You like my camel? His name is Pepsi-Cola!

Our day began by loading the bus to set off for the big boy pyramids. These are the ones that everyone thinks of when you mention “pyramids in Egypt”. They include the three Great Pyramids and the Sphinx.

The Pyramid of King Khufu (or Cheops in Greek) – We got to go inside this pyramid, but instead of going down under the pyramid, the chamber where the king was buried was in the middle of the pyramid. This is the only pyramid that has the chambers in the middle. The hike was, again, tough but well worth it! Bucket list – Check! This pyramid also has three smaller queen’s pyramids for Khufu’s wives.

Sarah, Alex, Me, and Chris.

The Pyramid of Khafre (or Chephren) is slightly smaller than the first pyramid. Khafre is the son of Khufu. Khafre’s temple is the only one still intact of the three kings. The Valley Temple, which contains the Sphinx, is part of Khafre’s pyramid complex. These temples are where the mummification takes place and ceremonies and prayers are said for the king.

Most of the pyramids were build with a limestone casing over top of them. This one has about 30% of the casing left. The Bent Pyramid, which I posted about the other day, has 60% of the casing left. It is the pyramid with them most casing on it today.

Fail on Alex's part. Trying to get the Sphinx to kiss my cheek. Who knows what is going on with my hair!

The Pyramid of Menkaure (or Mykerinos) is much smaller than the previous two pyramids. Menkaure is the song of Khafre. He also has three smaller queen’s pyramids for three of his wives.

I didn't get a  closer picture of the third pyramid but it is the one (in the middle) on the left. The smaller one one the left of Menkaure's Pyramid is one of his wives pyramids. - Taken from our camel ride!

We had to fight off many souvenir sellers, but I have been using my very small amount of Arabic to say “no, thank you” -- "La shukran" and they really seem to appreciate that.

I also got to ride a camel! Alex and I doubled up because it was a 45 minute ride so we kept each other entertained while gawking at the pyramids, the view of the desert, and the view of Cairo. It was an amazingly beautiful experience. Our camel driver, Kamar, initially told us our camel's name was Moses. Then, a small 11ish-year old boy came up and told us that it was his camel and his name was Pepsi-Cola. He also told us some of the other camel's names: Mickey Mouse, Bob Marley, Oscar the Grouch... We decided that we prefer Pepsi-Cola over Moses.

   

 

Alex and I letting our hair down on the camel! Everyone got pictures of them "touching" the top of the pyramids. Our driver didn't exactly line our fingers up with the top of the pyramid so I just look silly pointing to the top of Alex's head. Our driver also excused himself for a potty break once we got caught up to the rest of the crew. He was kind enough to walk several yards away... Good thing he had his long robe on!

 Our journey on the camels. The pyramids on the right are the wives' pyramids of King Khufu

We didn’t have lecture tonight because of the double-header we had yesterday, so we got the evening off! I spent it laying by the pool and catching up on my blog. In the evening we went to the mall and had some more Egyptian fast food and shopped. I bought some more gifts and got a kick out of the silliest thing I have ever seen in my life. Hopefully I can upload the video so you all can enjoy some laughter.

Some opera singing entertainment from Caitlin on the way to the mall, and a view of the Mall of Arabia. 

 
The video wouldn't load fast enough. I'll work on getting it posted!

My camera died after my camel ride so I don't have some of the pictures, but I will work on getting those from others and updating them!

 

Well, we’re off to the desert tomorrow for two days so I will be disconnected from the world. Now I have to go figure out how to get the mess in my room packed into my suitcase... yikes.