Friday the 13th – Heavy Rain Leads to Near Private Pyramid Tour and Empty Streets – Awesome and Eerie

Heavy and continuous rain started early Thursday early morning here in Cairo. The government shutdown schools and shops, what a contrast this created to the day before! Very few people out and traffic was almost non-existent but still could hear honking from the few drivers left. There is no where for water to drain here so the streets were flooded, cars where still able to get through but it was slow going. According to locals it has never rained this much and this long before.

We did get a ride to a “drinkie” which is what liquor stores are called here and it was open! I guess everyone knows at times there’s nothing left to do but drink! At the drinkie we found a locally made vodka that is very high rated and tasty. We could buy the bottle for just a bit more than one drink cost at our hotel.

The rain had slowed so we decided to walk back to our hotel. Almost everything’s was shut down except for the small grocery markets. We had to dodge flooded area and with the slow traffic we were even brave enough to maneuver on foot, through a traffic circle which would normally be life threatening. Of course the rain started again and we got pretty soaked, that’s one way of getting our laundry done!

On Friday we took an excursion to the Giza pyramids, we have been using Viator to book these excursions. This company is great with super good prices and very informative guides. The tours are often private so the time schedule and tour spots are somewhat flexible. Because of the rain which was still coming down but not near as hard there was almost no one touring the areas we went to. Hense our private tour!