Back in Cairo March 15

Sunday was to be a full day. First riding camels to the Pyramids and Sphinx. Next stopping and browsing through the Cairo Zoo. And lastly this day a felluca cruise on the Nile. By the time we got to Giza, made arrangements with some folks to get camel rides, paid, etc. I was pretty much recovered from the Mummy's Revenge which was quite fortunate. After you leave the "stable" restrooms are non-existent. Be sure to keep that in mind if you ever do this.

Our host negotiated the fees for the trip which turned out to be quite reasonable. After starting out at 2000 EGP the "final" price was 500 EGP (less than $100) for the four of us with three camels for two hours. Actually I was quite amazed it was that cheep. So we got on the camels and went about 50 meters into the trip and then they tried to change the deal. Many cross words were exchanged that I could not understand and did not really know that they had tried to change the deal until after we were underway again. Bonnie asked me what was going on and I told her my suspicions that turned out to be true. There will be more on this issues later in the story.

The actual trip was quite pleasant. Our "guides" (they were actually wranglers for the camels) were pleasant and tried to be helpful when they could. They also were eager to take pictures for us but their composition and mechanical skills with the camera were very lacking. Especially since they were using cameras all the time and many different varieties of them. Their job was to keep the customer happy, as happy as possible. They asked all the time if we were happy and that got to be very annoying.

The trip as I said was pleasant. Camels are not. They yell (roar) a lot. They have definite methane problems that seem to linger even when the wind is blowing and I don't mean their wind. You could easily end up on your head when they get up and go down. They are also very wide. I am still paying for their wideness 3 days later.

Now the rest of the story, on the way out our host, Ezzat, told me specifically not to give them any money because he had taken care of everything. On the way back in they made a specific effort to get the two parties, Ezzat and Nardeen, and Bonnie and I, separated so we would not be able to hear the other's conversations. They then started milking us for a tip. Playing on sympathy, guilt whatever they thought would work. Now if I had negotiated the deal it would have been better for them, but they had agreed on a price. My host told me not to give them money and they, the handlers, were not happy with me when I told them to talk with Ezzat. They were angry with me and my wife was getting angry with me because she would have layed out cash for a "tip". She is afflicted with a huge guilt problem. Anyway they weren't happy at with me at the end of the ride and they weren't very happy with Ezzat even though he did give them a nice tip, they didn't think it was big enough. It certainly was interesting in more ways than I would have at first expected.

After the camel ride, seeing the pyramids, and arguing over the gratuity they still tried to sell more stuff. Lotus oil, perfume was the next on the agenda. It was over-priced and didn't really smell good to me. We got out of that with our wallets intact. Then they tried to sell us over-price parchment stuff. I couldn't talk Bonnie out of that so we paid three times what these things were worth of one that looked okay but irked me because it was so expensive. The part that got me the worst was the guy that told me to smile as he picked my pocket. So beware of the camel or horseback ride to the pyramids. I would do it again but would have only enough money for what I thought was a fair price and nothing extra.