Saturday, December 11, 2010

To the pyramids, by camel

This morning we headed to Giza, just outside Cairo and home to the iconic Great Pyramids.  The weather for the day was sandy.  When the wind blows in the desert, there is no other way to describe the effect, other than dusty, grit-in-your-teeth, this is the desert in winter, kind of day.  There, we boarded our camels and horses in the stables, and headed through the gates around the backside of the pyramids, away from the tourist bus mobs, to a mountain lookout for a great photo stop.  The camels were picturesque, but not particularly comfortable.... Katie's quote was "bumpety, bumpety, bumpety BUMP!" and we were happy to trade between the horse and the camel during our 2 hour tour.  Jaclyn did a great treble jig, Travis walked like an Egyptian, Derek and JC held the pyramid in their hands, and we all built our human pyramid to mimic the Egyptians, it was great fun (and now we all have sand everywhere!)
Next stop was Saqqara, the oldest pyramids, where we were able to go inside! the tomb (down a 50' corridor, rather claustrophobic but well lit) to see the hieroglyphics on the walls, and experience the feeling of discovery first-hand.  Again, amazing.  All the kids loved going inside, and the sense of discovery and amazement of history.... There is still so much more to be uncovered, with an estimate 10 percent of sites uncovered at this date.  So much more to learn!  From there to the ancient city of Memphis, old capital of Eqyptian time, where we met the greatest pharaoh, Ramses II in super-human size, like 150 feet tall?  Also impressive, but we are finding that of everything in this incredible place.
Tomorrow we head to the desert on a jeep safari, and to sleep overnight in a Bedouin village, underneath the stars.  We are all hoping the wind will settle down...

No comments:

Post a Comment