Sunday
Today has been quite a day! We’ve just arrived back from a coach tour round Cairo and we took in a lot, including their main pyramids. I took a photo and it was a favourite. Then I took others and they suddenly took first place. But to document the day, I need to start with the last pyramid we visited, simply because it’s the first pyramid ever built. It’s the oldest. It was the experimental one and it was the one that suffered a lot of ‘tomb robber’ damage. It’s known as the stepped pyramid….I think Samar our Egyptologist mentioned 2800BC when dating this pyramid.
So if this was the first, the ancient Egyptians improved their technique and started construction on what became known as the great pyramid of Giza. That was our first stop today and we had some fun taking photos…. Mike and David with Julian watching.
We were amazed you could get so far up the pyramid before being yelled at “no climbing!” This is my favourite on of me….I’m the speck at the bottom. It gives perspective to the size of the rocks used!
This is my favourite one of David on his own….
This is my favourite one of Mike and I….
And this is my favourite one of all…
Yip, we got to see the Sphinx and found the rough location of the photo taken of Mike’s father during WWII. While we didn’t get the camel ride in (there was limited time and the camels were a little way away), Mike and David stood in the area his father stood more than 70 years ago. Just so amazing.
I took loads of photos of other pyramids. One was small and crumbling but it was free to enter, so I walked down 46 steps and then bent over to creep along a narrow tunnel before arriving at the place the body would have been put. It was amazing.
The funniest story of the day goes to David and Gerrie. We knew that supermarket water would be a lot cheaper than at the hotel. No usage of tap water here unless you are washing your hands or showering. Use bottled water even for brushing teeth, so we identified a supermarket 2km away. As the sun was soon to set, walking was put aside and David called an Uber. Yip, there are Ubers in Cairo. The Uber arrived and the first sign of possible trouble came when the Uber driver (Fidel) expressed surprise at where the boys wanted to go. They got in and off they went. The driving was terrible at that level. In the bus you feel safe. Fidel is an experienced regular Cairo driver with all the trimmings. They progressed down the road and eventually turned off onto a dirt road. David’s heart sank. People and animals roamed the streets. Eventually, they came to what would be termed a spaza shop in South Africa. An informal road side shed converted into a shop. This was there “supermarket.” “Is this where you want to be?” checked Fidel. “Yip” said the boys, leaving him with the instruction to wait for them. They walked inside. An older woman sat bent over a job. She heard them enter and looked up. (Now we are all accustomed to David and his very long hair, but to someone who has never seen him before, he must appear as quite an apparition). As this lady looked up, she gasped and said, “Oh my God.” I can imagine she has never seen anything like it! After much gesticulation to one of the other workers, they made it known they were looking for water. They got 1.5 litres for 5 Egyptian pounds (a vast improvement from 23 Egyptian pounds at the hotel). Plus they got 6 snacks for 10 EP. The pound is worth just less than 1 ZAR. With their mission successful, they left the shop to find all the neighbourhood gathered round to see this unexpected sight! They returned to the Uber and headed back to the hotel with such a story to tell. Fidel asked them where they were from. “South Africa!” “Ah, but you are white!” “Yep, so I’ve been told!”
Memories are made of this.
Quite a day. Tomorrow we fly to Aswan.
2 Samuel 22:47
The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior!
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gym:
15025 steps.
Braces:
1 year and 46 days.
Thanks to Gerrie for his cell phone link!