the pyramids at giza

over a month ago
i arrived in this exotic foreign land
i came here to dive
and then to explore it's ancient architecture
in my first 2 days in cairo
i went on a fixed tour
with a small group of divers
who'd come with me from canada
our guide took us to the famous pyramids at giza
a site i'd wanted to visit since i learned about egypt in grade 4
in miss joyce fitzgerald's class
(later to become mrs. kelleher)
...isn't it strange what one remembers sometimes?
:)
we arrived to see
a horde...
of tourists
of police
of buses and taxis beyond count
of camels and donkeys laden with souvenir selling locals
of pure and utter touristic chaos
i've never seen in my life
any where as congested and crawling with tour buses
as the pyramids at giza
the only thing that is even remotely close
is to see the boat docks at sharm-el-sheikh
where most divers and snorkellers leave from
to get onto their boats for the day trip ahead
but that's another story ;)
to have just arrived in egypt
and see all the tourists
and the vulture-like souvenir sellers
flocking around them
was crazy
i didn't quite know what to expect
but it certainly wasn't this!
add to that fact
that our guide limited the amount of time
which we had to explore the site
in order to make time to take us to
perfume shops, rug factories and papyrus stores
where the locals tried to sell us overpriced merchandise
and on which i know he made a hefty commission
and one could say
my first sighting of the pyramids
which i'd so long wanted to see in person
was kind of bewildering
i was also told
i couldn't go into the main pyramid
because tickets were hard to get
and they were prolly all out
(there's a limit they sell per day
at selected times)
was at odds with my guidebook
which said the 2nd group of tickets
would be on sale
in less than 15 minutes
after we'd arrived
guess our marvelous guide
didn't count on us having a guidebook with proper info
he then spent a good 5-10 minutes trying to dissuade me
from even checking it out
seeing as the parking lot was diametrically opposed
to the ticket office
ie. on the other corner of the pyramid,
diagonally opposite to where i was
he said it would take too long to even check it out
good thing i walk fairly fast
have good shoes
and am too stubborn to listen to someone
who doesn't have my own best interests at heart
ok,
i should give the guy a break
he's only trying to earn a living right?
anyways,
i made it over to the ticket office
and found
that i managed to get
the first ticket into the pyramids
no line up
either at the ticket office
or at the entrance
go figure eh?
*censored*
the only thing i could see
that would stop one from this excursion
was the hefty 100LE cost
to enter the pyramid
luckily with my teacher card
i could get in for 1/2 price
which was still more than the admission
to the entire site itself at full cost!
now,
one isn't allowed to take photos inside
and i was carrying with me
my new digital SLR
i'd just arrived and didn't know how safe it was
so linda and i
decided to take turns going into the pyramids
which halved our time
but made me feel safer and more at ease
upon entering the pyramid
i soon found
that 2 of the tunnels were closed
the lower tunnel
and that into the queen's chamber
that left the grand gallery
with the king's chamber at the top
a steep climb
into this ancient edifice
ending in the final unadorned chamber
was really interesting for me
i wish i'd had time
to just chill out
and get my 50LE worth :)
in the chamber
i noticed a woman
sitting on the floor
likely meditating
maybe praying
and i was envious
as i seriously felt the time constraint
i walked around slowly
feeling the energy of the place
and enjoying what little time i had
time of course
is an illusion
until one decides to accept it
in which case
it becomes a very real burden
after too short a time
i exited the pyramids
and waited in the cool shadows
while linda made her run
when i finally left the site
i was feeling like
i needed way more time
and i knew once again
why i so strongly disliked joining organized tours
now this whole experience
was tempered by the fact
that i knew i had another 7 weeks or so
of travelling on my own
after all the diving was done
and i told myself i would return
and "do the pyramids properly"
so when i returned to cairo
after my 2 weeks of diving
i started to plan...
staying at the canadian hostel
i met some people
who were here doing some volunteer work
and travelling in a group
a number of them went to see the pyramids at sunrise...
as soon as i heard this
i thought... "cool..."
i ended up doing the same thing
the next day
now one thing one should know
is that it was ramadan
and the pyramid site
did not open until 9am
(way after sun rise)
even if it weren't ramadan
the site would not open until 8am
so this would be a special trip
involving certain contacts
and paying the right people the right amount of money
the plan was to see the sunrise
catch breakfast
and then return to the pyramids
where we'd walk and explore the site properly
we woke up at 4am
and caught our ride out to giza
where we met the stablemaster
and our guide
we had some beautiful healthy horses brought out
and my one regret was
that i was bringing my whole camera bag
and wasn't sure i could balance that well while galloping...
we walked through the dark alleys
and unpaved streets
lit only by the glare of sparsely spaced street lamps
until even those ran out
and our eyes adjusted to the gloom
that was slowly fading in the wake of false dawn
by the time we reached the desert sands
the sky was lightening
but with dawn still an hour away
our guide let us try to gallop a little
across a flat sandy stretch
we'd left giza behind
and had the whole desert before us
stretching on into infinity
at first i had a hard time
keeping the camera on my back
and the horse pointed in the right direction
i didn't even think about trying
to take a photo
while galloping
after getting a feel for my balance
i started to gallop
(in the right direction...
which always seems to be a bit of an issue for me :P)
and with the wind in my ears
and the sand pounding away in puffs
beneath my horse's hooves
it was like being in a movie
as linda and the guide
would thread ahead of me
and then be passed by my own horse
(who was obviously the strongest horse of the 3
as i was heavier than linda and the guide put together :P)
it was one of those moments
where we were moving so fast
and flowing so beautifully
that time slowed down
and i can still remember
seeing the flash of the horse's shoe
as it flipped back a puff of desert sand
and the lulling cadence
of the gallop
we circled through the desert
and far off in the distance
we could see the forms of the pyramids
which were enclosed by a high fence and concrete wall
soon however
we came to a gate in the fence
where a sleeping guard
didn't even stir
as we passed through
the gate was barely wide enough
for one person on a horse to go through
and once on the other side of the barricade
we galloped towards the pyramids
we arrived with plenty of time to spare
and as we walked around a sandy rise
the guide walked the sweat off the horses
and we watched the sun rise
amid distant chanting from the mosques
calling the faithful to prayer
it was something out of a romantic and exotic movie
glorious!
from our vantage point
i could see all 9 pyramids
and there being no roads out here
one would only be able to reach this
by crossing quite a stretch of desert
but that wasn't the most beautiful aspect of this moment
the beauty lay in the fact
that there was no one there
not a soul
no buses
no police
no screaming hordes of vendors
hassling even larger hordes of bewildered khawagas
(foreigners)
we were all alone
3 small 2 legged beings
and 3 slightly larger 4 legged ones
amidst the awesome construct of the pyramids
with the sun rays rising above the morning haze
to light it's surfaces
the calls to prayer
was like a magical sound track
echoing faintly across the desert
with modern speakers and amplifiers
but clear enough to hear
i guess life IS like the movies sometimes
and in this case
the soundtrack was already provided for
the beauty of that moment
was so touching
and so special
that i decided right then and there
that i didn't want to visit the pyramids
a couple of hours later
when it opened to the general public
i wanted to remember
the pyramids
in their soul-touching glory
linda agreed
and we headed home
after lingering for over an hour after sunrise
a fierce gallop to the back gate
brought us to where our slumbering guard
stirred faintly
and we headed back to civilization
where the waking sounds of the city
grew louder and louder
but never loud enough
to wash away the wonder of the experience