September 5, 2008 - Cyprus

We arrived in Larnaca about 3o minutes late last evening. Liz was waiting and waving to us as we exited customs. After short walk to her car, a few minutes trying how to pay for the parking, and we were on our way. We are staying with George's sister and her husband. George is Liz's husband. It was late by the time we got to the home, later still by the time we got our luggage to the roof top guest room, and we did not spend too much time talking. Liz left, we unpacked and headed to bed.

Up around 8, showered, had a nice breakfast on the deck outside our room. Liz collected us for a day of sightseeing - the Presidential Palace and the Cypriot Museum where artifacts from 10,000 BC show just how old this island is. The extensive history of this very old island is displayed in chronological order through archeological artifacts. While visiting the museum, Anita began feeling the affects of either an inner ear problem that developed during our flight yesterday or some bug she picked up in Cairo. In either case, the best thing to do was to come back to our room and let her rest. She had some meds to take, and I have spent the afternoon at the computer getting caught up on the Blog - hope you all have enjoyed the plethora of information in one day.

I'm about ready to go back upstairs to see how Anita is doing, and begin getting ready for the wedding party. Liz plans to pick us up around 8 pm and take us to the party. I hope Anita is feeling better because I know she is looking forward to this evening.

Here are some photos of Liz and her family - in order, left to right, up to down....
Liz, her 2nd husband George, Liz's twin brother Mike with his wife, Mike's daughter and her new husband (the reason for the party), Liz's older sister (my age) Roulla and her husband Vasilos.


























Talk with you more tomorrow.

September 4, 2008 - on to Cyprus

We are showered and have finished our Ramadan breakfast of the sweets Anita purchased yesterday afternoon. We had expected to eat our leftovers from lunch when she returned from the evening light show. Once again we misunderstood the information we were given.

Anita waited in the lobby last evening from 6:30 (the time we were to have been picked up) until 7:30 when Amad finally arrived. The traffic to Giza was heavy as the Ramadan fast ended at sundown. She arrived at the show location and the group found seats where they would have a good view of the light show, which did not start until 8:30 and lasted 45-50 minutes. Traffic was heavier coming back so she did not return until around 10:30. I was already asleep and did not hear her come in.

I awoke around 7:30 this morning - Anita had been up since 6. She is on the balcony writing in her journal. We don't know when we will have access to computers again - maybe in Cyprus.

The show was told by the Sphinx who related stories about the development of ancient Egypt, the Nile, the rulers and the building of the pyramids. The wall of the funnerial building next to the Sphinx was used as a screen for hieroglyphics and moving lights to represent the Nile. Lights on the pyramids changed colors as the stories changes. She told me the sound was very loud and I probably would have needed ear plugs to protect my limited hearing. It's a bitch getting old!

I'm sorry I missed her adventures yesterday, but the main reason, as I stated yesterday, to be in Cairo was to see the pyramids and I did see them, was awed by them, and will remember the experience. Everything else we had planned was important - however I have seen Egyptian antiquities in a couple of tours that came to the US. I've been to bazaars in foreign countries - Germany and Mexico come to mind, and I am not sorry I remained in the hotel to rest yesterday.

My ankle is no longer swollen, the bruising behind my knee is almost gone according to Anita, and I am walking with only occational pain. I am ready for Liz and Cyprus!

Here are a few photos of Cairo taken on our way to the airport...

September 3, 2008 - Anita alone in Cairo

Anita took an early call from our tour company, again changing our schedule. We expected to be picked up around noon to see the museum and bazaar. They were waiting downstairs insisting we were called last evening and agreed to the changes. Anita did take a call last evening but with the language and accent difficulties, she thought she was speaking with the doctor about his pending visit to examine my leg injury from my fall yesterday.

So she quickly showered and go ready while I hobbled around putting a food pack together for her since she would be unable to have any breakfast. She has been diabetic longer than me, so it's most important for her to have food. Yesterday we both went without lunch - we saw no where to purchase even a snack.

With me unable to move without pain last evening, she went looking for dinner after we got to the room and I got my leg propped up on the bed and ice below my knee where much of the pain seemed concentrated. Anita returned with soup, sandwiches, chips and an assortment of traditional Ramadan sweets for dessert. The Bakery in the hotel was still open. We ate on our balcony and watched the lights come on in the large garden below us and all over Cairo to the east and Giza to the west. The Hotel sits on a large island in the middle of the Nile which runs between us and Cairo. We can't see the other part of the Nile nearer Giza as there are tall buildings on that side of the island.

