This week I was in Egypt!!!! Cairo is much larger than I expected and was told that it has a population around 18 million people. Their homes are made of big bricks and are stacked one on top of another with tiny narrow roads that go between them. I guess Egypt is in Africa, but I didn't expect it to be so poverty stricken. Trash seems to have overtaken the city. Every street, canal, and nook and cranny looks like a dumpster. We arrived at our hotel in the evening, ate dinner, and then headed to a light show on the pyramids. It was amazing to see the sheer size and engineering prowess of the temples at Giza. They dwarf all the other buildings on the skyline. The light and sound show was kind of cheesy but it was awesome to see the pyramids at sunset and lit up in the desert night.
The next morning we got up early to try and beat the heat (if that is even possible) and see the pyramids. They were amazing and we got to walk to the tomb in the center of the middle pyramid, called the Khafre Pyramid. I had to walk hunched over the entire way to the center of the pyramid and on my way out I totally bruised the middle of my spine on a piece of angle iron that was encasing the entrance. It hurt so bad!
Let me just interject right now the fact that Egyptian vendors are the most annoying people on the planet, and apparently they have been that way for millennia. I was reading a 6th century BC account written by Herodotus and he reported that aside from the pesky souvenir vendors, the pyramids were fantastic. They are the pushiest bunch of thieves I have ever encountered in my life! They come up and shove things into your hands and tell you that they are giving it to you for free. Then they follow you around asking you for money for what they put in your hand. I fortunately was warned of their assertiveness and never took anything they offered. If you engage with them at all, even to just say no, they will not leave you alone. I think they believe if they mercilessly bug the hell out of you, you will eventually buy whatever piece of crap thing they are selling. I learned the best way to deal with them is to look at them straight in the eyes with a look like "If you even think of even saying one word to me, I will straight beat your ass", accompanied by a forceful wave of the hand with your palm facing the ground, they will leave you alone. I did talk to one guy who offered me 2000 camels for the girl standing next to me. I would have taken the offer but he didn't pony up the camels so the deal fell through. There were a few vendors hanging around with camels and I paid one of them a couple of bucks to sit on his camel and take a picture with the pyramid in the background.
After we checked out the pyramids we made our way to the Sphinx. It was cool because it was sculpted from a single stone, but it was a little unimpressive compared to the pyramids towering behind it. The body of the lion symbolizes power and prowess, and the human head symbolizes intelligence and reason. A funny side note: The sphinx is missing its nose and beard, both of which were vandalized by Muslims. Rather than fessing up to their misdeeds, they blame the French... The claim that Napoleon ransacked the statue when he came through. Classic. We should do the same. Anything stupid our country has ever done should be blamed on the French.
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