Month: January 2011

So I’ve got baby strapped to my back, bouncing on our exercise ball (a la Dwight on The Office), trying to eek out a few more minutes of baby sleep so I have time to tell you about the camel rides. It’s actually pretty tricky to bounce and type at the same time, but I’m finding my rhythm . . .

I thought she had fallen asleep, so I used the camera to check — hello big eyes! Don’t worry, the 80’s throwback side ponytail isn’t my normal style. I was trying to type and my hair was falling in my eyes so I just pulled it up out of the way. Genius at work people!

The boys have been wanting to ride camels since we saw them at Giza, but we said that there would be lots of camel riding opportunities and we weren’t going to encourage the tourist trap operations. Besides, the camels there were really sad looking, with missing and rotting teeth and I wasn’t positive that they even had a ride left in them.
 
So on our pyramiding day — hey, pyramiding is an actual word. My spell check didn’t flag it so I googled it. It’s both a turtle disease and an investing technique. Go figure. Poor turtles.

Anyway, the camels. We went to these other pyramids called the Step pyramids and brought a picnic lunch. While we were eating, there were 3 or 4 camel dudes hovering, wanting us to go for a ride. After saying “la shukran” a bazillion times they gave up. Before we left though, I thought that it would be the perfect place to ride camels. No one else was around, we were out in the middle of the desert, the camels looked pretty healthy and happy and dude seemed to really like his camel, as evidenced by him french kissing it. Seriously.

OK, so you can’t actually see the frenching in this picture, but trust me, he went there.

So Josh haggled out a price with him, we loaded the kids on the camels and set out. They were more than happy to put me on a camel too, but seeing as I had the baby on my back, I thought it was best to abstain, for her sake of course.

 

The camel guy really seemed to like Josh. They spent the entire 20 minute ride chatting in Arabic and he even handed off the reigns to Josh so he could lead the camel.

Carter said he liked the camel ride, but he had a death grip on both the front and back “saddle horns” the entire time.

You can see the Great Pyramids in the distance in this picture. Some people will actually rent camels and ride between the two sites. I don’t think I’d be up for a three hour camel ride!

I only caught the tail end of this and not from a very good angle, but Josh’s camel buddy convinced him to pose for his own kiss from the camel at the end of our trek.

Yuck!

Reflux keeps the baby from sleeping. Side effect of reflux medication? Insomina.

A happy baby at 4 am is only slightly more tolerable than a crying one. She’s been awake and mostly happy for the last 8 hours and we’re not really sure how to handle this creature who won’t sleep, but HAS to be tired.

At least she’s not screaming . . .

ETA: I think she’s finally winding down:

Shh! She’s sleeping!
(sorry Eli, more baby video. I promise I’ll get some of your boy cousins for next time.)

ETA: Yea! 35 whole minutes of sleep.This is getting ridiculous . . .

So this is us, heading to the Red pyramid. Yes, Josh sounds a little crabby. You would be too if you had to hear constant questions and/or tattling about someone squishing, poking, looking the wrong way, etc. This was our last stop on our day of pyramiding. Yes, I made that word up.

Most people just visit Giza — the site of the famous pyramids, but there are several other pyramids in Egypt. This one is called the Red pyramid because it’s made out of this reddish looking rock. I’m sure a real guidebook could tell you exactly what it’s made out of and why it’s red, but all I can tell you is it’s the second biggest pyramid in Egypt and it’s pretty cool looking.

Calvin read a book titled The Red Pyramid this past year, so he was especially excited to see it in person.

Something that made this site so much nicer than Giza is that there were very few tourists. No tourists = no locals peddling trinkets or following you around hassling you to ride their camels. It was really peaceful out there. If you want to explore at your own pace, this is the place to go.

In order to explore inside, you first you have to hike way, way up . . . I kept thinking as we were scrambling up (and then down) the stone steps that if this were in America it would be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Minimal guard rails, uneven stones for steps, a really steep incline . . . Caleb and Carter are almost to the entrance which is basically a hole in the side of the pyramid about halfway up. I was really glad I was used to climbing stairs at home (broken elevator reference) because there were a lot of them.

 

At first, Calvin didn’t want to go either and I didn’t really blame him. (poor kid, he’s so much like me.) Aside from the fact that there were a million stairs leading down to who knows where, the smell coming from the inside of the pyramid was awful. It smelled like a Berkeley parking garage — like really strong ammonia that burned the inside of my nose. I have no idea if it’s from generations of homeless Egyptians peeing in there, or if there’s some natural gas leak that comes from underground, but if we go again I’m bringing something to cover my nose and mouth.

 After a few minutes, Calvin calmed his nerves, took a deep breath, and joined the others inside. This is after returning to the top. How do you spell “relieved?”

Josh’s pictures from inside. Tons and tons of stairs. This pyramid is much less claustrophobia inducing than the Great Pyramid at Giza because you can actually stand upright as you descend and when you’re walking around inside. I guess at Giza you have to hunch over to make your way through the tunnel to the main chamber. I think I might try saying “yes” to this pyramid, and if I don’t freak out, maybe I’ll try the other one.

On second thought, maybe I’ll just use the “bad air” excuse.

when we’re in Tunis. Yep, that’s right. We’re supposed to go to Tunisia on Wed. However, since there is currently a government imposed curfew from 7pm to 6 am and our flight doesn’t arrive until 9:30 pm and I am NOT sleeping in an airport again if I can
help it . . . I don’t know what is actually going to happen. Not to mention all the rioting people in the streets and the rock throwing and the buildings being set on fire . . .

I can’t see us actually being able to go, but since it’s currently the weekend here, Josh is going to wait until people get back to work on Sunday and then make some phone calls.

In case you didn’t know what is happening in Tunisia, here are a few links:

(Shh! I didn’t know anything was happening either until last night when a friend asked if the riots were going to interrupt our travel plans. Huh? Riots? I could tell you that Kelsey Grammer and his wife are splitting up and Victoria Beckham is having another baby, but the news about Tunisa didn’t appear in my entertainment news feed. Oops.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/14/tunisia-protests-president

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/middle-east-north-africa/tunisia

UPDATE: We’re not going. Hopefully we can reschedule this trip for May. At least I don’t have to pack now. I wasn’t looking forward to dragging the suitcases out of the closet since we haven’t even fully moved in yet.
MOST RECENT UPDATE: The military has taken over the country, the president has fled, and the airports are closed. I guess that takes care of any doubts of whether we should have gone or not.

shocking, huh?

Let’s just say that this:

plus food — equals huge mistake.