Anita will visit the museum and bazaar, probably will be home around lunch. We will be picked up around 6 pm for the evening light show at the pyramids. I am determined to make this event. My leg feels better this morning. I have had a hot shower, my meds and am now experiencing the burning heat of the cream the doctor prescribed. It's like BenGay - only doubled or tripled in strength. I also have pain tablets, muscle relaxant and an ace bandage if I want to try it. The doctor said these bandages on thighs seem not to stay in place, but was willing to send one to our room with the rest of the prescriptions.

The doctor was very kind and thorough. He apologized for making me wait. During Ramadan, all activity of the Muslims comes to a halt during the time just before sunset and after sunset the day-long fast is broken with a feast. The fast begins just after a small snack of dates just before sun-up. Only water is taken during the day. He left me with a list of the prescriptions and a letter for my health insurance company at home to request reimbursement. I don't think this will be covered, but it may work with the travel insurance/health insurance we bought for the trip.

Anita was wonderful as she took charge of my health situation. She is a wonderful friend, and I was grateful to have her with me.

I will rest - take hot showers and ensure my leg has time for some intensive healing today before we leave for Cyprus tomorrow afternoon. No photos from my camera today. I'll take it with me tonight to get some night photos at the pyramids then.

Anita just left for the light show. Apparently one of the possible side affects of both internal medicines is diarrhea - and guess what -- I'm susceptible. Oh, poop!, as Anita said.

So she will take our photos as I take immodium and Cipro - in case it's 'La Tourista'. We have a plane ride of 2 hours tomorrow and I'd like this to be well under control.

I said that the number one reason to be in Cairo was to see the pyramids - accomplished and checked off my life list! She agreed and said now she knows she will probably not travel alone because today has not been as much fun without me sharing her experiences.

It's almost dark in Cairo now - just 6:30 pm. Horns are honking close and Anita is in the lobby waiting for her driver and guide.

Cairo - September 2, 2008

Arrived in Cairo, passed through passport control and customs with no one there to meet us from the hotel as expected. We were sort of hi-jacked by a tour company who was licensed to work inside the airport by the Ministry of Tourism. We ultimately purchased a package for slightly less than the two airport transfers would have cost if arranged by the hotel. And the tour company included admissions to the pyramids/sphinx at Giza, the Egyptian Musuem, a faluccah cruise on the Nile and the evening light show at the pyramids, plus a guided tour of the old bazaar.

We checked into the Marriott resort and casino with little difficulty and were assured that we would not be charged for the driver and car that were not at the airport. We unpacked and were ready long before the tour company arrived to take us to the pyramids. We were annoyed and concerned at the late arrival until we learned that Cairo had just gone off daylight saving time, so it was an hour earlier than most clocks showed. We simply had another hour to wait.

Here are some photos of our hotel - a former palace converted and enlarged so that it has been and may still be, the largest hotel in Egypt - the Cairo Marriott.

































The pyramids were amazing, huge, awesome , dusty from blowing sand, and much bigger than I imagined. Our guide (Shima) was very good and clear with her explanaions about the theories of how they were built, where the stone was quarried, how long they took to be built, and how many servants it took to complete the tasks.












There were souvenir sellers everywhere and people who had camels to ride around the pyramids, horses and horse or donkey pulled carts. We walked to each pyramid after our van moved us from place to place. The pyramids are also farther apart than I thought.

And there are 9 pyramids - not 3. Two of the largest (the most recognizable ones) have 3 small ones behind them for the 1st wife and 2 other favorite wives because no one but the king can be buried in the pyramid.














































The sphinx sits below all of the pyramids and is only a few hundred yards from the town of Giza. Right next to the sphinx is the remains of a funnary where bodies were prepared for mummification.












It's practically impossible to take a photo of any pyramid without civilization or tour buses in the background. Giza sits on the west bank of the Nile because sunset represented death and the tombs are all one the west bank. The east bank is where the palaces are as the sun represents life, and is modern Cairo.

Anita and I passed on a perfume and oil factory/museum because both of us are sensitive to strong scents. These are the oils used during the mummification process. We were taken instead to a papyrus museum where we learned about the process of making paper from papyrus, and purchased original Egyptian style paintings on hand made modern papyrus.

Finally we went back to the Cairo side of the Nile - the east side where all the palaces are - the sun gives life and rises in the east. All the tombs are on the west bank where the sun sets and takes like with it.

As I stepped on the fallucah for our hour cruise, I slipped and wrenched my left leg again - the one just recovering from a fall I took about a week before we left. The cruise on the Nile was wonderful and peaceful with only the wind in the sail moving us along. I was hurting quite a lot by the time we returned to the hotel. Anita took charge and called guest services who sent the house doctor to see me.

