Sandy feet, henna hands - I love Cairo.

An unbelievable day of adventure today.
We slept beautifully and packed up and breakfasted downstairs before we went off with our guide Mariam. First stop - THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA!!! They are right on the edge of the city - two hundred meters away from tons of residential buildings.
I can't describe how awe-inspiring they are. We went inside the middle one. Our guide wouldn't come - she said she'd tried twice but she couldn't cope with the tiny space you had to go through a meter-wide tunnel, doubled over at waist level. Hmmm.... About five meters in we all had second thoughts but we all eventually made it. Rachel and Hugo found it much more tolerable when they took off their sunglasses! It's quite a steep tunnel down, and then there's a small room, then a tunnel up again and then you're in an empty cavern with an empty hole where the pharoah used to be. Everything was stolen from inside the pyramids ages ago - so sad.
It's all vastly sand-colored, because the sand is vast! Nearby we took photos and then went on camel rides.

I was not made to ride on a camel.

But I did it. I swear I had the tallest camel out of all of them and he jumped up, causing me to scream, causing everyone - tourists and locals - to stare at me. Rachel will tell you that my camel went slightly psycho. But was it after I screamed? I asked. No, before. There is nothing to hold onto enough to be stable and you're about two and a half meters of the ground. One stirrup and a saddle that moves all over the place. We went down - DOWN!!!- the sandy dune and for a bit of a walk and then our guide took pics. I said, "Do I have the tallest camel in Egypt or what?" A nearby lady tourist confirmed that I did. Then on the way back we passed a taller camel than mine, with a tiny really old Chinese lady on it, who looked as calm as if she was drinking tea at the beach. I felt like a chicken. I just don't like those creatures. I've jumped out of a plane, but I have to say that getting on that camel was almost as scary! Give me the tiny pyramid tunnels any day!
The kids loved the camel riding - they're so great!
Afterwards we were led somewhat astray and ended up at a jewelry place. Anyone who knows me knows I don't buy jewelry. But Hugo and I came away with gorgeous cartouches wtih our names on them, and Rachel got a scarab charm for her bracelet.
We were given the most delicous 'welcome drinks' at the bazaar - lemon - but they were frothy and so sweet. Delicious. Next stop - papyrus making. I am going to hunt down papyrus in Hong Kong - I want to do it again! We got a little papyrus art - including a family tree with all our names in heiroglyphs.
Then we went to Saqqara to see the step pyramid - amazing, built by Imhotep for Djoser - 2700 before Christ. Lots of ancient ruins and places where they found tombs - just amazing.
Lunch was in a village and it was incredible. It smelled just like a barbie at home! Our lunch cost $10 US. It included tons of this incredible bread that puffs up and then turns to nothing when you bite it, and it's really yeasty flavoured. This old lady cooks it in a fire. There was delicious baba ganouche, tahini, grilled lamb kofta and chicken, stuffed vegetables, delicious herbed potatoes, oddly shaped carrots, rice, fruit and baklava type desserts - it was incredible and we could barely move afterwards. Rachel and I had henna designs painted on our hands. Now we're back at the hotel with a couple of hours before we get on the overnight train.
People are very friendly. Our guide said that about 70% of people are Moslem, 2% are Jewish, and the rest are Christian. I asked her if it was a hard place for Jewish people to live and she said no, that people in Cairo are very tolerant and that they 'love each other'. Everyone has been very polite. The guy at the papyrus place was a little chummy, but I think he thought he was being friendly. A Moslem lady came up to me and said I had a beautiful little nose and mouth:) Eat your heart out Angelina.
We have had a great day and feel as if we have been plunged into a completely foreign but friendly environment.
Tomorrow - Aswan!