Put yourself on a camel’s back, immerse yourself in the desert heat, and dream of life before the modern-day. Think about the spectrum of time, and try to understand that you’re just as much a piece of this earth as the mammoths and dinosaurs that have wandered it in the past.
When thinking of the world’s past, many think about the marvels that civilizations have left behind. Christina Primiano is a flight attendant who was excited to talk about her visit to the wondrous Pyramids of Giza. This seasoned traveler knew well enough to bargain with tour guides whom both Primiano and her friends found while adventuring into Camel stalls.
The groups’ spur-of-the-moment move added a forever memory to their scrapbooks and emphasized the amount of tourist inflation around this area. Their semi-guided tour, which could cost up to $150 per person, had a cost difference of $100 per person.
The group took this adventure pre-Covid. In more recent years, Primiano said that the Cairo Museum was lifted and moved to sit next to the Great Pyramids for convenience reasons. Due to the movement of the museum’s building, camel rides to the Sphinx, and Pyramids of Giza, and the Cairo Museum are no longer offered. However, a desert camel ride in that area will cost $60-$150, depending on how well you can bargain. After going full circle with their camels Primiano and her friends were astonished at how their guide made the most of their time on the camels, noting, “it was a ten-minute camel ride to get to the Pyramids.”
The group’s discounted camel ride lasted for two hours. It took them through the desert, around the pyramids, and took them to the Cairo Museum. The Cairo Museum is known for containing various antiquities. It features many important pieces of ancient Egyptian history, housing the world’s most extensive collection of Pharaonic antiquities, including, but not limited to, the complete burials of Yuya and Thuya, Psusennes I, and the treasures of Tanis.
After consuming the history Ancient Egypt had to offer, Primiano went on a five-day, four-night cruise up the Nile river, where she would fall even deeper in love with Egypt. The cruise stopped at different ports each day to let its passengers explore more of Egypt and its ancient culture. Primiano mentioned the friendliness and openness that she thinks are missing in the U.S. While speaking with her, she also pointed out the difference in food, “The U.S. should get away from Genetically modified foods. You go to these places and realize the difference in freshness and taste.”
While speaking with her about this experience, Primiano lit up when talking about the Nubian Village. She said that the women would paint the houses there, and her descriptions painted the houses as more than beautiful. She was also permitted to go through a Nubian household, noting the saturated colors surrounding her and the lack of concrete floors.
Egypt’s beauty, history, and culture can humble even the most prideful people. Egypt gave Christina the ability to think about human origins and how civilizations come and go. She concluded our conversation with an almost deflated outlook, “…it must’ve been a wonderful culture, a shame that it disappeared.”