After the Ramadan fast was broken at sundown, he arrived at our room. He gave a rather complete examination and confirmed what we thought. I have pulled a muscle in my thigh and a bruise is beginning to form behind my knee. He gave me two shots - one for pain and one to relax the stressed muscles. He also prescribed two medicines for pain and muscle relaxants, an analgesic cream and an ace bandage.

I am to rest tomorrow, take hot showers to slowly stretch the muscles and can attend the light show at the pyramids tomorrow evening. Anita will go to see the Egyptian museum and the old bazaar while I stay in the room.

My first impressions of Cairo are mixed. It's much larger and more cosmopolitan that I expected. According to our guide, it has 30 of the 80 million Egyptians living in this country. It is quite dirty and old looking, most with modern satellite dishes on their roof. Many buildings appear unfinished -- we learned this is deliberate because there is a 14% tax on finished buildings and none on unfinished ones. So families live in the finished areas. Some look as if there is still damage from the earthquake in 1993.

And much of the land near the Nile is under cultivation - date palms which are ripening now, and other food stuffs plus papyrus and reeds.

Traffic is chaotic with lots of horn blowing, few traffic rules apparently and fewer stop lights. Some intersections have police officers to help move traffic jams along. Drivers move from lane to lane with a hoot of the horn to let the next car know they are coming. Add camels, donkey-pulled carts, horses and pedestrians darting across crowded streets, it's a wonder that there are not constant accidents and deaths.

There is heavy security at the hotel and other public places. Sniffer dogs move around every incoming vehicle and all bags go through an xray machine as individuals enter the hotel or other public building.

We are in a room with a balcony overlooking the inner courtyard of this old palace built expecially for guests coming for the opening of the Suez Canal. We are enjoying Cairo.

Anita is already asleep and snoring. I'm off for a hot shower as prescribed by my new doctor, and then to bed for the night.

Tambo Airport - Johannesburg - September 1, 2008

We were up at 4:30 am to leave at 5:30 in order to get Refilwe to school by 6:30. Her last term is beginning as of today. Njale will take us to the airport and return to work tomorrow.

We stopped at a Wimpy's for breakfast hoping to receive some more mugs like we received at another Wimpy's. No mugs today -- the promotion was over.

We asked for our breakfasts to be prepared quickly as we had an appointment and were promised to have them in 10 minutes. 30 minutes later we received our meals. Njale immediately asked for hers to be boxed as take away. Anita quickly ate about half of hers as she had not eaten before we left the house. Since I had eaten a quick peanut butter sandwich, it was easy for me to send my breakfast back because everything was cold - eggs, toast, bacon and potatoes. (Incidentally, Botswana bacon is very meaty with little fat, and is sliced thin and wide.)

Next stop at 8 am was at the university to get information on the status of the money due to Njale and the children. Our 1st meeting on the 15th promised the checks would be ready by the following Friday. Njale spoke with the office on the 2oth to answer a couple of extra questions which delayed the checks until the 29th. While we were in Kasane, Njale learned that the checks would not be ready for her to retrieve on our way home from the airport as we returned from Kasane. So she emailed the university representative with whom we had been dealing and asked for an 8 am appointment today because Anita and I needed to be at the airport by 9 am. It took a while but he agreed to the appointment.

I was prepared to be quite annoyed and tactfully persuasive. Happily it was not necessary. All I needed to say was that I couldn't understand how something that was to take 1 week was still not accomplished almost 2.5 weeks later. The gentleman left the office to check and when he returned told us that the checks would be ready in 20 more minutes. We chatted and he watched the clock. At 18 minutes, he left the office and returned in about 10 minutes with the checks. Our scheduled 30 minute meeting lasted about 50 minutes. Njale signed for three of the checks and we left. The final check is for Refilwe and since she may not receive the money until she reaches adulthood at 21, Njale will be named guardian by the courts for the money. She will have use of the money for Refilwe for school, health needs, even food. At 21 Refilwe will apparently get control of the remaining funds.

As we got ready to leave, I asked the gentleman if he would accept an email from me after I returned home. I explained that I wanted an update on the status of the final check and to be assured that Njale had been named guardian legally by that time. He promised to bring me up to date.

Our flight to Johannesburg was smooth and quick. A snack of dried beef, meat flavored chips and a KitKat bar was served. We passed through passport control easily to collect our baggage. We had decided that with the reputation for baggage pilfering and loss, this would be better than check the bags all the way to Cairo. We also paid to have the bags wrapped in plastic (shrink-wrapped) before they left Gaborone. Our passports were stamped again on the same page where the temporary visas had been placed on August 13th.

