Day 175 - The Pyramids - The Hanging Church

Tuesday, December 25th, 2018.

It is Christmas day and I felt a little blue. Ok, I did cry a little because it did not feel like Christmas and I was not happy to celebrate my birthday in Cairo. My sweetie Gregorio gave me a hug and I felt better. We had a quick breakfast and waited for Gimmy (our host) to drive us to the pyramids in Giza. We told him that we would only need two hours so he waited for us. We ended up texting him twice asking to pick us up later because we had so much to cover.

Tip: Bring lots of cash to pay for the admission at every site and every museum. They do not accept credit cards and they charge to go in and you also have to pay separately to enter each pyramid. Luckily, Gregory had taken some money out the night before and we used it all!

We warned by our host and his Canadian wife to be careful with the vendors. They try to get money out of you for everything, even for taking a picture! We told them that we knew because we had been in Istanbul and Petra, but they told us that Egypt was something else. Well, it sure is! Somehow, they got Gregory, who is very tough about saying NO! A guy approached him and told him that he looked Egyptian with his beard. He gave him a head covering for free. Gregory kept insisting that he couldn’t take it. He said that he should because it was free, that it was a present. Well, the present ended up costing us 3 euros. I was mad because come on, he said it was free.

Gregory also tipped the guy who let me take a picture inside the pyramids because there is no photography allowed. [Gregory's note: the guys working the pyramids have a license to print money -- the signs everywhere say no photos, but they say, go on, take a photo, just tip me. They must rake in $100 a day in tips by abusing the system.]

I told Gregory not to tip anymore and to be more firm when saying no. As a matter of fact, our host told us to say ”la shokran, yamaalim” which means "no, thank you, boss.” He explained that this was very local and they would probably leave us alone if we said this. When I said to one of the guys, he started to talk to me in Arabic and I said, no, no I don’t speak Arabic. He laughed and said, “OK, my sister.” Very friendly people but it gets annoying at a certain point.

What can I say about the pyramids, impressive! No words can describe them [Gregory's note: pyramidal?] and yes, it is worthwhile seeing them but honestly, I was more impressed with Petra in Jordan. Gregory and Daniel preferred the pyramids. We walked and walked to see the Sphinx. I think we were the only crazy tourists walking in the desert. We saw more tourists on camels or horses but very few walking. It was really hot because I was wearing my cashmere sweater and a t-shirt! Luckily, Daniel lent me his t-shirt because he was wearing two. I don’t know how he dealt with a black long sleeve shirt but he did.

For some reason, this walk felt more tiring than the 8 hours we walked at Petra. Maybe because I haven’t been able to sleep well in this new home (did I mentioned that the beds feel like a rock). We finally found the Sphinx and when we did, we noticed that it was all fenced and that we had arrived at the exit. Gregory said we should go around but I had no energy left. I walked to the guard (to bribe him with a smile) and said can we please come in this way? He asked how many? I said, just a family of four! Family, OK, he said! Come in! I called everyone and we all walked in through the exit! We admired the Sphinx, took some pictures and then sat to eat our lunch with this view. I’m proud of myself for always coming prepared with food and water! We felt better after we ate but then Gregory asked me, “how are we going to get out without tipping the guard?”

What? I said. Gregory told us that the guard asked him for a tip on his way in. Sunshine came up with the idea of just changing outfits. Gregory took off his cap and his long sleeve shirt. I wore his cap instead of the Christmas Santa hat, Sunshine took the Santa hat and Daniel didn’t do anything. We decided to walk separately and we succeeded in getting out without tipping the guy. When we looked at out watch we noticed that we only had half an hour and 100EGP left. The boys wanted to go see the solar barque. Sunshine wanted her camel ride. Me? I just wanted to go home.

For 100 pounds, we decided to take a camel ride to the entrance. Daniel, true to his word of not contributing to animal abuse, decided to walk with Gregory.

Sunshine and I rode the camel. She loved it, I didn’t. I screamed when the camel got up and everyone looked and laughed. I prayed when the camel knelt down so we could get off. I was a little worried that the owner would insist on charging more before letting us off. Our host had warned us that one of her guests had that happen. I was so scared with that story that I did not pay the camel owner until we were down and on terra firma!

It turned out that Gimmy never went back home. He waited for us the whole time. I felt bad but I’m sure we are going to pay for it. He offered us to take us to the Hanging Church. He said it was on the way and close to the apartment. No one wanted to go. We were all very tired but Gregory said that it was something we should see and that it was close from home. No one was happy but we got out of the car! We told Gimmy it would only take us 30 minutes. It did, but we didn’t see the other churches we were supposed to see in Coptic Cairo!

After that, Gimmy made a stop and told us to wait in the car. We just wanted to go home but he wanted to be a super host. He got us sugar cane juice and brought to the car. I had tasted it before in Mexico. Daniel loved it, of course -- it was a bomb of sugar. Gimmy said that it was very healthy. Mmmm.

He asked us if we wanted to go somewhere else. We all said: NO! He took us home, but then he took off his shoes and made himself at home. Gregory ran to the bathroom and everyone else to different rooms. I didn’t know what to say, I just wanted him to leave so I could take a nap! I guess he wanted to get paid but we didn’t have any money left. I finally told him that we were super tired and that we would pay him later. He finally got the message and left.

I naped for two hours. Gregory wanted to go out for Christmas dinner, and in other circumstances I would have but no one wanted to leave the house so we had pasta with garlic for dinner and we were all happy to stay home.