Things I Did In Egypt: Saw the Pyramids, Posed with a Sphinx and Rode a Camel Named Douglas

Greetings friends!

I feel so behind on the blogs; the ports are coming faster than what I can keep up with!

So we left off en route to Egypt, which was absolutely phenomenal….just a thrill for the sights, sounds, and taste buds. How cool is it that we get to go to Egypt as an “alternate” port? Who does that? Oh wait, we do! I felt a little unprepared for our destination as I certainly did not know how to speak or to read Arabic, but there is not many on this ship that do…..in many aspects, it was like entering Russia all over again.

We arrived in Alexandria, Egypt on July 30th. My immediate impressions of the port were very favorable. Alexandria was founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great. At 4 million people, Alexandria is the second largest city in Egypt, and often thought of as its crown jewel city. It is a place where many from Cairo flock for vacation or the weekend. After being in Cairo, I can attest that at 4 million people, Alexandria feels like a small resort town in comparison.

Now, I need to take a time out to commend the ship’s field office for doing a spectacular job arranging trips for us while in Egypt. With less than 24 hours notice, they pulled together jeep and camel safaris to the pyramids, three day trips to Cairo, overnight trips to Cairo, city tours of Alexandria and much more. They did an excellent job and I commend them for their fantastic work. I of course jump all over the jeep and camel safari. All of us acted like we were in elementary school, jumping up down, exclaiming how we were going to be camel riding and actually seeing the pyramids of Giza.

So last Wednesday morning, I disembarked in Alexandria and immediately stepped onto a motor coach that whisked us off for Cairo. I was lucky enough to be on the same trip as Megan, so we bunked up for our 2 and a half hour bus trip. Unlike any other port, each trip was equipped with trip leaders and armed guards (each one wearing a suit and carrying a small machine gun on their back under their jacket). Our tour guide, Baghat, was just awesome. He chatted on and on during our ride, giving us some history of the majesty and splendor of what we were about to see. So down-to-earth and funny, Megan and I chatted with him the whole way to Cairo, where we learned about kartooshes, mummification and much much more. Baghat is such a culture buff that he is starting his Ph.D. next year in Egyptology at the University of Chicago. He also taught us an important phrase on the bus, “habiby,” which means friend or sweetheart, depending on how you use it. So, habiby to you all J

Our trip to Cairo, the capital of Egypt and one of the most densely populated cities on the planet at 18 million, was pretty uneventful. Once we were out of Alexandria, it was nothing but flat desert. We saw many mud-brick huts along the roads and several leathery-faced men walking pack mules, destinations unknown.

To my surprise, the town of Giza, home to the great pyramids and the Sphinx, is located minutes from the outskirts of Cairo. We were in Cairo, and the next thing I knew, I spotted a pyramid outside of the bus window….and then it just kept getting bigger; and then they multiplied. There are three pyramids in total still intact in Giza, which makes for an awe-inspiring sight. Seeing the pyramids in person, it’s a cathartic experience. My heart skipped a beat and tears welled in my eyes upon seeing them. Just to be in their presence and to realize their magnificence, and the fact that they are over 5,000 years old, constructed on the backs of nobles to create one tomb for one pharaoh to get to the afterlife is just incredible. Each mud and sandstone brick used to construct the pyramids weighs 15 tons. And to think that all that was used was a basic pulley system to build these pyramids makes you stop and wonder if we have really evolved that much as a species in 5,000 years. I thought that many times while I stared in amazement. The first pyramid we saw was the Cheoees pyramid, the second one belonged to King Cheaphren and the third, and the smallest of the three was Mecrenious.

With time being very limited at the pyramids, Baghat gave us two options: we could either go inside a pyramid (but you couldn’t take pictures) or to the Solar Boat museum. At first, I was all about going inside a pyramid, but after hearing that you basically couldn’t see anything and all of the pyramids had been stripped of their treasures millenniums ago, I decided to go to the Solar Boat museum. Now before thinking I am the biggest nerd on the planet, let me tell you about this Solar Boat. The Solar Boat was excavated in 1953 by Egyptian archeaologists, who found the boat only a few feet away from the base of the King Cheaphren pyramid. When the discovery was made, archeaologists found well preserved cedar planks that were all numbered. After piecing the planks together, a 48 meter long cedar boat was constructed. The Solar Boat was used as an offering to the gods when Cheaphren died, he would take his solar boat into the sky and into the next life. This solar boat is in almost perfect condition—and over 4,700 years old. It was so well preserved because the Egyptians used a process of sealing off the tomb where light and moisture could not get to it. The boat, in it’s 48 meter glory is completely assembled in the museum and the museum is constructed on the site in which it was found. You can even see the excavation area where it was found. To me, that’s just so mind-boggling and amazing!

