CAMEL ADVENTURE

Our new best friend (for a few bucks profit, at least!) Mohammed picked us up this morning with his buddy Anwar, who apparently is the tour guide...although now we are not sure what Mohammed is. We were sure, at that point, cuz there are 2 of them that we were being kidnapped, but everyone at the hotel seems to know Mohammed….so off we go in the Benz. We drive to a Papyrus factory (boring) were we watched some kid flatten some reeds….and then try to sell us some ugly stuff. Ah…but Mohammed knows everyone here too! Big surprise! We say “no thanks”…let's get to those camels…so off we go, again. This time we can see the Pyramids in the distance and start to get excited but curb our enthusiasm as we start down some really seedy alleys. Laura said later she was thinking “So this is where I am going to die.” We pull up to the camel owners house. Really. His name is Abdul. (I am not making these names up!!) So Abdul proceeds to negotiate for two camels and a guide, a 20 something year old hot shot named…Adam (?)…or so he says…and this 9 yr old side kick…are you ready? Mohammed. We haggle for a bit with Mohammed #1 protecting our interests. Yeah right. He probably got 20%. But we agree and finally are on our way. My camel is named Michael Jackson (really) and Laura’s is Ali Baba (really!). We get on and the camels stands up. Woah!! We are so high up! Obviously higher than a horse cuz the sandle is on top of the hump! No stirrups to put your feel so we are hanging on for dear life as Mohammed #2 (the kid) leads us away from Abdul’s house. Adam rides a beautiful Arabian stallion…OK…maybe a gelding…..but “stallion” sounds so much more….well, exciting! And off the 4 of us go.
We ride for a few blocks through a really bad neighborhood (is there a good one in Cairo?) and then round the corner and see the Pyramids, right in front of us. We get to the “gate” which is really just a hole in the wall and have to get off the camels and go through “security”…where a guy in a uniform asks you if you have a gun. Really. So back on the camels and off we go across the desert. It was surreal. Pyramids in the foreground….hot desert air…wind blowing….others riding camels in the distance. Just amazing. Not crowded at all. We stopped for pictures many times as we rode to the far end of the valley to get a view of all 8 pyramids which was spectacular. Rode up close to one…so we could see the HUGE size of the blocks…then around the front of the “park” to see the Sphinx and then back to Abdul’s. Took about 2 hours. Mohammed #1 was waiting with Anwar. We went to lunch at the Cleopatra Restaurant (really) with a hundred other tourists, where, big surprise everyone knew Mohammed. OK lunch….yummy salad stuff i.e. Israel. All we cared about was getting a Diet Coke with ice. No problem! We were happy so on we went to the Egyptian Museum.