I am blessed to have my good friend and fellow traveler Jerry guest posting his adventures in Egypt. He always has some great adventures that are definitely worth reading about.
Hello Good Folks, here we go again. My brother Ravi and I had long desired visiting the Middle East. One of our most anticipated destinations was our visit, was seeing one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, The Sphinx and the three great pyramids of Giza near Cairo Egypt.
We hired a local street sherut (taxi) took off for the Sphinx. We walked the circumference so we could see every angle. The Sphinx is smaller than one would imagine, though it is spell-binding, mesmerizing, and sits silently in majesty.
We then rented camels to ride to and around The Great Pyramids. There are no photos, no words that can convey the experience of being there. They will take your breath away. They will leave you with tingles and wonder.
In awe, we gave up our ornery camels (that in itself an experience to treasure, & climbed the outside of one of the Pyramids, until a gun-toting guard threatened to blow us away if we didn’t come down. We did immediately. But hey, the view for a moment will forever stay in my mind.
We, on all fours, head to rear end, inched our way thru the narrow upward slope of a crawl-space to reach the King’s Chamber of the Pyramid of Cheops. Almost to the top in the confined, hot tunnel, the few bare electrical light bulbs all went out, and we were in pitch darkness. A few minutes later there was an announcement thru a megaphone -in a language we did not understand. Everyone scrambled over each other back down the steep way to get back outside. Everyone that is, except for my brother and I. I told Ravi to stay silent. After everyone was out, there was a dark, eerie silence. We continued to the Inner Chamber on our own and without lights.
Once inside the King’s Chamber, we used our Bic lighters and quickly studied absorbed what we could see. Don’t know what made me do it, but impulsively I jumped into the Empty Ancient Sarcophagus, and laid down, crossed my arms, and began meditating.
I will not describe what I experienced as it is rather personal and unbelievable, but suffice it to say, that moment helped change my life and is remembered by me to be one of the genuinely significant Spiritual Highlights of this lifetime. But that’s another story.
After escaping the dark Pyramid challenge, we drove west out into the Sahara desert, for about 12 miles. We turned around and drove back East until we could see The Pyramids in the distance. Awesome sight.
Later, we were outside sitting on a ‘rug-like’ material, on the bare sand, very hot, having some warm water, our native guide smoking funny stuff. When from the South distance out of nowhere appeared a local man in native desert garb, riding on a camel. He began yelling at us, showed us a long sword under his vestments and angrily rode away. Our guide said we had to go, the guy was a protector guard for some Landlord who claimed we were on his private property and must leave immediately. He added he would return within the hour and if we were not gone – Well, we would not be thrilled with his way of making sure we would disappear. With a gulp, I said ‘What are we waiting around for – Let’s boogie.’
And that is just exactly what we did. We drove quickly east until we were about 3 miles away from The Pyramids where we stopped at a small oasis. Here we stayed until sunset to watch a Full Moon arise up over The Ancient Wonders. It was most dazzling, to say the least.
We arrived just in time at the famed “Light & Sound Show” which is one of the most colorful man-made outdoor events I’ve ever witnessed. If you someday find yourself in this neighborhood, I highly recommend not going out West of The Pyramids into the Sahara Desert off the main road.
Thanks for joining us. Until next time. Peace- Jerry~