We are now in a small cafe in the international terminal where we have finished tea and toast for me, tea and muffin for Anita. Our flight can be cleared at 6:30 pm this evening and we will recheck our larger suitcases then. The transit area where we spent much of our time on our first flight though this airport was a more comfortable area with more shops and things to do. Anita is trying to sleep and not having much luck.

It's 2:30 pm so we have about 2.5 hours more before we can head to the check-in counters, go through security, and get ready for our flight to Cairo. (Incidentally, I lost my embroidery scissors in security in Gaborone. This was the 5th time they had been through security x-rays and today they were taken.)

The flight between Gaborone and Johannesburg was uneventful. I slept part way because of getting up so early. Anita tries to sleep on airplanes, and is not so lucky.

On the advice of the SAA agent in Gaborone, we checked our luggage only to Johannesburg. However, in reality and especially since we had our bags shrink wrapped, we probably would have been better off to check them through to Cairo.

We collected our bags in Johannesburg and had 9 hours to spend drinking tea at one of 2 restaurants outside security. We were not able to check our bags (still shrink wrapped in stretchy plastic) until 6:30 pm. So we took turns walking the short concourse until we could finally check in.

Then a new adventure in Tambo Airport. We were not permitted to the gate from which our plane will depart. So we moved to bench seats as close to our gate as possible and again took turns exploring a plethora of shops on the others ide of security.

Anita found a t-shirt for her niece and nephew with wonderful animals. We chatted with several folks who were traveling as a group to Lourdes, Paris, Rome and back to Cairo.

Once on the plane, it looked like we both would have empty seats next to us - especially nice since this was an all night journey due to land around 6:30 am in Cairo. However, the plane left late because of a connecting flight coming in late. A large and rather rowdy bunch of men arrived - started passing out orange juice and peanuts to all members of the group, including me because one man sat in my empty seat.

Shortly after take-off, shown live on the TV screens in the cabin, I moved to an aisle seat behind Anita. I'm glad I did this because she said my former seat mate talked, sang, prayed and mumbled to himself all night. Once again she did not sleep well, and I zonked out. (My ankles are swollen today because I did not get up and walk during the 9 hour flight.) The only time I was awake was during the 2 meals - dinner was rice with steamed veggies, and a fruit based sauce. Breakfast was two rolls and some fruit. The cabin staff had passed out stickers that alerted them if you wanted to be awake when meals were served.

August 31, 2008 - a day at home

We didn't do too much today. Njale needed to go to the chicken farm in the morning and Anita and I slept in a bit. We were keyed up last evening and did not turn out the light until later than normal.

We went into Gaborone to the final day of the Agricultural Fair. The last day is mostly sales of goods by the exhibitors. Anita was hoping to purchase authentic Botswana clothing, and found two dresses to purchase. One she loves, and the other, well, let's just say she and Njale tried to return it, and the proprietor of the shop was quiet upset at the suggestion that Anita no longer wanted her 'beautiful' dress. We also purchased the new element for the hot water heater, and some more plants for the garden.











































When we got home we found that some people had stopped by to say goodbye - Sputnik, Njale's mother and the man who came to fix the hot water heater. Goodbyes with Sputnik and Mama were quite emotional - they both loved Brian deeply as brother and son. I represented his family and this made their pain fresh again. I was able to walk in the garden with both of them separately, and expressed my determination that this part of the Trennepohl family will not be forgotten, no matter how far way we are from each other.

Sputnik admitted that she found it difficult to be with me because I reminded her of the loss of Brian. He died so quickly and unexpectedly, that no one in Botswana or America was ready for his loss. She understood that I love all of them as family and we cried together while in his memorial garden. She promised to help me know when assistance is needed from those of us in America.

We all realize that Njale is a very proud woman and it is not easy for her to ask for help. While we have been in Botswana, Jim has been able to complete the refund for their tickets from last December through South African Airlines. Jim also has been able to negotiate a settlement on Brian's remaining health bills from his operations in South Africa. And I was just forceful enough to blast through the log jam holding back the pension settlement from the University. On our way to the airport on Monday, we met again with the man from that office, and walked out with 3 checks (for Njale, Sedi and Bone). Refilwe's will be filed with the courts with Njale as guardian until she reaches adulthood. This is supposed to be finished by the time I reach home, and the man is expecting an email from me at that time to confirm it's completed.

To bed early because of a very early wake-up call tomorrow.