Yep, no nose. Just like they said.

On Friday, our AMIDEAST program left early to head out to the infamous Great Pyramids. We were joined by our Egyptian “Language Buddies” who quickly became good friends during that blazing hot morning. 

Maha, my language buddy

First, we walked around the general vicinity of the pyramids then went into a smaller tomb where I found some hieroglyphics.

All of the limestone covering has since fallen off so now it is basically one big  Lego construction of huge boulders. Just mildly impressive.... :-P

You can see where the original limestone has fallen away and where it remains intact at the top.

We then went into the solar boat museum which was constructed on the exact site that a large boat had been found. The boat was intended for the Pharaoh to use in his journey to the next life.

The revived original boat from thousands of years ago. Not a single metal piece in the entire structure, just wood and rope.

Beautiful Margaret 

Next, we were able to go inside the second pyramid into a burial chamber. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed so you’ll just have to take my word for how incredible it was. We entered the chamber by way of a small tunnel that we climbed through while bent over in half. Inside was a white room with an empty coffin-like marble box. More hieroglyphics and other carvings could be found in the room as well as where Giovanni Belzoni had written his name on the wall after discovering it in 1818. It was incredible to think that I was standing in the same room that had once held ancient Egyptians, dead mummies, and Italian explorers.

HERE is a link to a DailyMail article about the reopening of the tomb. The pictures in the article are of the no-camera-allowed places that we went in to. It also has all the facts about the different pyramids if you are interested. 

After crawling out of the pyramid we ventured up to the observation area where you could see all three pyramids within one frame with the city of Cairo as a back drop. Stunning.

Next on the agenda was the camel ride which was much more intimidating than I had originally expected. Remembering to lean backward when the camel leaned forward and vice versa and holding on tight were all harder than expected. I can’t imagine how people used to ride these animals for miles and miles for days upon days. However, our camel driver was eight years old and I watched him jump on a camel with ease and start leading the camel at a jog back to the starting point. I guess it’s just a learned trait which I obviously failed at on that day.

In the middle of this picture is our program manager, Matthew. He was also a natural at riding the camel, and, since he is usually the one taking new students to Giza, he said it was his 53rd time to visit the pyramids. 

Our eight year old camel drivers

Our last stop was the Sphinx. I've heard about and seen pictures of that nose-less sphinx my whole life but as we approached in on camelback I couldn't help but think, “Well, they were right, no nose.” I don’t think the magnitude of standing in front of the pyramids and sphinx will set in for quite some time.

After a long and HOT half day we headed back to Dokki for juice and koshri with the language buddies before heading home where I proceeded to take a six hour nap and then sleep for eleven hours that night. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After writing this post I can't help but puzzle at the fact that I just went to a place that I have been studying about ever since I learned the definition of the word, "history." I never dreamed I would get to visit and yet I did two days ago. It was amazing seeing it in person and getting to feel the hot sun and have the dusty sand whip against my skin, but everything I saw I had seen in pictures hundreds of times before. There was no great revelation or applause when I saw IT, and the day quietly passed just like any other Friday for the rest of the world. In fact, I will guiltily admit that I think posting pictures and saying I had been there was more gratifying that actually seeing it. I think I am beginning to understand a concept that we have been working on in our community based learning class; that doing and seeing new things and having new experiences is only half the journey. The real learning experience comes from reflecting on what you have just witnessed and pondering over what you are able to take away from that experience and how you can apply that to your personal self awareness and how you view the world. For me, it wasn't seeing a bunch of rocks that had been piled on top of each other or carved into shapes that was the prominent concept to take away from this experience. Rather, it was the concept of standing on the same piece of earth where thousands of slaves had dragged huge boulders across the desert, or seeing the same thing that pharaohs had overseen and wondering what their thoughts might have been, or crawling down the same (or similar) tunnel that Giovanni Belzon had first crawled down not knowing what was ahead. I think that this reflection is what makes the difference between a tourist and a student; one goes to see things and one goes to understand things. 

I am still trying to determine how to catalog all this in my head but I hope that through the reflection we have been taught about that I will come to figure out how to use this opportunity to see the world in a different light for the better.