that was fantastic. After the show, we were all far too exhausted to do anything else, so we simply went to bed (delightedly). :) The next day was a truly unprecedented day in the life of Chelsey.
The air in Cairo was thick and misty that morning, and although my romantic side would like to believe it was a mist rising from the Nile, the more practical side of me knew it was from the heavy pollution. I think I was expecting Cairo to be more... orange. Psychologically I seem to have associated the color orange with Egypt... probably from the sand and the pyramids. It really is more brown and grey, with a surprising amount of green close to the Nile. It was slightly less humid than Israel, slightly more humid than Utah. It was fascinating to see how abruptly the line of green stops and the desert begins. Anyways, back to the morning of Giza.
We stayed at the Oasis Pyramids Hotel in Cairo, where my roommate Katie and I enjoyed a cold morning in our hotel room. It had taken us several minutes the night before to figure out that our air conditioning was not, in fact, broken (we were both momentarily terrified when we got there and it didn't immediately work--as air conditioning is a precious and invaluable commodity) but all we had to do was stick our card in a slot and it began bursting out air that was as cold as it gets in Egypt in July. Anyways... The first few days I probably sanitized my hands upwards of about three times an hour. I had, regrettably, forgotten my toothbrush in my rush to leave the JC, so I made due by sanitizing my finger, putting toothpaste on it, brushing my teeth with it, rinsing with bottled water and sanitizing my finger again. It was a pain, though luckily, I was soon able to acquire a new toothbrush for the rest of the trip. We woke up early, as we did every day, in the hopes of avoiding the terrific, scourging heat that is Egypt, (it got to about 104 F in Cairo and 110-115 F in Luxor). We were each issued two 1.5 liter bottles of water and authoritatively, (almost threateningly!), instructed to "drink, drink, drink." (Yes, many-an-alcohol jokes were made about this among the less mature of our group...*cough*... myself included. You can't just leave yourself open like that! heehee.) But in all seriousness, apparently dehydration is a common problem for the students when they go to Egypt in this program.
We then traveled via bus (although it might have been faster to walk since the traffic in Cairo is so bad) to the pyramids at Giza. My friends and I referred to it as "Geeez-eh" all day because that was what the narrator voice in the sound and lights show the night before had called it. Our tour guide, Emad, told us for the first time: "Habibis! Please prepare your headsets!" ... a phrase which 96% of us came to loathe by the end of Egypt. Habibi is an Arabic term for something similar to "beloved one," a term of endearment if you will, although few of us felt that Emad was in any way "endeared" with us. Not that he didn't try. The lack of respect (if my perception was correct) ended up being rather mutual. We quickly became frustrated with him for redundantly repeating himself over and over again unceasingly with much repetitiveness as he told the same story again and again using even the same words over and over... redundantly. I know that I felt that this was a waste of my precious time at all the sites when I could have been looking at things and being more productive. I'll talk more about that when I get to the Valley of the Kings.
As the bus approached the pyramids, a gasp arose from the bus. Even though we'd all seen the pyramids the night before at the sound and lights show, their ominous presence pervaded us on that early morning as they became more and more clear through the ... mist. [smog]. I could only imagine what an ancient traveller must've thought when he saw those towering figures in the distance. Many of us couldn't help ourselves from taking pictures through the bus windows, even though we knew we'd get some far more amazing shots within the hour. Before we got off the bus, Emad graciously warned us of the people who wandered the tourism sites trying to sell things. He told us to not make eye contact and that if we showed any interest at all they would not leave us alone, and would waste much of our time at the sites. All of us tried our best, but several of us (including me) were cornered by individuals who wanted money to have our pictures taken with a real Egyptian at the pyramids. I found that the quickest way to dispel these peddlers was to simply tell them the truth. That I didn't have any money with me. (I had left it all on the bus). I only had to leave two or three disgruntled Egyptians behind in before the word must've spread that the girl in the white pants and hat was broke. :)
The Pyramids! The Pyramids!!! They are truly magnificent! Anything I could say to describe them would be a cliche. First of all, they are massive!
