On our first day in Cairo, we got collected by our guide and started the journey out to Dahshur, where some of the oldest Pyramids live.  Yes, the Giza Pyramids are the most well known, but they are actually 100 years or more newer than the first Pyramids.   So we started at the very beginning to see the Step Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid, and the Red Pyramid.  And we were the only people there.

Honestly, we got to the Red Pyramid and the parking lot which is as big as a football field was empty except for our car and one military man armed with an automatic weapon.  Guides aren’t allowed inside any tombs around Egypt, so we were left on our own with these instructions: “You cannot take any photos inside the Pyramid, but the guard might ask for a little money to let you…”  

And then we were off.   We climbed up 140-ish steps up to the middle of the Pyramid where a solo Egyptian man sat by the entrance.   He glanced at our tickets and then showed us his palm with some coins and bills in it.   My husband dropped in the smallest Egyptian pound we had…and then took a few Euro back as change.  Then we were quite literally on our own.

The path down into the burial chambers was another 140-ish steps…only instead of actual stairs there was a ramp with a cross bar every 2 or so feet to stop your boot as you slide down the shadowy tunnel where only a third of the lights were working.   And this tunnel was only 3 feet tall, so while I was crouched over a bit, my poor husband was mored than doubled in half and still hitting his head ever few steps.  The Ancient Egyptians were definitely not 6’4”…

Once at the bottom, the room opened up to 50 foot ceilings and you could see the backside over every massive stone they placed 5,000 years ago to build this strange structure.   I had sudden images of the rocks tumbling down and closing off the entrance we barely made it down and no one being able to hear our screams for help because the only person within earshot was an old Egyptian guard and we took change back from our bribe!

There were 3 chambers inside the Pyramid.  I hustled from one to the next, snapped a few photos and tugged on my husbands arm each time he stopped to stare and mutter “weird” over and over.  This place was cool and I can appreciate the history of it and the fact that it has been standing 20 times longer than American has even been a country, but I can appreciate that from outside…with airflow and the possibility of survival from any old and crumbliness.  

So up we climbed, with a few more mutters from the boy, only this time they were from the head hitting once again.   And when we saw the smiling face of the guard (who it appears didn’t take offense at the change thing, thank goodness!), I was able to breath again and not feel quite like I was about to be buried alive…until we went to the Giza Pyramids in a  week of course…