Our Trip To See The Pyramids

The bus pulled up at 9am and we were off to see the Pyramids. Everyone was excited. Half way there the bus pulled over - our tour guides were not on the bus. It was unclear if they were meeting us there or if they were supposed to be on the bus.  After a long wait, it was decided to continue on with out tour guides. Melanie, the high school principal, attempted to give us as much background as she could before we got off the bus.
A ticket to see the pyramids is 60LE ($10). Once through the gate we were warned that there would be people there asking us to buy stuff, to take their picture, to ride on a camel, etc. If we didn't want to, all we had to do was politely but firmly tell them no and walk away. We were supposed to walk through the gate, have a quick look around and get back on the bus which was going to take us to the far side of the pyramids to get an overall view.

This guy looks friendly enough. All I wanted to do was get his photo with the pyramids in the back ground. When he got off his camel, I went over to him to give him a tip as a thank-you for posing for me. 

Next thing I know, I'm wearing a scarf on my head and sitting on the camel! He took my very expensive SLR camera out of my hand so he could take my picture. ("look like Arab" and "hold tight and lean back" is what he said)
This is the photo he took! Not bad for someone so frightened.

After he took the photo, I expected to get down. Instead, he grabbed the lead rope and started to pull the camel to take me for a ride. Yikes! "Michael... help me!" 

Man pulling me hears me yell for Mike. Next thing I know, Mike is on the back of the camel with me  - wearing the head scarf! We still don't know how this happened. Once again, he took the camera and took this picture. 

And this one ....  Finally Becca came to our rescue. She took the camera from him. Mike was forceful enough get us off the camel - And THEN - he had the nerve to tell us the amount of money we were offering him as a tip was "not enough". In the end, I have no idea how much money Mike gave him. I'm was just glad to be on the ground again.

The desert amazes me. Look at it! It's exactly what it looks like in all the photos I've seen. It goes on for miles and there is NOTHING in view but sand and blue sky. Pretty cool . . . and really HOT.  We've all come to accept that sweat running down your back is normal.

This is the spot that the bus took us to for photos. There were lots of booths set up with trinkets for sale - all requiring bartering. I purchased a few items at what I hope was a good price.  

 This is the spot where you can take photos and look like you're holding a pyramid in your hands - so we tried it. Turned out not too bad.

 The man selling Mike's new head scarf was so annoying. Mike was offered a head scarf at the last stop for 20LE. He didn't buy it. When some of the other guys had them, and paid 20LE for them, he decided that if he saw them again, he would buy one and put a 20LE note in his shirt pocket.
The next stop was the big pyramid and sure enough, there was another man selling head scarfs. We walked over to him and he told us he was selling them for 200LE. We walked away. He followed. We told him that others had purchased theirs for only 20. He didn't believe us. We walked away again. This went on for what seemed like a very long time. Finally, I took the 20LE out of Mike's pocket. He saw the money, grabbed it out of my hand and gave me the scarf. The only problem is, he didn't give us the rope piece to hold it in place. We'll go back someday and be more prepared to barter.

Becca and Mike are standing on the
bottom blocks of the biggest pyramid.

There are rows of tombs like this
along the pathway down to the sphinx.

The Sphinx was our last stop. Amazing!

 I could have taken photos here all day long....but we only had a few minutes.

Guardian of the Giza Plateau. The leonine Sphinx is known to the Arabs as Abu al-Hol, the "father of terror".

Three successive generations built these monumental structures during the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdon (2686-2181 BC)

This child was pushing book marks and post cards. We didn't buy any because he wanted bills, not coins.
He did accept the coins in exchange for a photo. He was pretty cute. 

This one is for you Don Wilson. "the fourth pyramid"
I'm happy to report that you can't see Pizza Hut from the Pyramids. But you can see the Pyramids from Pizza Hut. 

 When we returned home everyone had a long nap. Becca even slept through the landlord fixing her bed. (it was broken and she had to sleep on the couch for 2 nights)
All three of us were dehydrated. Next time I'm taking a back pack and filling it with water bottles. Problem is, you don't feel thirsty while you're there. It's not until the excitement is over that you notice it. We drank lots when we got home and into the next day. I've never seen Mike drink so much water. He used to think I was crazy to drink a big glass of water in the morning .... guess who pulled the water bottle out of the fridge as soon as he got up today?

 The GOOD: Seeing the amazing nearly 5000 year old pyramids and sphinx.

The BAD: The tour guides showed up at the Maadi Hotel at 10am, one hour late.

The UGLY: Being hassled to purchase. Next time we'll be more prepared. And there will be a next time - it's only 20 minutes away.