Truly an engineering feat beyond anything I would've thought capable. Even if we had made them today with all our modern technology I would've been utterly astounded. If nothing else, they are surely a monument to the ingenuity, innovation and enterprise of mankind, and yet, I felt as I approached the great pyramid of Khufu, a reminder of our nothingness. I thought of how their vast presence was filled with hollowness. They are simply stone monuments, and while they have lasted thousands of years, they will not last through the eternities. The Egyptians were obsessed with obtaining eternal life, (and probably came the closest to their goals as anyone could have expected), however, mummies lay desecrated and the great pyramids once lined with beautiful white limestone could be destroyed far more easily than they were erected. Once I got over the initial shock of seeing the actual pyramids, the thought that struck me (surprisingly) was this: that these people didn't build these pyramids simply for some scam religion or superstition that they hoped would save them in the afterlife. The people of Egypt must have truly believed and had a deep and powerful commitment to their religion, probably similar to the one that I feel to mine. Human blood must've gone into erecting those monumental towers whose purpose was not only to allow its inhabiter a path into the next life--but also to frame him forever in this world. It served to me another stark and almost bleak reminder of how many things can seem to work out for us in this life, but will do little or nothing for us in the life to come.
Anyway, enough of my philosophizing, I'll tell you the touristy stuff! People are no longer allowed to climb the pyramids. This was a terrible tragedy to me, but once I got over being mildly devastated, I was quite pleased to simply be able to touch it. After I finished my "being in awe" stage, I ran full-force towards the pyramid of Khufu and put my fingers to stone that was laid there approximately 4500 years ago!
I took Brother Seely's advice to "touch everything...when they're not looking" for the whole trip. :D I love Brother Seely. He is our Ancient Near Eastern Studies teacher, and besides being overwhelmingly knowledgeable (like all the staff here) he is incredibly entertaining and adventurous. Oh and don't worry, I always sanitized after I touched anything. :). Anyways, we sat on the bottom few ledges where they will still let you climb, took pictures,
were harassed by salesmen, and managed to stay hydrated through the first hour of our day, despite the fact that each of us was already sweating in our middle-eastern/JC approved garb. Despite being hot, I'm grateful that I was clothed as modestly as I was. I definitely think it made a difference when it came to the Arab men, and I found that sunglasses do a great job of helping me keep from making unwanted eye-contact.
After the first pyramid, we piled onto the bus again to be carted off to the 2nd pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre. This pyramid was slightly smaller than Khufu's, and belonged to his son. It didn't look too much smaller since the tippy-top of the other pyramid was dismantled [some number which I don't know] years back. Anyways, the tippy top of Khafre's pyramid still has some of the limestone which originally encased the ancient structures. (It's really cool-looking, and I can only imagine what it must've looked like with all of it!) Apparently after Egypt was conquered, the conquerers mined the ready-cut limestone to build their own buildings.
We got to go inside Khafre's pyramid! I was so excited, going inside a pyramid has been a dream of mine since at least fifth grade that I can remember. We all lined up with 2 girls between each boy (for security reasons) and slowly began to make our way down a small tunnel into the heart of the pyramid. It is Hot inside the pyramids. If you are expecting it to be cool because it is out of the sun, you are incredibly mistaken my friend. Perhaps it would be cooler without the body heat of thousands of tourists being emitted in it every day... but all I know is that I was sweating more profusely inside the pyramid than at any point in the sun on the Egypt trip. Not only is it hot, but as I stooped down to enter the pyramid, something assaulted my senses which can only be described as the reeking body odor of a hundred thousand tourists who have never heard of deodorant, or who purposely did not put any on the day they went to the pyramid of Khafre, simply to leave their own lasting mark on tourists who marveled at the pyramids. (Keep in mind, I am still thinking this whole business of going inside the pyramids is absolutely fabulous, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything :)). One thing that fascinated me about the tunnel that led to the tomb, was that ... well... that was it. A tunnel. There were no hieroglyphics on the walls, and there were a few break-off points that I'm sure were filled to the brim with all manner of precious metals and gems at one time... but it was a simple stone tunnel. It proceeded down from the entrance for a while, and then up for another while, so by the time we reached the burial chamber or tomb, we were truly in the heart of the pyramid. It opened up into a rather small room, probably a little smaller (narrower definitely) than the "New Room" in our bountiful house. It was shaped like a 3-d version of the shape I'd draw in 1st grade when I wanted to depict a "house". A rectangle with a triangle roof. As we exited the tunnel, we turned to the right and saw the outermost granite casing where the sarcophagus once was. Everything was empty and there were no decorations or hieroglyphics (again, astonishing to me). I did, however, stand inside the granite casing, but jumped out rather quickly because it felt eerie. :) Nevertheless it was fun. As fascinating as it was to be inside the pyramid, I can't say I wasn't happy to reach the "fresh" air of Cairo when I exited it. Again, we took more pictures, and a few of my friends and I decided to walk around the entire pyramid. So now I can say that I've walked around the pyramid of Khafre, and stick my tongue out at the rest of you and say "neener neener neener!!!" Although you all know that I would never do such a thing ;). heehee.
