The Pyramids at Giza

Giza is the place in my history books: did I mention I’m a student of History? Yey! My first live history lesson on a subject long studied. I can not understand anyone who visits Egypt and leaves without going to Giza. It is the site of the wonders of the world, the site of a burial ground so revered and famous through the ages, a place of the ancients, my!  my! this beats the feeling of a child in a candy store. The morning was slow coming on this fourth day when we are scheduled to go to Giza. It is early morning but I feel like my colleagues are not taking their tea fast enough, not eating their breakfast fast enough and I do not like that they are having side conversations with Yusuf who is to drive us to our sight seeing location.

Yusuf reminded us that an early start was not in our favour since the pyramid complex opens only after 8:00 a.m. in the morning. It was 6:45 a.m. when we had breakfast and went through the details of what our sponsor wanted us to pay attention to during the pyramid visit. Yusuf was kind to remind us that there will be many ‘buses’ and many ‘peoples’. Yusuf always used the plural, I could not understand why, but what mattered was that everyone understood what he was saying. He smiled continuously revealing a broken canine took and a rotten lower front tooth. It was quarter to eight when Yusuf finally invited us in his ‘limousine’ with that charming smile. The drive was flawless until we got to the gates and saw the large crowds, from beyond the expanse of desert was amazing to see. The view of the Pyramids came in sight and I could feel my heart racing (don’t ask why, excitement perhaps?).

We were to start with the Pyramid of Kufu, but we did not: we did not pay entry fees, our hosts took care of everything. The entrance fees include a tour of the pyramids and the great Sphinx, we did visit the great Cheops Pyramid too. What stroke me as peculiar was when we went to visit the Cheops pyramid there was an eerie feeling inside and the sound inside that amounted to almost a loud murmur sent chills down my spin. I don’t know if it is the spirit of the dead rising to sound their disagreement with people making their resting place a play ground. From my history lesson, I learned that the Pyramids were actually homes for the Pharaohs that bridged both life and death ( in the now and the after life). It is incredibly hot, well humid is the right word inside the pyramid, I was soaking wet by the time we left Cheops, very peculiar feeling inside. I told myself I have been there, done that I would not go back again only because I felt uncomfortable inside. So much mystery surrounds this place.