Actually, that's not true. I landed at the new terminal in Cairo and asked at information about buying a SIM card. I was told there was no place because it was new. So I walked outside, over to the other side of terminal 2, thinking that they might have them there. No. Then I tried to go back into the arrivals hall and found you weren't allowed to enter there. I had to go through a security clearance. While doing so, and getting my Altoids tin searched again, the guard told me that Terminal 3 had cell phone booths and gave me directions to walk there. So I left terminal 2 arrivals, walked to Terminal 3, convinced the guards to let me in there by saying "Vodaphone"? and got in line for a SIM card. Which I got, but not before a ton of men pushed past me in line and the woman behind the counter helped them first. Once I had a phone, I called the transport company, moved up the pick up time, and waited outside. See, I'd booked the pick up for 18, not 16, because I remembered the 4 from 14. Yeah. 24 hour clock wins again. Anyway, the transport guy called, but didn't speak English, so a few minutes later an airport employee called, said he was with the driver, and "I am standing with me arm over my head! Yes, you see me!" Moral of the story: men who work at Cairo airport are awesome and helpful. Women, not so much.
So, traffic. It's everywhere in Cairo. There are no lanes. There are no rules. There are no pauses or stops or reason. It's just chaos. And that chaos at rush hour is exceptionally slow. So the ride from the airport was long, but the driver was awesome- he moved into the right lane when he saw me taking pictures of the Nile from the bridge, and he pointed out the tops of the pyramids seen from the road just as the sun was setting.
The hotel was awesome, which was good, cause that stomach thing from Jordan returned in full force the night I arrived. I was out of commission for the next day. On Tuesday, though I had booked a pyramids tour, which turned out to be a private guide and driver. I'm still not sure how that happened, I was sure I was getting a seat on a bus. But it was nice. We started in Memphis, with the remains of the great temple of the Old Kingdom, and then moved on to the Step Pyramids, the first of their kind. While at the site we went into a tomb of a princess with amazingly well preserved artwork. It made me think of the rooms at the MFA in Boston, only ten times bigger and with much better art. I was also able to go into a Pyramid. It was a long steep walk down, and you had to bend in half to walk through the tunnel. The inside was hot from the lights and not large. The ceiling was decorate with stars and hieroglyphics carved on the wall extolled the virtues of the dead king.
After that, we drove back to Giza to visit the pyramids. We walked around the base of the Great Pyramid and visited the solar boat museum just beside. I'm not sure how to describe the pyramids. You lose the shape up close and they look like never ending stone staircases. The stones were massive- bigger than me- and I wasn't surprised after seeing it to learn that they were not built by slaves. Only a master craftsman could create structures that big and that everlasting. The other two are a little distance away, so we drove to a viewpoint to take in the three, and then walked close to the third pyramid, which still has its granite exterior at the base. Included in the entrance ticket was a camel ride, so I got to take some fun touristy photos riding a camel in front of the great pyramids. The last stop of the day was the Sphinx, which was interesting but, well, not as cool as the pictures would lead you to believe. Maybe it was because I got body checked by some Spanish tourists while there.
I had a great lunch of salads and grilled meat with the guide, who let me pick his brain about life in Cairo. He said the mood is very grim, because people are struggling. They had so much faith after the revolution, but when the military took over again all hope was lost. Most people can't pay the bills, the education system is a disaster, and the only concern of the government is keeping power, not helping the people. He worked 2 jobs and his wife worked too- the first time I'd heard of a married woman working during my time in the Middle East.
That evening, I took a taxi to a row of restaurants opposite the pyramids. I was able to watch some of the sound and light show from the rooftop terrace. It was pretty but very hokey.
My last day in Cairo I went to the Egyptian Museum. WOW. The place was like a garage the night before a yard sale, just stacks and stacks of artifacts, some with signs, some mysterious. It would take decades to study everything there. The amount of time the artifacts were from was staggering, the quality of the preservation pristine in many cases, and the number of questions that I had afterward infinite. I am now craving learning more about Egypt. They also had mummies. Lots of unwrapped mummies. It was fascinating, creepy, morbid, enlightening, and just... overwhelming. I've seen the dead preserved bodies of Mao and Ho Chi Minh, and it was sort of like that. This is the actual person who was a great leader, and now they are in a glass box. I don't know that there's an emotion for that. But I usual settle on "thanks for all we've learned from you, sorry your eternal rest was disturbed".
So. Cairo is loud and crazy. The huge apartment buildings are made of concrete and brick, with satellite dishes, air conditioners, and laundry hanging off the edge. Uber is awesome to get around. The people were very friendly, though the taxi drivers are really aggressive. The history here surpasses anything else in the world in terms of age and preservation. I feel like I found the start of history in a dusty museum case with a typewritten label, like a secret that is open for the world but everyone is afraid to come find.
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