The Pyramids of Giza

After nearly four months of living here in Cairo, I finally made it out to see the Pyramids of Giza which are considered one of the wonders of the world. They were pretty cool. It was a very nice day to be out there. The temperature wasn’t too hot or cold… about 23 degrees Celsius, I think. The reason I finally got to see them was because John, the youth pastor, was taking his parents (visiting from the US) to see them. They were a fun couple to spend the day with. I got my picture taken on a camel in front of the pyramids, a disgustingly touristy thing, but something that had to be done. I guess it’s a lot like going to the bathroom. Nobody likes it that much, but sometimes the paperwork just has to be done. The wind messed up my hair, so the picture wasn’t great.

Now that I’ve defiled this post with potty humor, I will tell you a little about my experiences at the foot of the pyramids (note: climbing the pyramids is not allowed). First things first. Those pyramids are falling apart. They could use a facelift of something ‘cause they’re turning into overvalued sand dunes! I suppose after thousands of years manmade objects are bound to disintegrate, but really, these are the PYRAMIDS, they should be perfect! I wonder if they were this run down when Jesus saw them. That’s what I found the coolest about the pyramids - the fact that Jesus probably stood on nearby ground and saw them when He was walking the earth a couple thousand years ago.

Second interesting thing about the pyramids: there appear to be more buskers and salespeople than there are tourists! They’re all super friendly and outgoing… and pushy. They’ll tell you to take a picture of them, no charge. Then you do it. Then they’ll tell you to get in the picture. No charge. Then you try to walk away and they want money from you. I wonder if they know what “no charge” actually means. There’s another funny thing about these guys, too. They all use the same jokes! It’s like they go to a class and learn lame one-liners to say to people that come from various locations around the world. If I told someone I was from Canada, they would almost always respond “Heeey! Canada Dry!!” If they didn’t say that, they’d say “Welcome to Alaska!” Sure, it’s slightly humorous the first time, I guess, but when EVERYone says it to you, it sort of loses its novelty. Oh well. I got back at them by taking pictures of them and not paying them. Suckers (hey, they said ‘no charge’)!

One other weird thing about the Pyramids of Giza is the fact that they’re not in the middle of nowhere like Aladdin (perhaps that’s not the best example) and other movies often make them appear. Here is a picture I took from inside Pizza Hut that allows you to see how close the city of Cairo actually is.

All in all it was a pretty neat experience. It’s kind of weird cause I’ve waited my whole life (well, since moving to Egypt, at least) to see these things, and when I got there and saw them I didn’t really know what to do. We drove up, I took a picture, and then I wondered what we were going to do for the rest of the day. Don’t worry, we filled the time by walking around the pyramids and other little things and I secretly kept my eyes peeled for dinosaur bones. I figured if I found bones out here, they probably wouldn’t be from dinosaurs, though. Apparently these large pyramidal structures are glorified tombs or something like that. I think I’ll be fine with “He was a good man” on my tombstone.

Now surely there’s more to say about being at the pyramids, but I’ve come to realize that if I tell all of you every detail about my adventures while I’m here, I’ll have nothing to tell you when I get back! So, maybe if you’re nice, some day I’ll tell you about the chimpanzee attack, the elephant parade, and the genie I met named, Akbar. Until then, write me letters and tell me how much you love me.