I'm starting to understand the traffic here. It actually isn't disorganized. It only looks that way at first sight. It is rule-driven, but the rules are not immediately obvious. Traffic and pedestrians flow, whereas in the US, traffic is more syncopated. Drivers here seem to maintain some bubble of awareness that allows them to safely move through what would be treacherous to an American driver.

I changed hotels today and met a bunch of other travelers. I think I will go to any future monuments alone. I don't understand why Americans have such a dreadful reputation for being obnoxious. I'm finding that obnoxiousness comes in virtually every flavor of nationality. I've tried hard to be respectful of local culture and customs. It is Ramadan. To smoke or eat or drink on the streets during daylight hours is rude. To walk around with your bellybutton showing or wearing shorts (if you're a woman) is rude. I think if you're in a place that is foreign to you, you should respect the local culture. Yet many here seem to decide that their own culture is good enough and others should just deal with it. But maybe I don't understand enough about the Egyptian people yet to really know.

Annie (the Malaysian friend mentioned yesterday) is like the Energizer bunny on about 12 cups of coffee. She is a maniac. The guys love her because she is cute and bubbly, but after 5 hours of hanging out with her today, I just wanted to crawl back into my room. We started the day at 7am and Annie decided we would take the local bus to Giza since it's only 25p (about $.06) Five minutes here really means, 5 minutes In-sha'Allah (god willing) so waiting five minutes for the bus actually meant more like a half hour of being in a stinky exhaust-enclosed bus station. A taxi would have been 10LE (about $3.50) split between 5 of us, but nope, we had to go for the bus. I guess it was good to have a local experience. The buses here often don't really stop. People run after them and are climbing on and off while the bus is still in motion. Lots of hands reach out to pull in the people chasing after it. Luckily since we caught it at the bus station and got off at the end of the line, we didn't have to go through that experience. But we were the only non-locals on the bus.

Even with the pyramids right in front of us, we didn't see them right away. The smog and the sky and the pyramids become one color. When we were almost on top of them was when one of us finally noticed them.

Stepping off that bus into Giza was once again like walking into a different world. Cairo is poor, but Giza is well below that.

One of the first things I saw was a man beating the hell out of a horse. Figured I'd run into that sooner rather than later, but I'd just as soon not. Many of the animals in Giza are emaciated, then they get beaten for not performing. We walk past live chickens that are so tightly packed in boxes that they cannot turn around.

A girl selling vegetables gave us the biggest, brightest and most seductive smile that I've seen from an Egyptian woman. It confused me because it is so out of character. Something about her looked so open and beautiful. When I got back the photo of her, I realized it was her glow, not her physical appearance that made her beautiful.

After several hours of following Annie around, I was exhausted and grumpy. Missy Energizer bunny still had energy to spare and I started thinking about heading back alone. But I was seriously low on cash and didn't have enough to pay for a cab back.

Annie went to walk around a pyramid while I sat down. An ancient looking man came up and gave me some trinkets then demanded money. I said no and tried to give his beads back to him. The Australian man that I was with came up and started yelling about calling the police. The old man accused the Australian of being Israeli and became increasingly agitated. Then he put the evil eye on us.

Whereas the touts in Cairo are slick and often entertaining, (and even admirable for their salesmanship) the touts in Giza are just sleazy. They demand money for nothing, try to sell you stuff that should cost 10p at most for 30LE (a penny or so for like $9), and practically spit at you if you refuse them. They are hostile.

Annie disappeared and it took hours before we finally found her. What should have been a half day excursion took from 7am until 6pm.

Back in my (new) hotel room (Sun Hotel), the manager asks me if I'm from Spain. I say no and he asks where I'm from. California, I tell him. So he tells me, "you no have anyone in your room, you understand?" Yeah, I understand. I'm a slut and a whore because I'm from California. The magic of last night's trip to the souq is fading. I'm tired. I haven't slept well since before I left California. If I can get a train ticket, I plan to take the Wagon's Lit to Aswan tomorrow night. I've had enough of Cairo for now. ;->

Kayla

In the words of someone in the Lonely Planet book "They are big. They are old." I think that sums them up pretty well. Most any other words seem to fail. There is a quote by Gustav Flaubert in the guidebook that I wanted to add to this email, but I don't have the book with me. (Later: And I still don't have the book. I left it in Cairo.)