I've always said the trip to Egypt was a big change, it meant a beginning and an end of something. Personally, for me it meant the end of a more immature time, and the beginning of a pineapply kind of era. There the "pineapple" came to life, all its members were united by a same passion: Egypt.I'll always remember the hours on deck, talking about everything and nothing, solving the world, discussing whether Ramses really loved Nefertari, imagining how would have had to be watching them enter the Hall of Columns in Karnak, daydreaming.
It really was like traveling to a different planet, not only cause of the obvious change to our normal lives, but because it was like entering a different time. There, time stops. Everything has a different light, a shade of sepia, a smell of history, a taste of the desert. Unsurprisingly, we came back to Spain with a case full of presents and our bodies plentiful over the pants waist.
Even though it was a trip I'd always wanted to take (it was one of the places in the "Not die before visit" list), I have to say with relief that I wasn't disappointed by anything I saw, no matter how broken it was or how different it was from the picture I had in my mind. Of all the places we visited, strolled, gazed at with tearful eyes (from the emotion, that is), there were several things that impressed me the most. The first one was the tomb of Ramses VI. The second, the Hall of Columns in Karnak, which I
had dreamt about since I knew of its existence. And the third was the mummy room in the Cairo Museum. I'll only stop to talk to you about the last one, and I promise I'll write some more about the other two, and about the trip in general.
The Cairo Museum is huge. Our guide, wonderful Mohammed, tried to take us through the most important pieces, covering all fronts possible with the truly little time we had to watch it all. At the end, he gave us half an hour to wander about, and some of us run to the mummy room. I could have never ever, not even in my wildest dreams, imagined what we saw there. I can only say that the mummies are so well-kept I'm glad they were in glass cabinets. Cause had they been uncovered and one little breeze moved any of their hairs, I would have gotten to Australia without swimming. It's amazing some of them are more than 3,000 years old. In fact, except for the fact that they don't have any eyeballs, they look like they're sleeping. It's breathtaking.
And all this is because the mummy of Hatshepsut has been identified. And all because of a tooth. Who could have told her in 1480 b.C. that more than 3,000 years later someone would make her famous cause of one of her teeth?
Hatshepsut was known for being the queen-pharao that reigned over the two lands for the longest time. What does that mean? That as Ramses II and a few other pharaos, she managed to keep her people united. All people in the Upper and Lower Egypt. That, in a time when transportation and communications were very limited, it was a feat of intelligence, planification and leadership. Besides, it could be said that she was a model for womanhood. Cause even though she lived in a society ruled by men, she managed to position herself and make everybody respect her, as a woman and leader. From our point of view now, that doesn't seem like such a big of a deal, but just think about how we were here just 50 years ago. Now go back 3,000 years more... impressive, huh?
Well, I'll leave you here till the next issue of "Egypt: mandatory visit".
It really was like traveling to a different planet, not only cause of the obvious change to our normal lives, but because it was like entering a different time. There, time stops. Everything has a different light, a shade of sepia, a smell of history, a taste of the desert. Unsurprisingly, we came back to Spain with a case full of presents and our bodies plentiful over the pants waist.
Even though it was a trip I'd always wanted to take (it was one of the places in the "Not die before visit" list), I have to say with relief that I wasn't disappointed by anything I saw, no matter how broken it was or how different it was from the picture I had in my mind. Of all the places we visited, strolled, gazed at with tearful eyes (from the emotion, that is), there were several things that impressed me the most. The first one was the tomb of Ramses VI. The second, the Hall of Columns in Karnak, which I
had dreamt about since I knew of its existence. And the third was the mummy room in the Cairo Museum. I'll only stop to talk to you about the last one, and I promise I'll write some more about the other two, and about the trip in general.The Cairo Museum is huge. Our guide, wonderful Mohammed, tried to take us through the most important pieces, covering all fronts possible with the truly little time we had to watch it all. At the end, he gave us half an hour to wander about, and some of us run to the mummy room. I could have never ever, not even in my wildest dreams, imagined what we saw there. I can only say that the mummies are so well-kept I'm glad they were in glass cabinets. Cause had they been uncovered and one little breeze moved any of their hairs, I would have gotten to Australia without swimming. It's amazing some of them are more than 3,000 years old. In fact, except for the fact that they don't have any eyeballs, they look like they're sleeping. It's breathtaking.
And all this is because the mummy of Hatshepsut has been identified. And all because of a tooth. Who could have told her in 1480 b.C. that more than 3,000 years later someone would make her famous cause of one of her teeth?
Hatshepsut was known for being the queen-pharao that reigned over the two lands for the longest time. What does that mean? That as Ramses II and a few other pharaos, she managed to keep her people united. All people in the Upper and Lower Egypt. That, in a time when transportation and communications were very limited, it was a feat of intelligence, planification and leadership. Besides, it could be said that she was a model for womanhood. Cause even though she lived in a society ruled by men, she managed to position herself and make everybody respect her, as a woman and leader. From our point of view now, that doesn't seem like such a big of a deal, but just think about how we were here just 50 years ago. Now go back 3,000 years more... impressive, huh?Well, I'll leave you here till the next issue of "Egypt: mandatory visit".
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