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Published: September 24th 2010
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August 5th
It’s incredibly hard to wake up in Egypt, knowing the temperature outside is nearly unbearable is what I think makes it so difficult. Alex and I took our time to get out of the house, probably had something to do with not getting to sleep until 2am.
We took the metro again, this time all the way to Giza on the other side of the Nile. We were in contact with Mohamed Omar, a CouchSurfer we had met the night before. He offered to take us to the Pyramids and we graciously accepted. He met us with his car at the metro stop near the Pyramids, and headed down the avenue named after the 2000+ year old monuments.
Before long they were there in front of us and I almost couldn’t believe it. Tour buses and taxi were streaming in and out of a parking lot in front of them, people were going inside the Pyramids even! The first one loomed in front of us and a guy on a camel came over and asked if we wanted to ride it or take pictures with it. We declined and kept on walking around the first pyramid
until we were between the larger of the two. The sun beat down on us unmercifully but we walked on, around the second pyramid and over to the third, We had only bought the cheap tickets which mean we couldn’t go inside any of them, which suited me fine cause I’ve heard that inside they are even hotter and stuffier than outside the Pyramids.
We took our photos and stared at the goliath monuments while continually declining camel rides and donkey rides. Down the hill a bit was what they suspect were the Pyramid worker dwellings, we walked over there and then a bit more and before we knew it we were next to the famous Sphinx. I remember the sand being hotter than I have ever felt and regretted wearing flip flops, my feet got toasted that day. We walked around the Sphinx and sat in the shade and enjoyed the view. Quite the experience to see ancient monuments up close, I’ve got to say. On the way out of the park we stopped at a building that housed a tomb underground, I don’t remember the name of the pharaoh or if indeed it was a pharaoh tomb.
Oops.
After the Pyramids we went to a nearby restaurant and had some lunch. I specifically remember not eating much, I think I suffered from too much time under the sun and it really had me feeling nauteous. Our next plan of action was to head back into Cairo to meet up with the other CSers from the night before. I liked the idea of sitting in a Bursa outdoor café with some tea and shisha and so I did that while Mohamed and Alex went a few blocks away to see one of the only Catholic cathedrals in Egypt and Cairo. It was nice to sit and relax and watch the Egyptian world go by, it also gave me time to call friends and family back home.
The other CouchSurfers came by and we sat around talking about our day, drinking juices and sharing laughs. After a bit I headed back to Ma’adi to get some writing done and internet surfed. I had made plans that night with Aanas to leave the next day for Alexandria, so packing was also in the days itinerary. Later that night Alex came back to the apartment to pick up his
things and hit the road back to Jordan, hitchhiking again. We said our good byes and I promised to get a hold of him once I got to Jordan, if and when I did. Ahhh the life of the travelers, so many good byes.
Hope you like the photos and post!
Until next time, Pura Vida!
-Avila
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