The third, and smallest of the 3 pyramids of Geeezeh, the Pyramid of Menkaure, was closed to tourists, so we got to see it from a distance at our next lookout point. I was disappointed for a while, but then it got really hot outside... so my disappointment at being inside an air conditioned bus rather than right next to the little baby pyramid in the torridity was slightly abated. We got some great shots of all three pyramids (and a good depiction of just how mucky-gucky the air is there) as well.
The sphinx, which we saw next, was also fantastic, although we didn't get to go too close to it. Many of the girls in my group got some good pictures of each other "kissing the sphinx."
It was pretty fun. After the sphinx, we hit the papyrus factory where I got a lovely papyrus depicting the 3 facsimiles of the Pearl of Great Price (how wonderful that they've learned to cater to the Mormons!) We then ate lunch (I had a wonderful "Lamb kabob") Then we hit Saccara and by that afternoon we were off to the airport to go to Luxor! Oh, metal detectors. Oh! And armed guards. OH! And Arabic words!
Ok, ASIDE TIME, before I forget: There are metal detectors EVERYWHERE in Egypt. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. They're like churches in Provo...possibly even more. *pauses for gasp.* I know. Crazy. Anyways, the funny thing about these metal detectors, is that, when in Egypt, you do as the Egyptians and simply walk through them without removing anything. And the Egyptian metal-detector-dudes sit there and watch you go through as the metal detector bleeps and blares its protest at your watches and belt buckles and cameras, and they don't even flinch. I honestly think you are more likely to be stopped if you are NOT wearing metal than if you are. :) It's fantastically humorous. Another part of this aside is the armed guards. Everywhere we went in Egypt we had, for our bus of 40, two armed guards that were like... not regular "security guards" but like... full-on CIA material, in suits, with the guns hidden, watching everything armed guards. All they needed were the ear-pieces. I wanted to get a picture with them, but I was nervous to at first and by the end I had forgotten. Blast!!! According to one of our travel agents, Sharif, we receive all this special treatment because we're Americans. When we all gave him rather baffled looks, he looked at us like we were crazy for not immediately understanding what he was talking about. We are Americans. We are the elite of the world, apparently. We have everything at our fingertips, and so we get "special treatment" in Egypt (at least at the security checkpoints that our busses had to go through when crossing the Sinai). This was mind-boggling to me. I still have a hard time with that concept because I feel like people are people no matter which nationality or how wealthy or poor they are, and should all be treated equally. However, maybe I am only willing to say that because I've been incredibly blessed and only lived on the high-class side of things when it comes to the world. Anyways, that was probably the first eye-opening experience where I had a brush with true poverty--where I was faced dramatically with the reality of what money means in a world where it is scarce by comparison.
This is probably the longest blog ever in the history of Chelsey, so I think I'm going to cut it off there for the night. I don't want to overwhelm all of you with my novel of Egypt tonight. I can't believe that only covered one day! I will have to finish Luxor, Arabic and the rest of Cairo and the train and everything when I get time again! Now I also have to add Hezekiah's tunnel, and the terror that was my day of finals (today), and possibly even Jordan if I get that backed up! We leave for Jordan on my birthday, so I won't be able to call home, but know that I love and miss you all!
Anyways, Jeff, it was fantastic to hear about EFY, Kim and Kristen, I hope school and/or work is going well, Mom and Roger, keep watering those tomatoes ;), I'm sorry about waterskiing, but maybe that will teach you all to try to go without me! mwahaha. Dad and Melyn, I hope you're not wearing yourselves out too much with all the traveling and missing me that you are doing ;). Hehe. FABULOUS NEWS!!!: I got 2 letters and a post card from Michael!!!!!!!! *squeal* :D :D :D and I also got a card from Mom. Thank you so much everyone! hehe. I love you all so much, and thank you for those of you who powered through this gigantic blog! I appreciate it, and I'll try to simplify the next ones and omit needless words. :)
With all my love, I miss you all!
~Chelsey
1 comment:
Hey Chels, hope you're enjoying yourself! Happy late Birthday! :D
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