Egypt 2011

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Our tour guide, Melanie, met us in the hotel lobby. Our destination was Giza, again. This time we were to ride horses around the pyramids. T's experience with horses is long. She grew up in Canada on a ranch. Her family owned them and she rode them throughout childhood and adolescence. My experience is much less extensive. I've ridden a few times, mostly on docile animals that could have probably been ridden as successfully by a sack of flour. A horse whisper I wasn't.

Traffic wasn't too bad. Before long we were in a neighborhood next to the pyramid grounds. In an US real estate advertisement this neighborhood would be given the affluent moniker of "horse property". In Egyptian reality, it was as densely packed as the rest of Giza, many brick and cement block buildings with open porches in front and stables in back. We arrived on a dirt road in front of Nasser Breech's Stables and Ridding School. Next to Nasser's business sign was another sign with a large picture of Nasser and Zinedine Zidane, the famous French footballer known the world around for headbutting Italy's Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup Final. Nasser's stables faced a high cement and barbed wire wall that encircled the Giza Pyramid grounds. Along these walls were groups of horses and camels, awaiting riders. Young boys and old men would occasionally come past with burdened mules. Adolescent boys and young adult men would scream by on galloping horses, driving them in the same fashion that any US teenager would drive his car.

Nasser greeted us. He was a large, imposing man, dressed in traditional gown. Melanie and I were happy with a quiet, easy to ride horse, but T wanted something with a bit more spirit. Four horses came, saddled English style. T grew up on western saddles. Nasser offered to change saddle, but after some hesitation T said no. Regretfully, I think. She never quite felt fully comfortable on the unfamiliar English saddle.

Nasser took my camera (He loves to take pictures, Melanie told us) and we mounted our horses. Our ride took us through the neighborhood, following the giant wall and leading us to the desert surrounding the pyramids. The neighborhood was litter strewn and smelled as you would expect a horse and camel neighborhood would. Nasser was clearly a man used to being in charge. Our ride was filled with his booming commands. He reminded me of a movie director and we were the actors in his version of Lawrence of Arabia. "Right, right, right! Faster, faster! Use your feet, make the horse go faster! Use the whip!, Right, right RIGHT! (we're going right, Nasser) "Oh....Left I mean!" Nasser boomed as we rode through the desert, constantly taking pictures. We posed, pyramids in the background, then rode in a large circle through the desert, Nasser's booming voice guiding us.

The desert was mostly featureless. Largely sandy and rock strewn dunes rolled on to the horizon. Unlike the Sonoran desert of the American Southwest, this was devoid of vegetation. The endless sand and rock was broken behind us by Giza, then Cairo and in front of us by piles of broken cement and asphalt. We asked Nasser about this. "The Government", Nasser boomed, "The Government doesn't care".

I tried to keep my horse at an easy walk, but he seemed most comfortable at a trot, sending me into a piston-like motion that I was certain would lead to spinal compression fractures. As we rode, I was able to time my movements better with the horse's. The jarring discomfort gave way to a pleasurable ride. We were like dance partners finally getting in synchronicity and I wasn't stepping on my partner's toes anymore.

We completed our big circle through the desert, all the while Nasser directing ("Use the feet, strong, strong!", "Faster, come this way!", Right, right, RIGHT!.....Oh, left I mean!") and all the while taking pictures. Once back at the stables, we sat on the porch for tea (a sweet, greenish concoction) while Nasser puffed away on the shisha (a big, upright glass and metal water pipe). He offered to share his shisha with us. I drew in deeply and coughed like a novice. It was an apple flavored tobacco and, despite my body's protestations, it was quite good.

After returning to the hotel, we were dropped off at Cairo airport for our flight to Luxor. We were in business class on the tiny Egypt Air jet. It meant that while the seat size was no larger than the rest of the plane, a curtain was drawn to separate our two front rows and we were served a tasteless meal that was far too large to eat on the hour flight.

Once in Luxor we took a taxi to our hotel, a short distance from the downtown. It was a sleek, modern, attractive hotel, close enough to the bank of the Nile that signs were present warning guests not to fall in the river. It was also, creepily, almost deserted. Tomorrow we meet our guide for a tour of the Valley of the Kings.

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Photos

Driving to Giza
Pyramids behind typical contemporary Cairo housing