No! I Do Not Want To Ride Your Camel.

What an eventful day here in Cairo.  As we prepare to leave on the overnight train to Aswan, a very active day comes to a close.  We started the day trying to figure out transportation to the Great Pyramids and Sphinx in Giza.  I say figure out because we are trying to take as much public transportation as we can, and skip the tourist taxi thing.  So far so good.  We caught a rattling minibus out to Giza after waiting for one of the longest 15 minutes of my life on a 2 foot wide median in the middle of a raging highway of cars, buses, trucks, and enough diesel fumes to knock the average person out.  With people screaming, taxis honking, and people jumping on and off of moving buses, we somehow managed to finally flag down a minibus going our way. Once at the Pyramids, we were harassed by salesmen, lying policemen, and all manner of helpful soul out to make a buck.  Without a doubt, we were asked to take a camel ride at least 10 times by each of the 25 or so camel ride salesmen represented on the grounds.  I tried "no", when that didn't work I tried "la", when that didn't work I had Stacy sign it to them in case they were deaf.  When all else failed, Dean gave the international sign for "no thank you, get away from me you annoying person".  You can probably figure that out. We managed to wade our way through the hucksters to see some awesome sights in the end.  Having completed our pilgrimage to the prescribed tourist trap, we worked our way back into the city center on a rusted out bus full of locals.  Stacy was once again able to sign with some deaf people on the bus and share who we are and where we are from.  It was a big hit with everyone stopping to gawk and see what was going on.  Big doings on old bus 977.  We then walked through the city for a couple miles and enjoyed the Nile at sunset.  Since no advance sale seats were available on the train to Aswan, we are taking the 3rd class option which promises to be full of interesting characters, smells, goods for sale, and the ever popular chicken.  Live chickens ride in 3rd class...or so we've been promised.  There is a chance we will not be allowed on, but that is a bit remote.  We are tired but excited about what the next couple of days will bring.