E is for Egypt

As long as I can remember two countries have filled my mind with wonder.  They seem magical and otherworldly with their ancient architecture and exotic looking people.  Forever, Egyptand Greece have been countries I have longed to visit.  Greece, which seems so easy to get to, is a country I have somehow kept on my list, telling myself I shall go there on my honeymoon one day. EgyptI never was sure how I would get there.

When I saw the itinerary of the Semester at Sea voyage I would soon be taking, I cried.  Cairo, Egypt was on the list.  I would visit the country I had dreamed of my whole life.  We would have only 48 hours there, the shortest time in any country, while the ship transited the Suez Canal.  To make the most of our time there, the tour had us visiting the pyramids at sunrise and sunset.

 At sunset I was mostly on my own, taking it all in; thinking of my mother having been there years before; thinking of how few people have seen what I was seeing; marveling at the grandness of each pyramid.  I was giddy over the fact that we actually got to go inside the middle pyramid of the three pyramids of Giza.

At sunset I was with friends. Even though we were told repeatedly to,“stay off the pyramids,” we formed a human pyramid on top of the largest pyramid.  Thinking ourselves so clever, how many other tourist thought to do that, I wondered? Probably hundreds. 

Other tourists stopped to watch and took photos of us as we fell about one another.  I remember being surprised at having to use both hands and feet to climb just one level of the pyramid.  I remember out tour guide, Honi, telling us that to this day there is no human explanation for how the pyramids came to be.  I remembered why this place seemed so magical in my dreams.