Pyramids and sphinxes and camels- oh crap!

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I finally got my computer back and have a decent internet connection, so here are the pictures from my adventures at the pyramids.

We went with Sarah's friends, Keema and Mahryz. Mahryz had a car, so she drove us up there, and then they acted as somewhat tour guides, buying our tickets for us and telling the many men on camels that we no, we didn't want our picture on top of the camel. What some of these men will do is put you on a camel and then not let you off until you pay them. We rode camels later at a place still near the pyramids, but that had tourist police and was way less sketchy. We went inside the Second Pyramid of Khafre. They take your camera before you go in, so I don't have pictures. To get into the pyramid you enter this passageway that is 4 feet X 4 feet, and right away we were dripping sweat as it is so humid in there. You first go down, then up, until you get into the burial chamber. The walls have no decorations on them, except for some graffiti from an Italian explorer that says "Belzoni 1818" Belzoni was the first person in modern times to find the hidden entrance to the pyramid, and proceeded to cart as many artifacts as possible off to museums, which was standard practice back in that time. The graffiti was left for historical purposes. The only thing really in the chamber is the empty stone sarcophagus that once held Khafre's mummy. It was amazing though to BE INSIDE of a pyramid, and think of the weight of all that stone above me, and try to guess where the other secret passages and chambers were.

You see the snowy white cap on top of the second pyramid? They're all made of limestone, but the choppier blocks of limestone are poorer quality. Originally they were all covered entirely with the shiny, higher quality white limestone, but this was removed during the Muslim invasion in order to make mosques and palaces. As a result, in some mosques you can find hieroglyphs and other Ancient Egyptian images on the walls.

The pictures of the boat are from the boat museum. The boat was found buried outside of one of the pyramids, and it is believed to have been the boat that carried the pharaoh's body to the pyramid (the Nile used to be a lot closer to the Giza plateau where the pyramids are). They reconstructed it with the pieces found, and now it is probably the oldest remaining boat in the world.

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Photos

Da Great Pyrimids of Giza
OOooooo!

Mahryz, Sarah and Keema
Mahryz and Keema are Sarah's Egyptian friends who were sweet enough to drive us up there and negotiate with camel owners.

Boo-tay
They gave us these booties to wear over our shoes in the boat museum because the boat is so fragile, they didn't want sand from our shoes getting into the museum.

Camel and me
My camel was very obliging