The first runs along the line of, OMG! I’m actually standing at the foot of a 5,000-year-old burial chamber, the oldest, largest, most amazingly mathematical and astrological stone building ever made, the only Wonder of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to have survived the test of time. Holy Pharaoh! This has been a dream come true.
The second memory was more along the lines of, Holy Pharaoh, you want how much money for roping Jimmy and me into an awesome shot of the two of us atop your camels in front of this ancient wonder? Talk about nightmares!
There was this guy;
“One hundred American dollars!” first-friendly fellow demanded in a decidedly less than friendly tone once Jimmy and I were back on our own two feet.
Way beyond my imagination! Either we looked terribly rich or terribly naive. You decide. Perhaps gullible is the shoe that fits.
Jimmy’s face turned as stony as the pyramid that had precipitated our dilemma.
I sat on the bus, camera in hand (thankfully negotiations did not include my camera), sifting through the images of my once-in-a-lifetime visit to Egypt’s Giza
Forty dollars later Jimmy returned to the bus.
All in all, not a bad price for successful negotiations that included the safe return of my diplomat, especially given all the tensions in the Middle East.
Eat your heart out John Kerry.