The Great Pyramids in Egypt

Every traveler in the world has the Egyptian pyramids on their list of must travel to destinations, and I was no different. The problem is, everyone I have ever spoken to that had visited the Pyramids had a pretty miserable experience and told me stories of crazy crowds that made it difficult to enjoy this amazing destination.

I saw my opportunity arise from the crazy events that followed the Arab Spring in 2011. The Arab Spring had thrown Egypt into new unknown territory, the public had forced a longtime dictator from power and now there was a scramble to figure out what the future held for the North African country.

The acute dangers had passed, but tourists were scared to visit which meant flights and hotels were super cheap, and the pyramids were empty. I had a European skate contest trip with a few days off between events, so I decided this was my chance. I researched the current political climate on the streets of Cairo as well as I could, knowing that things could flare up at any moment and I may have to dash back to the airport to get out of there.

I imagined landing in Cairo to empty streets with the population scared of the confusion with the recent riots and political unrest. When I landed it was the exact opposite. I have been to some crazy third world countries in Asia, Africa and South America, but the streets of Cairo were fucking nuts.

After getting a good night of sleep in a four star hotel, where I don’t think I saw another guest the 4 days I was there, I went on a mission to the pyramids. As soon as I left the hotel I was met by about 20 cab drivers jockeying for my fare since I seemed to be the only tourist in the area. I had read about all the tourist scams of Cairo and one of the most popular ones is when a cab driver takes you to “his buddy’s t shirt shop for a special deal”, so when I got in the cab I requested a direct route straight to the Giza pyramids, no stops, no t shirt shops, nothing. He still took me to his buddy’s t shirt shop. Eventually I made it to the pyramids, paid the entry fee, and got to experience the Great Pyramids surrounded by only lonely camel tours guides and other hustlers that were sadly down on work with the lack of gullible tourists from overseas. I’m grateful that they were there, seeing native Egyptians on camelback looking for work just added to the amazing rare sight of being the only person at the Great Pyramids.

I spoke to some of them, mostly about the recent political developments. I remember asking one of the locals why all of the buildings around Giza seemed only half finished and he said “if you don’t finish the building or house then you don’t pay the tax, so nearly every building here is always under construction”. All of them seemed to have hope from the recent developments, for the first time in their lives the people had been able to take to the streets to exact political change. The new guy may be as bad as the old guy, but there is always hope.

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