The female horseback riding posse: Me, Sarah B., Mhairi, Katie W., Amel, Shayma, Priscilla, & My Katie
A crew of camels waiting for their next excursion
Ez & Mahmoud
Ez playing with a whip
Katie and her trusty steed
I tried to ward off my allergies by tying a scarf over my nose & mouth so I wouldn't be breathing in the horse's dander. It didn't work.
Gettin' ready to ride
On the way to the pyramids, we rode through the alleys of the Giza neighborhood
Mhairi was a little nervous on her horse
Shayma & Sarah B.
Looking fabulous, girls
Halfway through our ride we stopped to rest the horses and take some sista-love pictures
As you can see by my devilishly red eyes, my allergies were full blown at this point, but I was so hopped up on antihistamines I could feel no pain
Katie W. enjoying the ride
Sarah B.
my Katie
Mhairi
Don't you wish you were here?
~
The last weekend of September the girls and I were hanging out at a shisha cafe on our street just having a laid back evening talking and drinking coffee. It was about 12:30 at night, and we were about to leave and go home when Mhairi got a call from Hot Egyptian. He asked us what we were doing and when we told him we were going to leave the cafe and go to bed he said, "At 12:30? What's wrong with you girls? This is Egypt!" Then he told us some friends of his were going horseback riding and asked if we wanted to go with him. Mhairi's response was, "Are you from Syria? Horseback riding at 12:30 in the morning?" "Of course!" Mahmoud replied. "Why not?" "Come on, you girls go home quick and change into some warm clothes and I'll be there in a half an hour to pick you up." Then he hung up the phone. What Mahmoud wants, Mahmoud gets.
I am always up for an adventure, but I have been allergic to horses for as long as I can remember, so I told the girls there was no way I was going to be able to go. They weren't too enthused about going either, so we told Mhairi to call Mahmoud and tell him we just weren't up for it. When she phoned him to tell him we weren't interested he simply said, "No, you're going. I'll be there in a half an hour. Be ready." "For fuck's sake Mahmoud," Mhairi argued, "It's almost 1 in the morning and we're too tired. And besides, Sarah's allergic to horses, so she can't go anyway." "She can ride a camel then," he replied, "you're really going to regret it if you don't go. I promise you're going to love it. Trust me. I'm on the way to pick you up right now. No arguing."
I am always up for an adventure, but I have been allergic to horses for as long as I can remember, so I told the girls there was no way I was going to be able to go. They weren't too enthused about going either, so we told Mhairi to call Mahmoud and tell him we just weren't up for it. When she phoned him to tell him we weren't interested he simply said, "No, you're going. I'll be there in a half an hour. Be ready." "For fuck's sake Mahmoud," Mhairi argued, "It's almost 1 in the morning and we're too tired. And besides, Sarah's allergic to horses, so she can't go anyway." "She can ride a camel then," he replied, "you're really going to regret it if you don't go. I promise you're going to love it. Trust me. I'm on the way to pick you up right now. No arguing."
I had ridden a camel once before when I visited Morocco and I loved it, so when I heard that I would be able to ride one again, I decided I wanted to go. I didn't care how late it was. This was a true adventure in the making, I could feel it. "Come on girls," I pleaded with them, "I think Hot Egyptian's right; it's going to be fun, and if we don't go we will end up regretting it. Just think, someday we can tell our grandchildren about the time we went horseback and camel riding in the middle of the night in Egypt." That won them over. I can get the girls to do anything by telling them to think about the great stories they'll have to tell their grandchildren some day.
We all went back to our apartments to change and then everyone met back at out place to wait for Mahmoud to pick us up. Mhairi has a virtually drug store in her apartment, so she brought me over some allergy medicine that she had so that I could take some before we left. Even though I wasn't going to be riding the horses, I knew that I still might have an allergic reaction just from being around them. If I breathe in the dander from their hair, it causes my throat to close up and my eyes to water. Better safe then sorry, I thought, so I took two of her magic pills and waited.
It actually took Mahmoud over an hour to come and get us, (which is what we expected because he is never on time), and by the time he got to our apartment we were all really excited. Six of us crammed into his car, and off we went. We got on the main highway, but we were driving in a direction none of us had ever been before."Where are we going?" we kept asking him. He wouldn't tell us. "It's a surprise," he answered, "and I promise you're going to love it."
About 20 minutes later we pulled up next to a few buildings on a dark, deserted looking street and Mahmoud parked the car and got out. Two other cars pulled up out of nowhere and parked behind us, and then a bunch of people started getting out. It was Mahmoud's two best friends, Ez and Karim, Ez's girlfriend Shayma, and some other girls and guys we had never seen before. We looked out the windows to try and figure out where we were, but it was too dark to see anything. We were tired of being smashed in the car together, so we got out to look around and find out what was going on. Mhairi and I started talking to Shayma and we asked her where we were. "In Giza," she told us. "Didn't Mahmoud tell you where you were going?" "No," Mhairi replied, "he wanted it to be a secret." "So, you've never been horse back riding by the pyramids before?" Shayma asked us. "What??" I asked in astonishment, "We are going horseback riding by the pyramids???" "Yeah," she laughed, it's beautiful at night, just wait til you see it!"
A few minutes later Mahmoud had returned from the building he had disappeared into and told us that everything would be ready in about another half an hour. By that time it was already almost 2 in the morning, but we didn't care because we were SO excited about the thought of horseback riding at night near the pyramids! "Look, Sarah," Mahmoud said to me, "I know you don't want to ride a horse, but you don't have a choice. If you take one of the camels you are going to be way behind everyone because they are so slow, and there is only 1 guide and he won't be able to stay with you, so you'll be on your own in the dark. In the desert."
I thought about that for a moment. I never know how bad my allergy attacks with horses are going to be because my reaction to them depends on how clean they are and the amount of dander in their hair. When I was a kid, sometimes I used to have such bad reactions from our neighbor's horse that it would almost kill me because my throat would close completely and I wouldn't be able to breathe. But other times, I could be around horses and just have a mild allergic reaction with itchy eyes, sneezing, and a little discomfort in my throat. I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to go horseback riding next to the pyramids, and at that point I was flying high from the medication Mhairi had given me, so I decided to just take my chances and do it.
I am so glad that I did, because it was absolutely incredible! It was a beautiful, warm evening and the stars were twinkling above us as we rode through the desert, talking and laughing. An endless sea of sand surrounded us, and the silhouettes of the pyramids were our scenery. It was so breathtaking. I felt like I was in a movie or something and I couldn't believe I was actually there at that moment, riding horses next to the pyramids at 3:00 in the morning. Sometimes the best moments in your life are the ones you don't plan for.
