The word of the day is Backsheesh. It's a word you learn as soon as you come to Egypt, and it means tip. The entire economy seems to run on backsheesh, and everything seems to merit a little something. When someone opens the door for you, or gives you directions or even helps you cross the street there is an open palm to fill. Even little things like going to the bathroom demand a backsheesh, and you find yourself thinking "hmmm, I need to pee, but I don't have any small bills," I've seen station attendents in toilets in Europe, but here they take it to a whole new level. There's no toilet paper in the stalls and the attendant gives it out in handfuls in exchange for backsheesh.
We learned about backsheesh when we went to the pyramids yesterday. The pyramids were amazing but they are also a centuries old tourist trap--a fact which the numerous peddlers selling mini pyramids and post cards are eager to exploit. You just have to keep saying "la shokram, la shokram" (arabic for no thank you) over and over. The worst are the camel rides. According to the guide books camel rides at the pyramids are a huge racket, but there are tons of people riding about on camels asking if you want to ride or just take a photo. It's a lot harder to blow someone off when they are riding next to you on a dromidary.
Aside from the peddlers, though, the pyramids were beyond amazing. We left the hotel so early so that we could get there before the hordes (apparently most tourist buses get there at ten thirty, and since they only sell a limited number of pyramid entrances a day we desperately wanted to beat the crowds). When we got there it was about nine, and while we didn't exactly have the pyramids to ourselves, it was relatively easy to get tickets and get inside.
Going inside the pyramids was sooooooo cool. I fulfilled like twenty different fantasies that I had from lower school just by coming here, but stepping inside a pyramid beat them all. When we spoke to Cairo natives they all said that the pyramids were a huge let down, but I didn't find that at all. We had to go in in two groups because you are not allowed to bring your cameras inside, so half stayed out to watch the bags while the other half went in. I had heard that the passages were really small, and I had envisioned having to crawl into the pyramids, but the passages were tall enough that you could walk, even though you had to bend practically ninety degrees in order to fit. The slope into the pyramid is also really steep, so it feels dangerous and it probably is. One of our group had to turn back because she got so scared. Once you reach the end of the walkway you are in a dark, practically airless room. It was really hot inside, and really empty. There was a big square room with an (empty) sarcophagus at one end. We went into two pyramids, and for one of them (the great pyramid) we had the tomb area to ourselves. That was beyond amazing, and a little creepy.
The three great Pyramids are at Giza, along with the Sphinx and an ancient Egyptian boat belonging to Cheops. They were fun, but got really filled with tourists and peddlers really quickly. We also had kind of bad weather--it rained (in the desert!) for a bit of the day, and was cloudy and chilly for the rest. "This is just like London," my friend Caroline started to complain, but then caught herself and added, "you know, except for the sand and the pyramids." Oh, right.
After lunch, however, we drove down to Sakara which is another archeological sight. It wasn't as famous as Giza, but I liked it a lot better. There was practically nobody there--we saw maybe four other groups the entire time, and the site was amazing. There was a step pyramid, which we didn't go into but got to walk around, and there were ruins of temples in the area which we could walk in and around. Another site housed the temple of Titi, which contained amazing hyroglphics (the great pyramids were blank inside). It was fun to walk around and see everything, although we kept getting followed by this guy who claimed to be our tour guide, and eventually we had to give him a backsheesh so he'd leave us alone.
The other cool thing about Sakara was it was in the middle of the desert. I know that is taken for granted when dealing with pyramids and the like, but it was particularly vivid in Sakara, away from the hordes of people. You could actually see a line on the edge of the desert--on one side there was grass and palm trees and on the other just sand. There was no gradual change, it was reallly really vivid. Everyone said that they expected to smell the ocean, because when else are you surrounded by so much sand? But there was nothing but sand for miles and miles.
Tonight we are planning to go to a belly dancing show, which the guys are really excited about. I'm not looking forward to wearing a skirt because you attract more attention the nicer you are dressed (for girls) so getting there might be really uncomfortable, but the show should be fun. I'll let you know afterwards.
dessert
