Egypt -- first days

Thursday and Friday, March 9 and 10
Our plane took off from JFK airport, and we decided to rent a car and drive down rather than fly. Our trip was nail biting; with no traffic delays, we should have arrived at JFK with more than three hours to spare. Instead, there was a nine-mile backup on our route and we arrived an hour and ten minutes before our plane took off. Fortunately, we were allowed to check in, we were some of the last people to board the plane, but we were able to sit together for the ten-and-a-half hour flight ot Cairo.

In Cairo, we were met by representatives of the tour company and eventually made our way to the Mena House Hotel, near the Pyramids. The hotel is old and elegant; our bedroom was comfortable, with its own little balcony looking out onto a quiet lawn. A quick walk around the grounds led us to the swimming pool (which I never saw anyone swimming in), from which you could see the tops of the famous Giza pyramids.

We then collapsed and napped until dinner, which was mediocre, but which was followed by a show featuring belly dancers and a whirling dervish who went on for quite a while. At dinner, though, we did get to be with our entire group of 55 for the first time.

Saturday March 11
We met Essam, our tour guide and Egyptologist for most of our trip. Essam carried an Egyptian flag high over his head so that we could follow him even in a crowd. He was warm and funny and knowledgeable about ancient Egypt and modern life. He had some amusing sayings -- some day, I expect to hear his booming voice again saying "Shake a leg" or "mashie mashie" (the equivalent of "ok ok"). Another cute turn of phrase was his description of that place we all sought out after a long hard day looking at temples and tombs -- the "temple of relief;" we were nearly always happy it was there, and nearly always regretted having used it.

Our first stop was in Saqqara, a short drive from Cairo. I got to see the demarcation line between irrigated line and desert; one abruptly stops and the other starts. I got a nice taste of how very dry and punishing the Egyptian sun is and never again went out without a bottle of water. We also saw our first working camels -- the Antiquities police use them to patrol the borders of sites.

Saqqara is a huge burial ground which includes many well-preserved bas reliefs of activities of daily life. The Egyptians believed in life after death and wanted to recreate their life on earth in the next life. There were scenes of eating, dancing, playing music, and some amusing scenes of hippos and crocodiles in a mortal embrace. Another part of the area had smallish pyramids and a hippostyle hall. There was also a causeway down to the Nile. It was once covered, and a little of the original ceiling, which is painted with stars, remains.

After lunch, we went to the pyramids. Robert went in one and reported that while he was glad to have been inside, he was also glad that I'd stayed outside; they're apparently claustrophobic inside. A tour group member and I walked around one of the pyramids and were accosted by a man who wanted to wrap me in his shawl and have us take pictures. I just wasn't into it. (For one thing, the shawl smelled like it had been on an unwashed camel, which was actually likely since the man had his camel with him. For another thing, I hadn't quite gotten the hang of baksheesh yet.) We finally escaped and contined our stroll.

It turns out that you can go to the stables near the Pyramids and ride camels or horses, but you usually need to start early in the morning, and we were pooped, so we missed our chance. Maybe next time?

Despite signs forbidding the practice, we did see people climbing the pyramids. Apparently, climbing has been banned since a few tourists fell to their deaths who knows how many years ago.

We zoomed over to a spot where we had a panoramic view of the three Giza pyramids and then, for dessert, went to visit the Sphinx (or the Esphincus as the Egyptians call it -- they can't put all those consonants together). I was quite moved to be in its presence and suddenly realized I had always wanted to see it, but had never quite dared to voice that hope to myself. It was much smaller than I'd expected, while the pyramids were larger than I'd thought they'd be.

It turns out there are other sphinxes in Egypt, but none this big, at least none that we saw. There's a whole avenue of lion-sized sphinxes in Luxor, and a tiny sphinx behind the Luxor temple.