-Egypt Update-
November 13, 1999 - November 14, 1999

	We were supposed to anchor outside of Suez at 8:00 on Friday morning, but for some reason we were delayed by customs for several hours and finally got off the ship at about 11:30. We had to get off the ship in groups and board tenders, litte boats which held about 14 people. They had several tenders running the 10 minute ride over to Suez. There are many police all over Egypt. Mel and I posed with this officer while we waited for everyone to get off the ship onto land.
	All 716 Semester at Sea people who chose to visit the Pyramids instead of staying on the ship while it went through the Suez Canal, boarded a convoy of 18 busses to go to Cairo. Kelly and I stand in front of the convoy while it's still parked at Suez. Most of our tour of Egypt was quickly observing the country side while the bus zoomed past toward the pyramids. A lot of the are we drove past looked very ancient and was mostly stone buildings. The building in the picture is a pottery shop.
	We got to Cairo for a late lunch around 4:30 at a 5 star hotel which had a nice view of the three great Pyramids at Giza. The picture with Maria is a little out of order, it was taken the next morning when we visited the Pyramids at sunrise.
	After lunch we went to a laser light show at the Pyramids. This was our first close-up view of the Pyramids. It was more of an animated history lesson than an intricate laser light show, but it was neat.
	We woke up at 4:30 in the morning to go and watch the sunrise over the Pyramids. As soon as the camel and horse drivers swarmed over to our area. I realized that I haven't had any pictures of my roommate Amy in my web page since my first update from Vancouver, so I made sure to get a picture with her at the Pyramids.
	We were later able to walk up to the Pyramids and even touch them. We weren't really supposed to climb them, although you could easily bribe the guards and they'd let you climb to the top. None of us did that of course because it would be very dangerous not to mention the erosion of an ancient world wonder. I stepped up on the lowest block just for a picture, I think this was ok to do, I didn't have to bribe any guards. Later we got to go inside the smallest of the three Pyramids, but there wasn't really anything to see. All of the treasures had already been looted or taken out an put in a museum.
	Mel and I were walking from the Pyramids to the Sphynx and we got hassled by this camel driver. He told us that we wouldn't have to pay for anything, and he said that he just wanted to make us happy. First he talked us into taking a picture with the camel and before we knew it we were riding off on the camel. We eventually got off, but not until we payed several dollars to the man & his camel. We got taken for a ride alright, but not a free ride.
	The oldest and largest Sphynx is also in Giza. It has the head of a man and the body of a lion. We couln't walk right up to it, but it was definitely big. We didn't stay at the Sphynx for more than a couple of minutes because we were getting hassled by so many salesmen that we got very delayed and had to run uphill for seveal minutes to catch our bus to the next sight.