It's Friday evening and we are knocked out. Maybe an evening walk and
maybe not.
Mohamed delivered our bags around 1:30 a.m. this morning, after
calling at 10:30 to say he would be by to pick up our passports, so he
could look for our bags, then shepherd them through customs. Mohamed
says it's his job to make everything work out, and did not trust
British Airways to get them to us before tomorrow.
After the late night drop-off, he was back at 8 a.m. to let us know
tomorrow's departure time (7 a.m.) . Later we dropped Mohamed off in
Giza on our way to Dashur, and I realized he must have spent most of
the night getting from home to our hotel, to the airport, back to the
hotel, home, then back to the hotel.
Today our travels took us by the Great Pyramids several times. We
won't actually visit them for a couple of weeks. They are huge and
surrounded by very urban development, traffic, construction, etc.
Gives them a bit of a theme park look, and although I know there will
be Disneyland-sized crowds when we visit, I''m sure close-up the
feeling will be different.
We drove an hour or more south through the "countryside," an odd mix
of abandoned canals, trash, agriculture (fruit, vegetables, dates),
weekend villas and poor farmers' homes. As in Cairo, horse and
donkey-driven carts, buses, cars, pedestrians and bicycles (sometimes
ridden by guys with trays of rolls on their heads), all jockeying for
position, We see no accidents, so it works after a fashion.
We finally reached Dashur and visited the Reddish Pyramid and the Bent
Pyramid. Standing alone in the desert (except for the army base next
door), they are very impressive. Taller and steeper than the pyramids
in the Yucatan Not many people at either, and you can go inside the
Reddish Pyramid by climbing up the stairs, then descending steeply to
the burial chamber. The shaft is at most four feet high, so you are
descending in a crouch. At the bottom the air feels tired and reeks
of ammonia. Quite an experience.
Maha waited in the car while we were inside the Reddish Pyramid. When
I commented it was not a good place for people with claustrophobia,
she confessed she had tried a dozen times to enter and could not get
past the entrance.
On to the Bent Pyramid, a pyramid that started to collapse when the
angle was changed, causing the king to start building another pyramid,
now called the Broken Pyramid. It''s visible a short distance away
and looks more like some rock formation you would see up around
Monument Valley than a pyramid. The Bent Pyramid is unique in having
smooth, almost polished sides. We're told all the pyramids originally
were like this, and painted as well. From a distance we thought the
smooth look came from some sort of plaster. Close up it is clear it
is the stone itself. Hard to imagine the work involved.
Oh yes, we are told the pyramids were built by workers, not slaves,
and that they worked an 8-hour day. This and many things we here make
us think licensed guides may be asked to present some things in the
most positive light. In the same vein, Jews, Christians and Muslims
are all equal in Egypt, even though it is ruled by Islamic law and 9
out of 10 women we see wear some sort of hijab. We see many burkhas
as well. We are told the hijab is more for fashion than religion.
After a quick visit to a Carpet School where boys and girls learn to
knot and weave beautiful silk and wool carpets, we headed back to
Cairo for another late lunch, this time Indian food in a restaurant
called Kandahar. Great food and conversation about the pros and cons
of arranged marriages, followed by a drive around the very European
looking downtown, and home to Le Riad just before the 6 p.m. call to
prayer rang out from the mosques all around us. From our little
balcony I watched the street below go from full and lively to almost
empty, as the men entered the mosques for ablutions and prayers.
Cairo just gets bigger, and today was also very smoggy. I will be
ready for a week in the desert! Unless the oases are more urban than
I hope, our next computer access will likely be a week from now, when
we reach Luxor.
Until then, Toni
Mohamed delivered our bags around 1:30 a.m. this morning, after
calling at 10:30 to say he would be by to pick up our passports, so he
could look for our bags, then shepherd them through customs. Mohamed
says it's his job to make everything work out, and did not trust
British Airways to get them to us before tomorrow.
After the late night drop-off, he was back at 8 a.m. to let us know
tomorrow's departure time (7 a.m.) . Later we dropped Mohamed off in
Giza on our way to Dashur, and I realized he must have spent most of
the night getting from home to our hotel, to the airport, back to the
hotel, home, then back to the hotel.
Today our travels took us by the Great Pyramids several times. We
won't actually visit them for a couple of weeks. They are huge and
surrounded by very urban development, traffic, construction, etc.
Gives them a bit of a theme park look, and although I know there will
be Disneyland-sized crowds when we visit, I''m sure close-up the
feeling will be different.
We drove an hour or more south through the "countryside," an odd mix
of abandoned canals, trash, agriculture (fruit, vegetables, dates),
weekend villas and poor farmers' homes. As in Cairo, horse and
donkey-driven carts, buses, cars, pedestrians and bicycles (sometimes
ridden by guys with trays of rolls on their heads), all jockeying for
position, We see no accidents, so it works after a fashion.
We finally reached Dashur and visited the Reddish Pyramid and the Bent
Pyramid. Standing alone in the desert (except for the army base next
door), they are very impressive. Taller and steeper than the pyramids
in the Yucatan Not many people at either, and you can go inside the
Reddish Pyramid by climbing up the stairs, then descending steeply to
the burial chamber. The shaft is at most four feet high, so you are
descending in a crouch. At the bottom the air feels tired and reeks
of ammonia. Quite an experience.
Maha waited in the car while we were inside the Reddish Pyramid. When
I commented it was not a good place for people with claustrophobia,
she confessed she had tried a dozen times to enter and could not get
past the entrance.
On to the Bent Pyramid, a pyramid that started to collapse when the
angle was changed, causing the king to start building another pyramid,
now called the Broken Pyramid. It''s visible a short distance away
and looks more like some rock formation you would see up around
Monument Valley than a pyramid. The Bent Pyramid is unique in having
smooth, almost polished sides. We're told all the pyramids originally
were like this, and painted as well. From a distance we thought the
smooth look came from some sort of plaster. Close up it is clear it
is the stone itself. Hard to imagine the work involved.
Oh yes, we are told the pyramids were built by workers, not slaves,
and that they worked an 8-hour day. This and many things we here make
us think licensed guides may be asked to present some things in the
most positive light. In the same vein, Jews, Christians and Muslims
are all equal in Egypt, even though it is ruled by Islamic law and 9
out of 10 women we see wear some sort of hijab. We see many burkhas
as well. We are told the hijab is more for fashion than religion.
After a quick visit to a Carpet School where boys and girls learn to
knot and weave beautiful silk and wool carpets, we headed back to
Cairo for another late lunch, this time Indian food in a restaurant
called Kandahar. Great food and conversation about the pros and cons
of arranged marriages, followed by a drive around the very European
looking downtown, and home to Le Riad just before the 6 p.m. call to
prayer rang out from the mosques all around us. From our little
balcony I watched the street below go from full and lively to almost
empty, as the men entered the mosques for ablutions and prayers.
Cairo just gets bigger, and today was also very smoggy. I will be
ready for a week in the desert! Unless the oases are more urban than
I hope, our next computer access will likely be a week from now, when
we reach Luxor.
Until then, Toni
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