Thursday, September 18, 2008

Raise Your Hand if You've Seen the Pyramids!

Our second day in Egypt, Eric treated us to a trip to the pyramids at Giza and it was HOTTT!!! The thermometer said 110F and I believe it. We were drenched in sweat. I could see how someone could possibly DIE out there if left long enough.

Lindsey is from Michigan, where it's still 60 some-odd degrees, and Daphne is from the Bay Area-- they were both struggling in the heat. We had seen two pyramids and the Sphinx when we sat in the shade to rest. Eric asks "So do you want to see the other pyramid?" And Lindsey and Daphne, faces flushed, hair stuck to their foreheads with sweat, say wearily, "How far is it?"

I almost let out a burst of laughter. The tone of their voices made it sound like "Do we have to see another pyramid?" I was hot, too, but still highly amused that there was that kind of cost-benefit analysis going on. Like, "We flew across the world and we only want to see another pyramid if it's really easy to get there." :D I just thought it was perfect.

Oh yes, and Eric kept telling people we're Russian so that they'd leave us alone. For the first few days I got away with telling guys that I was German so they would leave me alone. Recently, though, I've been telling people that I'm Spanish (so that just in case someone starts to speak to me I'll be able to respond). As a female, if you respond when men call out to you or harrass you in English, they'll just keep it up. In my limited experiences, as soon as they think I speak some other language they stop trying. The whole blonde thing gives me some nationality wriggle room, so "Catalina the Spaniard" isn't a complete stretch.

Any-how, I was shocked at the way that some tourists dress here. Shocked. Here they are in a Muslim country wearing hot shorts and a spaghetti strap shirt. Initially I thought that they were Americans until Eric informed me that it's mostly Italian tourists that dress that way. Then we heard them speaking Italian. So, my apologies for being so quick to assume the worst of my fellow countrymen and women. So they were Italian; nonetheless, I was shocked.

No comments: