Traditional dishes include koshary, a savory blend of lentils, chick peas and rice in a spicy chili sauce, or dish shami, local equivalent of pita bread, made before your very eyes, spread with baba ghanouj, a tasty dip made of purreed eggplant.

Whether it is during day or night, one thing is consistent, constant sounding of horns by drivers who are always in a hurry. It is safer and easier to take a taxi to go anywhere, do not ever consider driving or renting a vehicle on your own. Signals are almost never used, but you wonder sometimes whether driver of these vehicles ever take their hands off horns. What is truly amazing is fact that accidents rarely occur.

The Egyptian Museum

The first activity on eight day Pyramids and Nile Cruise package is at Egyptian Musuem, housing greatest collection of Egyptian antiquities that evoke considerable interest. The ground floor traces history of ancient Egypt. Security is very strict and all cameras, camcorders, or digital cameras have to be handed over to Security outpost. Upon entering check-in area, a whole concourse opens up, revealing sarcophagi and boats in enormous sizes and descriptions.

Included are some of most important items from time of unification of Upper and Lower Egypt some 5,000 years ago, including famous slate palette of King Narmer, one of first documents of Egyptian history. Also on display are small masterpieces of sculpture, many over 50 centuries old.

Also depicted are a diversity of small statues from Old Kingdom depicting individuals, families, and people at work.

On second level there are thousands of smaller items from span of Egyptian history. The treasures from Tutankhamun’s tomb occupies a an area filled with chariots, gloves, jewelry, and famous mask.

King Tut

Tutankhamun’s tomb stored four gilded shrines nested one inside other. All four of these shrines are on display and attract such curiosity that one can hardly get a good view for quite a while. The innermost of covers a stone sarcophagus which remains in tomb. Inside stone sarcophagus are three coffins, innermost being made of 110 kilograms of solid gold. Inside that lies pharaoh himself, wearing famous gold mask. Two of these three coffins are on display in same room as mask, along with jewelry that stuns imagination.

Read this entire feature FREE with photos at http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/adventure/egypt/nile/pharoahs.html

By Edwin Ali - Jetsetters Magazine Editor - at www.jetsettersmagazine.com

After a good pelting of rain, it was back to room, and off to bed. My cottage was complete with a hot shower (something of a rarity in Costa Rica — remember this is a Third World country). There was a bed, a couch, and a table. That’s it. But like I said before, this is a simple lifestyle. At first I thought — where’s TV? The gym? The party? But then I realized that each day had naturally adventurous opportunities awaiting, and I was ready to take advantage of them.

Day 2. I wake up and go to have breakfast. La Mansion Inn supplies fresh quality food for all its guests free of charge! That’s magic to my ears, especially when budgeting to not spend money like it’s water. Speaking of water, La Mansion Inn’s water is safe to drink, unlike many small towns throughout countryside. So I’m served with a customized meal that puts Mom’s home cooking to shame. I had an avocado and gouda omelet, toast, fried cubed paprika potatoes, banana pancakes, coffee, orange juice and a pepto. Just kidding about pepto, but I did eat enough to feed a small family.

Facing day, hotel offers a choice of many adventures that leave right from hotel perfect for a vagabond like myself. They even let you add price of each of tours to your tab at hotel so you don’t have to deal with paying for anything until you leave. Some of packaged trips included:

Hanging Bridges — a walk through two miles of waterfalls, rivers, jungle, and spectacular views of Arenal Volcano.

Canyoneering — a repelling adventure that descends you into a series of four tropical waterfalls and on through magically tropical trails.

Selva Leona Virgin Rain Forest — This was one I decided on. It started with a 4x4 jeep tour that picked me up from hotel at 10 a.m. right out in front. I traveled down a narrow dirt road in a yellow jeep towing a boat down to Lake Arenal . Once there, we launched boat, hopped in, and began our cruise across glassy waters. The boat guide informed me (in Spanish) that some 15 years ago, there was a large eruption from volcano, which disrupted flow of river and flooded area where their town was. In other words, there is a ghost town at bottom of lake where people used to live. If I knew how to scuba dive, I probably could check it out.

Once across lake, we picked up our horses and began our two hour horse ride to beginning of Selva Leona Rain Forest. If you’ve ever ridden a horse before, you know that it can hurt first time, especially when your horse seems to have a mind of its own like mine did. For some reason, my horse would occasionally decide to take off running, bouncing me on its back while I would unsuccessfully yell “Alto!” “Alto!”

Nevertheless, guides and I did make it to our destination after crossing a river seven times, sliding up and down muddy embankments, and barking obscenities at innocent cows. The rest stop was needed as we had gone six kilometers up a mountain. From here, hike continued for another two kilometers into greenest, lushest jungle I had seen anywhere during my trip through Costa Rica .

Read this entire feature FREE with photos at: http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/cabinweb/costarica/lemansion/lemansion.html

By Josh Edelson, Jetsetters Magazine Southern California Correspondent – visit www.jetsettersmagazine.com