After squeezing off a few more pictures of camels and pyramids, we boarded the bus and headed down the road 2 minutes to see the wondrous Sphinx. WOW! Honestly folks, words cannot do it justice. It’s just unreal. The Sphinx, it is believed, was discovered centuries ago by a group of Egyptian aristocrats who were out in the desert camping. One of the aristocrats had dreams that he was sleeping on something sacred and ordered his servants to dig. What they found was the head of the Sphinx, and they were sleeping on the granite portion of her headpiece. The Sphinx was once covered in limestone to protect it from the weather, and was completely buried in sand until the aristocrats dug it up. You couldn’t go on the Sphinx, but we got some amazing photos of it. Just wondrous, it is so spectacular and spell binding to be there, I was just in a state of euphoria the whole time. To see that, some people wait their entire lives to see it, or say they want to go, but never do. This is something you have to see in your lifetime. I don’t know how else to explain it, but pictures and TV are nothing in comparison to the experience of being present in the same time and place as these mystical ancient relics of a civilization that was there 5,000 years before. As I was walking around the sites, I thought a lot about the activity that took place where I was walking, the paths that I was following. Did a pharaoh walk here? Did someone’s house used to be in this same spot? Unreal, people. Unreal. Another cool experience that happened as we were boarding the bus was the sound of Arabic over an unknown loud speaker. Someone asked Baghat about it and he said that it was time for 1 PM call to prayer.

After our Sphinx and pyramid experience, everyone was in a state of bliss, amazement, and hunger! We traveled outside of Giza to the city of Sakara, which is world famous for its carpet schools, where young Egyptian children go to learn the craft of carpet weaving. We had a delightful lunch at the Sakara Country Club and filled our plates with chicken kebabs, rice, hummus and other vegetable salads. We also sampled some Egyptian coffee and a wonderful selection of Egyptian desserts, none of the names that I can remember, all I remember is their main ingredient was honey and they were absolutely addictive. Megan and I sat with Baghat at lunch, processing through what we had seen and heard, taking copious notes on our maps of Cairo. We were also joined by Carl and Abbey and Courtney. We enjoyed sharing our morning experiences and passing cameras around the table.

Baghat had us on tight schedule and next on the agenda was a trip out to the desert of Sakara, where we visited the tomb of Mer-Ruka, who lived in 2340 BC. We were lucky enough to go inside his tomb, where we found each room was covered floor to ceiling with hieroglyphics. According to Baghat, each pharaoh’s tomb took over 20 years to create because of the variety of laborious processes that need to be completed. After erecting the tomb, the floors and ceilings are plastered, then the designs for the hieroglyphics were traced, then carved out. After the carving process, each series of hieroglyphics were painstakingly painted by hand. All of the scenes in the tomb are to depict the daily activities of the pharaoh. We were not allowed to take pictures or touch the walls, but the hieroglyphics have been astonishingly well-preserved. Some of them still have pigment from the paint, a lot of paint having been destroyed over millienias by sunlight and heat. Again, just to fathom the construction and the painstaking carvings, many of which depicted water bearers, hunters and Mer-Rukas wife, were all done by hand over the span of 20 years. Just for one man. Astounding.

After our visit to Mer-Ruka, we walked over the first-discovered pyramid, the Step Pyramid. Why named so? Because it looks like giant steps, stacked layers on one another that go all the way to the peak, unlike the others with their smoothly angled sides. There is no date on when the pyramid was constructed, but the very first one. Again, according to Baghat, many Egyptologists believe that they have only uncovered about 30% of ancient Egypt, much of it buried beneath thousands of years of sand.

The step pyramid was on our way to see the first stone building ever constructed, which was believed to be the entryway into ancient Sakara. Built completely of smooth limestone, the building is pretty well-preserved, much of its architecture very much looking Grecian, many Ionic columns and pillars are found over the site. Crunched for time, Megan and I snapped some pictures of the place and were amused by the many old Egyptian men, who were charming the students of promises of marriage and 2 million camel. All in good fun, it was pretty hilarious.

We boarded the bus back near Mer-Ruka’s tomb, the temperature had now climbed to over 100 degrees. Now it was time for the Jeep and camel safari!!!

