On November 2nd, we flew from Istanbul to Cairo, Egypt. On the 3rd we got picked up at our hotel by our guide, Mohamed, and drove to some ancient ruins called Saqqara. It had the first pyramids and a lot of tombs. The pyramids were sort of like the “practice pyramids”. You could see all of the mistakes they made. The tombs were so cool! The ancient Egyptians believed that once you died you would go to the afterlife. So they made the tombs and put your body in it and all of the stuff that you loved and was valuable to you could be brought with you to the afterlife. The only people who really had tombs were rich people, like kings and priests.

Saqqara

After Saqqara we went to The Great Pyramids of Giza. (theme music playing)

When we got there we looked and admired the pyramid. It was so awesome!!! It was closed for an hour for lunch and prayer so we rode camels!!! It was awesome! Camels are soooo tall! They make horses look like baby goats. I think camels are my new favorite animals. They are so dopey and funny looking. Unfortunately no camels spit on Decker. This guy took us around and took some pictures. By then the pyramid was open again. We had bought the tickets to go inside so in we went. We walked on a ramp up and up and up. It was so low we had to crouch. It was really claustrophobic and cramped. We kept having to wait for people to pass. It was so hot and humid I could barely stand it. Once we got there it was worth it. It was this dark enclosed space with a bunch of people standing around. There was the sarcophagus of Pharaoh Khufu in the middle. The mummy wasn’t there. There was a bunch of people standing and closing their eyes. Apparently some people believe that the pyramids are too perfect to be made by humans that long ago so they think that some higher power created them. They go to Giza and stand in the room so that they can absorb the “special energy”. After Giza we hopped in the car and drove to the Sphinx!!! It was awesome but short.

At the foot of Giza

The next day Mohamed picked us up and we had a 3-hour drive in the desert to Valley of the Whales. It’s this valley in the middle of nowhere were they found whalebones from millions of years ago. Apparently back then whales had feet and walked on land!!! After that we went to a lake and sand boarded! It was awesome. It was like snow boarding but on sand.

Driving back

Driving back