Pyramids and traffic

Well today was another army shower consisting of one pot of hot water, a semi-warm bathtub full of water, and a barrel full of water to rinse with. Every day here it seems they turn off the water for 6 hours unexpectedly so you have to keep bottles of water handy. There I am again, reminiscing of times in Ukraine, boiling my water to shower. Seems Im much more used to that I guess as its the way it goes.
Yesterday was the day to see the pyramids. I did get to climb up inside of the pyramid although it was hot, extremely closed in, and steep. Claustrophobia for sure. I loved every minute of it except that we couldnt photograph inside. I did however, get some video footage climbing up the pyramid as the guy outside thought it was a camera. I figured I was justified seeing how I was charged 160 pounds vs. Eslam's 10 pounds just to see it...30 dollars vs. 2 dollars just seems a bit much, but this is how it is all over Egypt. It seems some of their rules are just ridiculous, except that I can understand that the flash of a camera can ruin the coloring of the tombs heiroglyphics. It was a windy day, with people constantly following us, asking if we wanted a camel ride, photos, anything. It got to the point where I just was flat out over being friendly and courteous. I mean, when do the questions stop??? "Are you married, is she foreign, do you know they'll charge her more to get in? Do you have children? Do you want a photo? I give really great Egyptian prices for camel ride? I can take you around the desert for little price....." on and on and on....I think I was drained just by that...but Im thankful I did see the pyramids and I did ride a camel. Eslam spent at least 20 minutes trying to get the price down to what an Eygptian might pay, but the only catch was that we had to get some photos together. They finally only charged me 20 pounds for all the photos we want which was awesome considering they usually charge 70 pounds for one photo!!!! Ridiculous.
I had another crazy situation happen to me a few days back as I was travelling from Heliopolis to Zemalek, where I was staying and the taxi driver was quite friendly. He was trying to speak his English and speaking about how crazy the traffic is in Cairo. He was telling me too and assuring me that he was a good driver. I enjoyed the ride, as I was taking photos along the way of beautiful mosques and scenery. We came up to a traffic jam, as it is common in Cairo, and he had slowed down to let me take a few photos as he was approaching the jam. The police immediately pulled him over, asked him to get out of the car, totally repremanded him for "slowing up traffic" and proceeded to take his license and charge him a ticket for 250 pounds!!! 50 dollars for that....I was shocked. I felt horrible...he was being generous and the traffic was already stopped. So the rest of the way he was continually kissing his hand and praying out loud...I didnt know what to do but I felt I had a little to do with that. 250 pounds for my semi-decent out-of-the-window photos:( So...the bill came to be 32 pounds...I gave him 50, hoping that would help his emotion at least a little. I find this all so interesting because half the time, the police here really arent doing much. There are very little traffic lights, people make 3 or4 lanes of traffic when there should only be 1. They shouldnt even paint the roads because they're wasting their money. Traffic rules/laws are broken every second. Seat belts never worn, people getting their mirrors and cars hit/bumped....people randomly walking into the road no matter how fast a driver may be going amongst the donkeys, horses,and anything else you can possibly name that can move down a street. And a man decides to slow down in traffic for a photo op, and 250 pounds later, he's totally screwed. There doesnt seem to be a balance here.

So tomorrow I'll be enjoying a nice day with a new Egyptian woman friend here with her family and then Im off to Alexandria for the day before I head home. Cant wait to have fluffy pillows and a soft bed.....and all my favorite granola foods;)