Surprisingly enough, we drove back to the Sakara country club, where our off-road Jeeps and drivers awaited. Students and faculty and staff alike were pumped for this experience. Megan and I, along with the Teachers at Sea, Meghan, Sarah and Caroline, hopped into a Jeep, and we were off! Many of the Jeeps took off at the same time and before we knew it, we were out in the barren desert. It was such an incredible feeling, a feeling of total abandonment and freedom, to be bajaing through the desert with no windows, just sand and sun and a Jeep flying over sand hills, up and down peaks and valleys, it was so awesome. I was able to catch some of it on video; it’s pretty hilarious, but so, so exhilarating; our adrenaline was pumping.

Before we knew it, we crossed over to near Mer-Ruka again, where we saw a huge pack of camels and camel drivers in the distance. Now was the time to go camel riding!!!! We got out of the Jeeps and headed over to the camel drivers, who waited patiently with their camels, who were all laying down in the sand, their long gangly legs tucked underneath them. All of the camel drivers spoke a little English and was soon ushered over to white camel by a boy who couldn’t have been more than 14. We made eye contact and I asked him not to spit on me. My driver assured me that he was very pleasant. I threw myself up in the saddle, and before I knew it, the camel was up on all fours and ready to go! The best part of this story comes now: the camel’s name? Douglas. Immediately thinking of my friend Doug, I let out a long laugh and patted Douglas’ side and knew immediately that we would be cool. The ride out to the desert was pretty great. Douglas was very friendly and only tried to nibble on my ankle just once. Before I got on, Megan and I had exchanged cameras, so I could take pictures of her with her camera and vice versa. I took a few good shots of Megan and her camel, Michael Jackson, and just enjoyed our leisurely stroll through the desert. It was so much fun to see the students and the faculty and staff getting into it as well. Douglas stayed at a good leisurely pace as the sun began to set in the distance behind Cairo.

Douglas and I parted ways and then it was time to head back to Alexandria. Most folks were pretty wiped out after all of the day’s activities, but Megan and I chatted with Baghat on the way home and learned a great deal about Egypt, its politics, the still-ongoing caste system, the status of women in a Muslim country, etc. All fascinating discussions and conversations, which I will keep to a minimum for the sake of the blog. I know I write too much as it is.

After a first day in Egypt like that, the rest of the time spent was a bit less dramatic and wondersome. A bunch of folks went into Cairo on the second day, myself included, although I had to come back that night because I was on duty on the ship. My observations of Cairo were fairly limited to cab rides and just observations on the city streets because I was only there 4 hours. I am glad that I was able to go, but while I was there, I observed that it is such a dichotomy between the haves and the have nots. Beggars in the streets, just scraping by, while these giant 5-star hotels loom in the distance. The part of the Nile River that I saw was murky, at best, and I noticed a dead cow floating by. And the traffic! I have never seen anything like it. While I was in a cab with our friend Courtney, she observed that the only thing more chaotic that she has seen is in India, but instead of cabs and cars and buses, it’s mules and rickshaws. Honestly, there are no lane markers, no stoplights. It’s every man, woman and child for themselves. The Egyptians also use their car horns as a communication system more than an expression of warning; they honk their horns to change lanes, pick up passengers, drop off passengers, stop for pedestrians, you name it, they use their horns J

Returning to Alexandria, I definitely appreciate the beauty and relatively peaceful and quiet atmosphere it has. I tried my hand at bartering at some nearby shops and succeeded pretty well. The trick is not to barter at all, I learned. Just ask a price to the merchant, say no and walk away. Soon enough, the merchant will ask you what price to you want to pay. He’ll say no, you walk away. Soon enough, the price goes tumbling down and you walk away feeling good about your purchases and the merchant still generates some revenue. It was delightful. I bought some hand-painted perfume bottles, a wooden camel set, a stuffed leather camel and two kartooshes—one for me and one for Sarah. Kartooshes are extremely popular in Egypt—they are necklaces and bracelets in either gold or silver with your name spelled out in hieroglphics. Pretty damn cool.

Some other interesting tidbits about Egypt include that the average monthly income for an Egyptian is $500 USD, most children stay at home with their parents until their thirties because the cost of getting married is so expensive. Baghat told us that most Egyptian men need to save $40,000 USD before getting married because men need to provide a furnished home, a savings account, and pay for the wedding. Most Egyptians go to college, adoption is illegal and the dream of each Egyptian child is to one day visit America.

I will treasure my time in Egypt for a long, long time to come and many of memories will live on past me through photos. This for me, was just a magical experience and one that I never thought would happen in my lifetime. It was just incredible and left me incredulous.