Our time is quickly running out. Somehow, this is the last official day of touring with the group. It's been over two weeks, but it seems like we started this only the other day. It might have been Sam who said it – you travel around Egypt in a group, and you bond. True enough. We've become a troupe of happy campers.
It's on the bus by 7:00, and we all take our usual places – a seating plan that was set on the first couple of days back in Luxor. Even though we have different bus, we keep the same seats. Okasha up front with Tom (and Norma, I think. I was never really sure where she was on the bus), Alison, then Gayle, Clair and Eleanor, Susan and Hiram, Maureen, Karlene, myself, Sam, Paul, Rick and Sandy, and then in no particular order: Teri, Jennifer, Gwen, Melissa and Michael, and “the chipmunks” (Catherine and Gwen).
For the third day running, a breeze has kept the usual Cairo smog at bay. As we drive the elevated highway out to Giza, we can see the city stripped of haze. When it's like this, you can actually see the pyramids long before you get to Giza. From a distance, and in shadow, they appear a dark bluish gray in the distance. As the sun climbs in the sky, their limestone goes from pale pink, to a bright white-yellow.
At this hour, the traffic isn't horrible, so we reach the new site entrance in decent time, but then spend 20 minutes getting the special tickets needed to go into the two big pyramids (Khufu and Khafre). In the new system, tour guides are not allowed to buy these (thus saving time); instead, tourists have to line up and buy the tickets themselves. The whole process is slow, and it means you have to know up front what you want to see, rather than doing one pyramid, and then deciding whether you want to see another one or not. I've been all three of the big pyramids already, so I'm happy taking it easy and just wandering around wherever people want to go.
We start with the tombs of Idu and Qar just east of Khufu's pyramid. These are small tombs, with some decent wall reliefs. In a side chamber of Qar's tomb, I thump my chest with my fist to hear the reverberations. It's like being inside an enormous stone drum. The acoustics in tombs is something you should experience at least once in your life.
The pyramid of Henutsen gave us our pyramid fix of the day. You enter around ground level, then descend a steep ramp to an small undecorated burial chamber. As more people entered, we quickly ran out of room, so a number of us ended up standing in an open sarcophagus. Someone asked: “Do we have to sacrifice you to get out?”
What next? Waiting outside the Boat Museum for those people who went into Khufu and Khafre. Karlene and I killed a couple minutes wandering around, taking pictures of anything remotely interesting. A man selling postcards asks us where we're from. “Canada,” I say. “Welcome! Here, gift for you!” and thrusts a plastic package at me containing a headscarf. I immediately raise my hands (so I don't have to take it), and say that we really can't accept such a nice gift. The package falls to the ground. I expected him to pick it but, but he doesn't wait. He just waves goodbye and is gone. “Huh,” I said, and picked it up. Free headscarf.
A minute later, another fellow approaches us. “My brother gave you a scarf. Here – I will show you how to put it on.” This is when he took it from my hands and made to open it. If it's opened, they'll ask you for “something” in return. “Ah! Please don't open it!” I said. “It's easier for us to bring home if you don't open it.”
“OK. I'll take it back,” he said, and was gone. I feel like we've just solved a Rubik's cube. It's usually impossible to get rid of these guys once they latch on to you – they're really good at what they do, and getting them to take “no” for an answer often takes more time than you want to spend. And now we've found out how to avoid the whole thing! Much silly giggling and laughing ensues until we are distracted by something shiny.
Back at the Boat Museum, the group has reassembled, and most of us go in to have a look. I've been here a number of times, so I'm a little less concerned with looking at the boat (which is huge) than listening to Rick talk about boat building techniques, and how the things that look like oars are probably outriggers instead. Oars work best of the boat has a keel, but Khufu's boat does not, so having outriggers would lend some stability to its course as it floated (or was towed) down the Nile. I take a couple of token pictures, but I don't have high hopes for them. The boat is a real challenge to photograph well, even though you can walk all the way around it on a number of catwalks. Oh well. It doesn't really matter.
We take a bus out to the backsight – it's a photo-op. On one of side of a parking lot, you get a magnificent view of the pyramids amidst the Giza sand. On the other side, a neat line of stalls where trinkets and bobbles are sold: resin heads of Nefertiti and Tut,statues of the gods (the figurine of Thoth, apparently playing darts reappears), and fancy plates and tea sets with Egyptian motifs. Haggling is fast and furious; paper and goods change hands. I snap a picture of Maureen buying something, perhaps for the SSEA souq. I figure we can use the picture to authenticate the place of purchase when we get back. Even trinkets need a provenance.
We're dropped off at the top of Khafre's causeway, pausing at the Osireion and a couple tombs, none of which are open to the public. The Sphinx sits at the end of the causeway, surrounded by hordes of people. It's good to see it in the morning light like this, with the sun on its face. It's very big, and like the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the Antiquities Department is doing work near its tail, adding some new blocks where needed to keep the statue stable.
Lunch at Albadawia. It's just a couple doors down from the KFC/Pizza Hut in front of the Sphinx, but serves actual food instead. It also has a spectacular view of the pyramids and Sphinx, marred only by a billboard put up by the Egyptian government which partially blocks the Sphinx. Still, they lay on a private buffet for us which is very nice, and includes fresh tangerines (which are wonderful) and bananas.
A word about Egyptian bananas. They grow here, so if you have one, it was probably on a tree not too long ago. They're also smaller than we get in Canada, only about 5” long. Back home, I have a trick where I take an unpeeled banana and snap it in half. Works every time there. Works never ever here in Egypt. The banana crushes rather than breaking cleanly, much to the amusement of the other people at the table. I wonder if it's because it's a different banana species, or because they are sill unripe when shipped to Canada so they don't get a chance to mature properly.
There is just time for a two-minute look in Lehnert & Landrock (a bookshop) before boarding the bus. In a spasm of guilt, I buy a couple of postcards (I really haven't sent enough this trip), Gayle picks up a festschrifft, and Karlene knocks over a plate which falls to the floor and smashes into a hundred bits. Time to go.
The drive back to Cairo is uneventful. As they drop from sight, we say our goodbyes to the pyramids “until next time”. And then it's nothing but heavy traffic and block after block of shops and apartment buildings. Karlene and I try to photograph anything interesting. Ordinary people in shops. Street vendors. Pretty birds. Rocks. Oh look – there's a tree. Did you get a picture? Maybe next time.
One bizarre image (from the day before) – as the bus ascended a highway ramp in the middle of nowhere, we saw a man in a very nice suit climbing the embankment towards the roadway. Where was he going? Was he going to cross the 4-6 lanes of traffic on foot? Was he off to make a sale?
Back to the Shepheard Hotel, but now, the song is over. Some people are off to Aswan tonight. Others will stay a day or two longer. Karlene heads out first thing in the morning. In any case, we're all on our own now. No more itineraries, no more touring.
I haven't the foggiest idea what to do next.
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