Sweating, King Tut, pyramids, camel riding, sweating, rotisserie chicken, schlepping, sweating, trash and poverty pretty much sum up my day. We started this morning with a pretty good breakfast buffet. Everything is about 1/3 its size in the states. Ate about 30 pancakes each the size of a silver dollar, and some eggs. They love their juice here. Everything is mangos. Mango juice, mango sauce, mango bread, mango jelly, mango this and that. Mangos grow everywhere.
We left the hotel about 9:00 this morning and spent two rather torturous hours touring the Grand Egyptian Museum. Some interesting stuff. Apparently their history goes back to 3200 BC. Lots of kings. Lots of queens. Lots of sculptors apparently. If you are a history buff it’s a fabulous place, but you’ll be disturbed at how poorly they protect the relics. I touched a dozen or so 5,000 year old statues today, a couple of sarcophaguses, some hieroglyphics tablets. They were turning black from human finger oils. It was an old building falling apart without air conditioning or any temperature/humidity control. We were dying in there! Best part was a room about the size of my house upstairs that was air conditioned. It contained most of the good stuff found in Tut’s tomb and on his person… jewelry, clothing, underwear (yes, cloth underwear), and even his reusable condom. That’s no lie. It was smaller than I would have imagined it would be. I would have posted a photo but we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the museum. All the good stuff was in that room. All the junk apparently went to the Dallas exhibit. Left there, went back and checked out of the hotel, then headed for the pyramids, which I must say was awesome.
In case you didn’t know, it took them seven years to build three pyramids out of 1.2 million stones ranging in weight from 15 tons down to 2 tons. Floated them 600+ miles down the Nile then carried them a few miles to the site. It’s really a shame from my perspective. There is trash all over the place, including right at the base of the pyramids. They have no trash system here so Egyptians just toss their trash on the ground, streets, wherever suits them. Best part of the day was camel riding. We all got on camels and crossed from the third pyramid back to the first, about a 20 minute ride. Much easier than horseback. Can kick back with your legs up. Smoother ride. Much higher off the ground. Note me in the picture wearing the headdress. My camel driver allowed me to borrow it in exchange for a tip. I gave him a 5 pound bill, which is about 90 cents. He was very happy.
When we dismounted we were accosted by children wanting to sell us stuff.Give them credit. They were good with the puppy eyes! I had some American pennies so I gave those away.Next stop? Lunch, which was 4:00 p.m. Had some Egyptian bbq chicken and really good bread and pineapple soda. Some other stuff I didn’t try.
Made it to Camp Wadi about 9:00 this evening. Unloaded, checked in, and met for 2 hours going over details of how the camp runs, what not to eat and drink to prevent severe intestinal illness, ate an Egyptian hamburger which tastes about like the burgers served in our public schools. Finally got back to room shortly after midnight to shower up, settle in, try to get online (internet is spotty at best), and get to bed, which I am about to do. Have to be up and ready at 7:00am. I’m coaching baseball and helping out on the ropes course.
More tomorrow as camp begins!
Scott
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 John 1:2
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