egypt for you :)
There was a nice view up the road to the Citadel, and we also drove past the Cairo Stadium. In the middle of the road near the stadium, there was a globe. Looking at the globe, it had Australia, but did not have New Zealand - *sob*
Not far past that was the hospital – not that you would really know it was a hospital just by looking at it – it was more like one of the large apartment buildings that they have a tendency to have over here. The lifts in the hospital were rather interesting. They had a very narrow door, and were long and thin – kind of impractical for getting a lot of people in – I certainly hope they had larger lifts for getting people around in wheelchairs etc.
Once up to Maryanne's room, she was looking more cheerful than she had been sounding on the phone – the fact that she was due to head home the next day probably had something to do with that as well. After doing the changeover with Mona, it was time to settle in for a long night. It was kinda nippy in there with the airconditioning going, so I curled up on the couch with a good book and a blanket over me, ready if Maryanne needed anything, and ready for a nap while I could – I was so tired! It was rather an interrupted night, with nurses coming and going all night. I napped and slept while I could in between the comings and goings.

Countryside ride 9:
Distance - 6.93km
Time - 1:27:21
Average speed - 4.8kmph
Max speed - 12.5kmph

DAY 20 Fri 2 July

Early wake up again this morning – and there was no point trying to make it back to sleep, so I decided to get up, and sate for a while reading a book, until getting a phonecall from Pal. He thought that after all, it was probably too early to go riding with Maryanne's horses in a group, so he kindly offered me the use of one of his horses for the ride. I immediately got into my riding gear and walked over to his place (unfortunately inflicting a blister on my heel thanks to my riding boots). Once there I had time for a glass of water before hopping onto one of his nice stallions. I haven't ridden that many stallions before, so it was looking to be an interesting experience already. I started riding towards the rondezvous point, and Pal caught up in no time at all on his very eager stallion, as we trotted most of the way towards the desert. Once in the desert the other riders hadn't yet turned up, so we headed up a hill to get some breeze and to wait for them to turn up. There was quite a haze, and although I could see over to the pyramids at Saqqara, there was no sight of the pyramids on the Giza Plateau.
We were joined by three others, Laura, her father and a groom, and we headed over towards Japanese Hill, where we were joined by another gentleman. Laura and I rode along chatting away for a bit, and she had just commented that this was one of the slowest rides she had been on with Pal. We had been lagging behind though, and not long after this we went to catch up with Pal. The pace certainly increased after this, and I got the chance to trot and canter through the desert, as we made our way to the sand quarry. Although I had been warned by Pal that there was a possiblity that the boy I was riding might try to take off, he showed no signs of it, instead we had nice controlled canter through the desert – that is the life!
Up in the quarry we were weaving in and out of areas where they had been digging, making our way back towards the pyramids at Abu Sir. In fact the weaving through there is actually reminiscent of trotting and cantering through the pine trees in Woodhill Forest, but with much better visibility.
All too soon it was over and we were back at the edge of the desert (all too soon being nearly 2 hours later – but it was such fun!), and making our way back home. Once back at Pal's with the horses unsaddled, I had a look at their horses (including a chestnut with flaxen mane and tail), and a lovely grey stallion with black mane and black points on his legs – talk about stunning – and his young son is probably going to have the same stunning colouration.
Pal then dropped me back at Maryanne's, where I had to singlehandedly give Demon his eye drops (and force the tablets he didn't want to eat down his throat – sometimes he will eat them, other times he won't). I got back to find that the grooms had taken five of the horses out for a ride – well I'm sure it would have been fun, it was great to get that chance to move faster through the desert. I then took the time to catch up on my diary, seeing as I didn't get the chance yesterday, and catch up on some lost sleep time.
After checking on the horses during the afternoon, I also had a look at the goats, donkeys and gamoosa, and decided to have a look and see how the kids were growing (they are kept seperately until they are big enough to watch out for big gamoosa hooves – she doesn't see the little ones and will easily stand on them). Not only were they growing big, but they were also growing in number – there are now 4 kids and 2 nanny goats in the nursery pen :)
Then had the chore of folding washing and hanging out more washing before trying to ring Maryanne. She wasn't answering her phone, so I called Mona instead to find out how Maryanne was. She had been walking, and each time is getting better. I finished talking to Mona and then realised that I had forgotten to ask about the birds, so after medicating Demon I sent off a txt to Mona, and then started organising my dinner.
Of course half way through getting it ready Mona rang, and I found out what to do with the left over bird food from the morning. I then went over and got the last chore done for the day, before heading back to the guest house to relax.

