day 3: pyramids, a plane and a plunge

I have been avoiding writing about this day…you’ll see why at the end of the post. In turn I have kind of been avoiding writing on my blog because this is what I need to write about next. I’m just going to get it over with and then I will finally be able to catch up with my blog and move on with life. We leave for Jordan in less than a week and I will be caught up by then! Yay!

We got up bright and early (you should be noticing a pattern with this bright and early thing…) and got ready to head off to THE PYRAMIDS!!! The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only surviving wonder of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. And I was there! I would tell you all of the cool facts but this is going to be a super long post to begin with so I’ll just let you click on the link to Wikipedia if you are curious.

My roommate Annie and I doing a famous jumping picture. The only problem was that Chris was standing right behind me so it looks like I’m planted firmly on the ground even though I had a nearly flawless jump.

We decided to make a human pyramid. Aren’t we clever?

We even got to climb on this pyramid. Look how ginormous each one of those stones is!

We couldn’t go any higher than that or the tourist police on camels would start freaking out!

Then we went over to the second largest pyramid on the Giza plateau. It still has the limestone casing on the top! This pyramid is 471 feet tall! I guess I grew a little bit in Egypt. :)

We actually got to go inside this one! It was a long way down and it was VERY stuffy and sticky and hot inside. GROSS!!! I can’t imagine going down there in the summertime! Cameras aren’t allowed inside but I might have snuck mine in and taken this really sweet video of our group doing what they call “street beats.” I can’t keep the beat so I just record them doing their thing. It is really short because I got scared (they take your camera if they catch you with it) and shoved my camera back in my pocket pretty fast.

Then we had to re-do the jumping picture at this pyramid. I think this one worked out really well. It looks like we are the only people there!

Then we went to a panoramic view of all three pyramids but there was lots of pollution so those pictures didn't turn out very well. Our last stop on the Giza plateau was at the Sphinx! Those BYU kids get a little crazy taking pictures. The Sphinx has only been around for thousands of years guys! I don’t think it is going anywhere! Instead of elbowing my way in for a not so good picture of the Sphinx from this angle I took this picture, laughed to myself and moved on to place where you could actually take good pictures of the Sphinx.

Here is my favorite picture with the Sphinx:

After the Giza plateau we went to a papyrus factory. They showed us how to make papyrus and then we had the opportunity to buy super expensive paintings on papyrus. Luckily Brother Wilson let us know that we could get it on the street for way cheaper!

Our next adventure was a quick stop in Memphis, an ancient capitol of Egypt. This is a huge statue of Ramses II.

Then we went to Saqqara. It was the burial ground for Memphis. There were some amazing tombs with the coolest paintings inside. I was always shocked to find out how old the paint was in these ancient structures. It is absolutely mind blowing! Once again, cameras weren’t allowed inside but I don’t think pictures would really do it justice anyway. The first pyramid ever built is located in Memphis. It is called a ‘step-pyramid' and it is the oldest monumental stone structure in the world!

Then we braved Cairo traffic and drove for what seemed like hours to get to the Cairo airport. I got some cool pictures along the way. Here is a view from the freeway.

Our flight was tons of fun. Instead of getting on the plane at the gate we got on a bus and it drove us over to the plane and we got to walk up stairs to the plane! It was so cool! I got to sit by Emilie and she is so fun! I wish we would have taken a picture on the plane!

We landed in Luxor at about 9 and I got this picture of the gorgeous Luxor temple all lit up on the drive over to our hotel:

When we got to the hotel Annie and I found out that we were married. Haha!
When we got to our room we found a little surprise in the bathroom. That little strip around the lid says ‘this toilet has been sanitised for your protection.’ Ummm…yeah. It definitely wasn’t ‘sanitised.’ It wasn’t even flushed. Annie and I thought this was kind of ironic so I decided to take a picture.
NOTE TO SELF: DON’T TAKE PICTURES OF TOILETS!!! I flushed the toilet (thank goodness!!!) and the next thing I knew (don’t ask me how) my precious camera was at the bottom of an Egyptian toilet! It made a big splash and clunk, I screamed in horror and Annie ran back and heroically shot her hand right to the bottom of the toilet in record time. I don’t even know how to describe what was going through my head right then. Luckily Annie was there and she advised me to just leave it off and give it a chance to dry out. I wiped it down with anti-bacterial wipes and set it out to dry laughing hysterically the whole time. I think I went temporarily insane.

We headed over to the dining room for a late dinner and sat down with Alexis. I told her to guess what I had just done. Guess what she said?!? She said, “you just dropped your camera in the toilet.” I literally fell on the floor laughing. Annie asked her how she had guessed that and she said, “I just said the worst thing that I could think of.” Welp, it was just about the worst thing that could possibly happen in Egypt but I’m proud to say that I handled it really well. I really didn't want to ruin my once-in-a-lifetime trip to Egypt being sad about a drowned camera. I didn’t even cry about it once. Luckily I was on a trip with 80 other people who all have cameras so it worked out just fine. I still have plenty of pictures to remember the trip and it was kind of nice to not always be worried about taking pictures and actually enjoy the sights. Who ever thought I would say that?

Anyway, it didn’t really work for the rest of the trip and when I got back I had to call my parents to tell them that I was going to need a new camera. They were SUPER nice about it (thanks guys!) and told me to just go buy a cheap one and that they would buy it from me when I got back so that I could get myself a nice new one. Aren’t they the best parents ever?!? Luckily my camera is a fighter and when I gave it another chance a few days later it was back to working just fine! It just wasn’t ready to die after only 3 years, 1 month and 2 days and 9,205 pictures. It still has a long way to go!

K. Now you know the story and now I can get past this little roadblock and hopefully get all caught up with everything that has been going on.