1/7/11

Today, I woke up early again because we had to leave for the Dahshur and Saccara pyramids. When we went to the Giza Pyramids, I loved that we rode on the camels in the desert and that we got to see the Sphinx, but I was really disappointed when we didn’t go inside of or even up close to any of the pyramids. So when I learned that we could go inside the Dahshur and Saqqara Pyramids, I was thrilled. I forget which one, but I heard one of them was the first pyramid of Egypt.

First of all, I really enjoyed the car ride to Dahshur because we passed by a more rural part of Cairo with donkeys and herds of cows. It was more of a village within a city, which I loved. I’d really wanted to see the countryside of Egypt and this was it. More than the city, I wanted to see the countryside.

When we got to Dahshur, we were actually right in front of the pyramid. We climbed the long steps to the a point where we had to enter a descending tunnel. At first, I was going to do it, but when I got a few steps down and saw how far the steps went and how small and cramped the area was, I lost my nerve and came back up. But then I realized that a couple of the other classmates had been able to do it, so I decided that I would go for it. As I went down, I definitely noticed a change in the smell of the air. Although there was ultimately nothing at the end of the cramped tunnel, I was proud of having gone all the way down. Coming up was a bit easier than going down. On the way up, I saw an elderly man walking down the steps and I was embarrassed to think that I almost didn’t go down.

After that we went to the Saqqara pyramids. There when we went inside the pyramids, we saw thousands upon thousands of markings on the wall—some small and some larger than the human body. I was amazed at the methodology of the ancient Egyptians when it came to life, like when slaughtering an animal for food, not mention the sheer artistry. It was astonished to see that even thousands of years later, the carvings were still in place—some of them even had the original color on them.

Another one of the pyramids was similar to the pyramid in Dahshur. We went down a cramped descending tunnel. But this one was no where near as long as the first one. At the end of it, there was a room with carvings on the wall and it also contained an empty sarcophagus. I almost didn’t get to see this because our mini group was holding up the rest of the group. But I’m really glad that I got to see everything I could.

Climbing up the Dahshur pyramids

Hieroglyphics at the Saqqara pyramids