Cairo- Day 4

Where to start?
Hmmm.... the beginning? Sure why not.
Woke up late and out of sorts still from the vomit carnival that was last night.
Ate an omelette in the hotel "restaurant" and headed back upstairs.
Tried to motivate ourselves to do something but the motivation just wasn't there.
We walked down to GAD (the scene of the crime if you ask me) and got some more butter, oil, sugar bread-cake.
I passed. Smart choice? Who knows. I do still feel good right now so I am going to go with yes, great choice.

We decided to head out to the pyramids to shoot a time lapse at magic hour.
We left the hotel at 4pm expecting that the 40 minute ride would land us there in perfect timing to set up and start rolling as the sun retreated.
Welllllll......
that 40 minute ride became a 2 hour ride from hell.
Traffic was insane. Our driver was a conservative who wouldn't let us smoke in the car. And maybe the worst of all, when we asked him to put on MUSIC, he proceeded to put on a cassette of 2 hours of chanting prayer.
The fumes of a million pollution vomiting cars, the prayer, the non-smoking and no real idea when we were close, drove us all a little mad.
When we finally reached the Giza Pyramids, a crazed man ran out in front of the cab, screaming god knows what.
Our driver sped away from him as he ran feverishly after the car yelling.
Finally, the driver stopped, windows went up and the ran came up to the window.
The fucking pyramids were closed and apparently a CLOSED sign wouldn't have done the trick*
(*give Carrie props.... that was her joke that I graciously bored. If there is one thing I'm not, it's a joke thief. hahah). Apparently, a crazed man in an orange shirt had to tell us. Then give us directions to the pyramids that we ACTUALLY wanted to go to and instead of asking for money like everyone else in this country, he asked for "one gum". Carrie gladly supplied the piece of gum and off he went.

We finally made it to the "village" surrounding the pyramid with the light show (and I use that term "village" lightly because no authentic, cultural experience exists within a place where once proud people lived and now there are camel rides right passed a Pizza Hut/KFC) and we were greeted by a happy little man who quickly shuffled us into his tea shop.
So glad to be out of the car, he hurried into his storefront.
We sat down and the sales pitch started. Using his charm and insistent personality, we were roped into smelling oils from every planet in Egypt. AND even better yet, roped into spending 170 bucks on 3 bottles of the shit.
We just wanted to get out of there. 170 bucks seemed the fastest choice.
Even after he got the money, he wanted to show us is OTHER shops.
We denied his final attempts to sell us just about everything that exists in Egypt (if we stuck around he'd probably try to convince us into buying one of the pyramids just to get away from him) and went to buy our tickets for the "Light and Sound Show".
Yet another confusing and fucked up system that is.
If you want to shoot video, you have to go to different window, buy a different ticket, and wait for change for a 200 not knowing what the cost even was.
Finally we were in.
Bathroom break for the sparrow's bladder.
Oh wait.... that costs money too?! Yup.
At this point, Lauren is in the bathroom and the show has already started.
To say we didn't hustle would be an understatement.
We lurched in defeat.
Our spirits were nearly broken....
and then there was the show.

Fuck OUR lives. What a shit show, con game, annoyance that show was.
Cheesy English voices speak for The Sphinx and it glows green.
Laser drawings of lions on the walls, projected images of Tut, laser measurements appear on the sides of the pyramids....
What in the hell was happening in front of our eyes?
Our disappointment eventually broke with laughing about how shit the night had turned out to be.
The cab ride home was a breeze in a mini-van with a nice old man who actually spoke English. Sharing smokes and declining offers of beer or whiskey in the car, we made it back to the photo shop to pick up the prints of the film we dropped off earlier in the day.
There was ONE photo taken on the one roll and the other one they couldn't process because it was black and white.
Wow. Best luck.
What's next?
Oh, how about 3 dudes convincing us to let them paint the Egyptian flag on our face in celebration of the big soccer game that was going on. Egypt vs Algeria
They got quite friendly and one guy even tried to kiss me (Carrie has the proof on the FlipCam.... of course).
We walked away covered in paint but laughing.

Back in the hotel we took some group photos in dirty mirrors, watched the game (Egypt lost 1-0), and lounged around like kings and queens. That is if kings and queens all use their computers in the same room at the same time, looking at pig slaughtering videos and writing blog posts.

Shit night? Good night?
I think good would actually be my answer here.

Tomorrow, tours and potential shooting in the Girl's Recycling School where they learn to sew and weave among other things.
Exciting times continue.

Go Team Cairo.