Desert ride 3
Distance - 10.6km
Time - 1:52:17
Average speed - 5.6kmph
Max speed - 33kmph

DAY 19 Thur 1 July

Here's hoping that July brings better news than June – other than the fact that I am in Egypt, June sucked! I was up reasonably early, waiting for Mona to come around so we could head out for a ride. She was a little later than she had planned to be – the traffic was pretty bad out there apparently – and visibility sucked. Normally while driving along the ring road to get to Maryanne's you can see the pyramids at Giza (though some times they may be slightly hidden by the ever present Cairo haze – today – she could not see them at all.
The grooms saddled up Shaboura, Sondos and Lilly, and we took Farhan out for a walk on the lead rope as well, to get him used to the fact that he is no longer a school horse and that life at Maryanne's is fun.
Out through the village again, and across the field – there was a flock of egrets in the field to our left, and in the same direction, the next field over, the storks were circling down to land. That was the closest I have seen that many storks this trip. It was nice having someone to talk to as we rode, talking movies and things, while watching the scenery. Just before we were about to head across the field, there was another donkey foal with its ears tied together and the string above its knees – and we rode down to where the first donkey foal I had seen like this was as well. I'm starting to get sensory overload from Egypt – I was riding along and there were all these interesting things I hadn't seen before that I was going to write down in here, but there were just so many that they have been forced from mind (I guess the 2am finish to the day without being able to write in the diary didn't help that – more on that later however). It was an awsome ride, but we were almost back and we had only been out for 40 minutes, so I suggested we ride up to the road, and along through the village to take a little bit more time. We did this, but at one stage the path along this side of the canal was covered in rubbish that had been dredged from the canal – horses in any other country would no doubt freak and not head over this at all – it was full of horse eating plastic bags. Maryanne's horses didn't even bat an eyelid, and just chose the clearest path through there (with riders alert for any signs of glass or wire), which fortunately we did not see any of.
After crossing back across the road and about to head through the fields to Maryanne's gate, there was a young boy on a donkey coming from the other direction. There was also a young goat grazing over that way, and when it saw the donkey, it came running at a rate of knots back towards its home and safety. It didn't stop until it ran up the bonnet of the car and stood on the roof. The car was interesting enough in itself in that it was covered in floor mats – I'm not even sure if it would run. So we finished the ride after laughing at the goat on the roof – a bit like my goat Toffee used to do on the roof of Dad's black ute at the time.
We got back and dismounted and then Mona suggested we headed out again – it had been nice and cool in the countryside, with a good breeze blowing, so they saddled up Bunduq, Negmadin and Amira, and we went out for another ride. We had talked to the grooms (well Mona had) and they suggested another path that we hadn't done before which went closer to Abu Sir – this sounded like a good plan to the two of us. So I hopped up on Amira – my first ride on a mule :) Complete with her very own custom made mule saddle. Interesting paces on a mule – much smoother than riding a horse. As we headed out towards Marina, for the first time the workmen that had been gathering around a building there were actually working. The concrete mixer was going, and they had a winch that took a bucket of concrete up to the roof in no time at all. The horses and mule were a bit hesitant to go past there at first, but with a bit of urging we got them up level with the building – until the winch took up a bucket at a rate of knots and they all freaked out, spinning and wanting to run back home. It took even more coaxing to get the horses past there again once they stopped the concrete mixer, but Amira wouldn't move a muscle. There is a reason they say "Stubborn as a mule!" It took one of the workers taking a hold of her bridle and leading her past that got her to move. Up past the Marina club. They have stables, but there are also two horses that appear to live between the stables and the boundry fence which is rather weird. Amira was rather interested in one of these two horses – possibly because of its roan colouring, which is unusual for Maryanne's herd.
We followed along with Waleed leading the way on Negmadin as neither Mona or I had been this direction (well, we had done some of the path, but in the opposite direction). We got down to the canal, and were following along the side of it. This canal had also been cleaned out recently, and there was a narrow path between the canal and the dirt that had been dredged out of it – for a little way at least. Then the path stopped and we were forced to back track, which was a shame – it had been a very nice path up to that point. As we headed back, I noticed something I hadn't seen on the way out, as I was busy looking at the track and the surrounding area. This path gave a very good view out over the pyramids at Abu Sir (if it wasn't for the ugly building below them). There was an advantage to backtracking after all – it is amazing what a change of perspective can give. We headed all the way back to Marina, and then crossed over to the other side to avoid the building work that had startled the horses on the way out, only to have Amira balk at two round objects in the field (they were like large plastic pot type things), and once again she wouldn't move without a lead, this time from Waleed and Negmadin.
We then headed down a path down behind Morad's place, and through the village again before ending up at the back gate.
