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Trip Start
Sep 07, 2008
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Trip End
Dec 09, 2008
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Giza,
Egypt
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
After barely two hours of sleep, Click, Wreath of Roses, Blink Blink, and I had to get back up to depart to see the sun rise over the Great Pyramids of Giza. The sun was not the only motivation for getting up so early, our guides were also hoping to beat the traffic and the heat.
The three Great Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus and the surrounding little pyramids for the families of the kings are really only a short drive outside of downtown Cairo. It sounds cheesy now, but on the highway at our first glimpse of the pyramids, the radio was playing a song by Celine Dion with lyrics that said, "I know I'm alive." And I thought, yes, this is going to be an important day in my life, the day I get to see the last remaining wonders of the ancient world with my own eyes.
I had read in the guide book that hosing American tourists for all the money they've got is the national pasttime of Egypt, and boy did we get hosed. Walid dropped us off not at the pyramids, but at a stable where we were treated to a sales pitch about horse and camel rides to the pyramids. Access to the pyramids didn't even open up for two more hours, so when Walid said, "We'll go early to watch the sun rise over the pyramids," what he really meant was, "You'll be obligated to buy a sunrise horse ride around the perimeter of the pyramid zone in addition to the amount you're already paying me for arranging today's tour." So three of us took the horse ride, which in the end really was cool because we ranged into the edge of the Sahara Desert and rode up to a hill where we could see the Great Pyramids in one direction, and the Dashur pyramids in the other direction as the rays of the morning sun kissed the sand good morning.
Walk Like an Egyptian
Thank the Divine the weather was beautiful all day. In the morning, it was quite cool, and in the afternoon the sun was warm but not brutally hot.We got back to the stable as the gate was unlocked for the pyramid zone, so now it was time to spend even more money purchasing a camel ride around the sites. It was explained to us that the monuments were too far apart to go comfortably on foot, and indeed I wouldn't want to be slogging around in that much sand all day, and Wreath of Roses was positively giddy about the idea of riding a camel.
I'm glad I didn't wait to do this trip until I was one day older or my joints were one day stiffer, because getting on the camel repeatedly during the day was an embarrassing trial, and riding the camel for hours has left me sore in all kinds of places. I never envisioned we'd be riding camels, so all I packed on this trip were my long twill skirts (see blog entry where I talk about the need for loose clothing on women in Egypt). Oh dear. As I type this, my palms are bruised from gripping the pommel of the camel saddle all day, my biceps are pulled from hanging on as the camel jerked up or down from a kneeling position, my thigh muscles are screaming from pressing onto either side the very tall camel's neck as we loped along, and my tailbone is bruised from bouncing on the camel's hump.
But really, it was worth it. Because we're in Africa! We're in Egypt! We're in Cairo! We're at the pyramids! We just kept looking at each other all day and reminding ourselves about the amazing reality of the day. I'm looking forward to getting back to Athens and posting the pictures we posed for where it looks like we're holding our hands over the tip of the pyramid and petting the head of the Sphynx. We got to touch the stones of the middle pyramid. They're very large limestone blocks that were originally the inside layer of the pyramid, which was then faced in higher-quality stone. The casing stones were stripped off in previous centuries to be burned for lime. Click, Wreath of Roses, and Blink Blink actually climbed several levels up from the base of the pyramid for pictures. Boy band, eat your heart out, here comes the girl group! Oh, and don't forget the Walk Like an Egyptian picture a bedouin selling $20 sodas posed us in.
We had nobody like Indy with us who could give detailed historical and archaeological information in English, so our tour was mostly about taking pictures and laughing at the guide's goofy canned jokes. It seems that all Egyptians who deal with tourists know the old play on the burning desert heat, "Oh you Americans? Welcome to Alaska!"
Comments
You rode a CAMEL?!??!?
Oh my goodness, please tell me somebody got a picture of that! I really need to see it before I can assimilate that thought... Tiara on a camel! How marvelous!
-DianeS
You did it!
You rode a camel! You really did! AWESOME!!! Thanks for coming back and posting that picture!
-DianeS