Mona and I then had a chance to relax (once I had called back a client who is coming out on Saturday who had rung while we were out on the trail), before Mona had to head into town to go out and do some shopping with her Mum and have lunch.
I headed back inside with the dogs and dozed for a little bit until I was woken by my phone ringing. It was Morad saying he was going out to look at some horses and was wondering if I wanted anything. I decided it would be nice to get away from the farm for a little bit (famous last words) and asked if I could come to, which then meant I had to quickly go find some clean dry clothes to put on (one problem with Maryanne's horses having had strangles and the fact that they can shed the bacteria for up to a month afterwards – I'm very careful when I go to see other horses). There was no time to give Demon his eye drops or his antibiotics, I was planning on doing that when I got home.
Once Morad pulled up I hopped in the car, and we headed out, and down to the Cataracts Hotel where he was going to leave his car, and we were going the rest of the way to the other side of Cairo in his friends car. We had to wait a bit for his friend to turn up, and then we jumped in and we were off. One hundred kilometers per hour doesn't feel that fast in New Zealand, but in Cairo traffic, with they way they drive over here, it is rather terrifying! Let alone the 140-160kmph we reached at times, dodging and weaving through the traffic, but we made it safely to the stables, where there were some very nice Egyptian Arabian stallions. There was one boy with a very very nice head. And they were all well fed and they had the solidity that I like in my horses.
After leaving there, Morad's friend headed off, and we hopped in the 4WD of the owner of the horses (it was a Korean car, Alex :P), and headed off through Cairo once more, as the sun began to set. Although there was some lovely colour in the sky, unlike in New Zealand, this sunset did not cover the horizon – the sun was large and an orangey reddy pinkish colour, and the colour of the sunset did not spread far beyond the sun itself. We passed an amusement park, complete with bad replicas of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck above the entrance (not sure about the rides inside), and headed out onto the Cairo-Alexandria road. Just before we got to the toll gates out of Cairo, we stopped for a drink at a petrol station – should I say, we double parked on the side of the road while the driver went in to get drinks (and was stuck in there for between ¼ to ½ hour). It was absolutely crazy – there were massive queues for petrol, and all the parking lots for the shops in the area were also chocker block full. When I commented on it to Morad his response was that it was Thursday evening. That is something I keep forgetting here – the Egyptian weekend. Their holy day is Friday, not Sunday, and the weekend is Friday, Saturday. That weekend difference is very hard to get used to when you are over here on holiday – it might be slightly easier to keep track of if you were actually working over here.
We drove for miles to get to the farm with the mares and fillies, out near Wadi Natroum. I had to take Morad's word for the fact that as we got closer to the farm we were actually passing between large expanses of fields. It would have been interesting to see it during the day, but I'm not sure I'm likely to go back (after all they did tell Morad that if I went again they wouldn't give me back – lol).
We finally reached the farm at 11pm, and they showed us the mares and fillies – once again some very nice horses, and the owner was very pleased when I told him that. Tea out at this farm was actually a mint tea – it was kind of nice having a flavour you could actually taste over the large amounts of sugar that the Egyptians flavour their tea with.
After viewing the horses we went down to the house for more tea, though by this time I just wanted to get back to Cairo – I hadn't planned on being away that long, and I still had to medicate poor Demon. But I had to wait till they had finished their chat. Once they turned off the generator at the house and the area was plunged into darkness, it was nice to be able to see the sky full of stars – even out at Maryanne's, the light pollution of Cairo doesn't leave that many stars showing in the sky. And it was actually cool – I could have done to have a long sleeved shirt with me. And what I enjoyed most of all was no darned mosquitos!!
Driving home, when we turned back onto the Alex-Cairo road, the signs read 100km to Cairo – I'm not sure where in Cairo that would take you to, but we were quite a way out. Fortunately the trip back (as is often the case) seemed to take less time than the trip out, which is also helped by the fact that we didn't stop for refreshment. They did ask whether we would like to go out for some food, but even though there was a large hole in my stomach, I really wanted to get back to the farm, give Demon his meds and collapse into bed, because I had made arrangements with Pal to head out riding with him and his friends at 8.30 in the morning.
So they dropped us back at Morad's car, and then Morad plotted a course back home to miss any check points as I didn't have my passport with me (but I'm not a very good female – I don't actually own a handbag to carry things like that easily). This necessitated taking a very bumpy route home as the road was being repaired... and what did we run into anyway but a checkpoint in an unusual place, very close to home – lol. Fortunately we were waved right through and made it home safely. After he dropped me off, I went into the main house and got Demon's medication, and then was followed home by a troupe of dogs. I managed to put Demon's eyedrops in myself and he ate down his tablet, and after feeding the other dogs a little bit of cheese, it was time to collapse into bed.

Countryside ride 8
Distance - 4.87 km
Time - 0:56:06
Average speed - 5.2kmph
Max speed - 13.6kmph


Countryside ride 9
Distance - 5.45km
Time - 1:09:40
Average speed - 4.7kmph
Max speed - 12.9kmph