Mattopia Jones

Mastaba Tombs

The Mastaba Tombs are located near the Great Pyramid, on the side facing the Sphynx and the main entrance to the pyramids. When I arrived the place was absolutely packed with tour groups from Spain. There was a long queue of people going down this tiny little hole on one side of the tomb's interior so I walked around for a bit.

After checking things out for a few minutes and getting totally absorbed in the atmosphere of my ancient surroundings I noticed something: silence. Pure silence. All of a sudden I was totally and completely alone in the tombs. No groups. No guards. So I made my way down that dark little hole. Sure, there wasn't much to see at the end of the shaft, just a... tomb. The thing that amuses me about this video, though, is my scraping my way back out, on hands and knees, and at the end seeing my hand grab at the final step.

When I finally got back outside, I started to dust myself off and adjust my eyes to the brilliant sunlight.

Then I heard, "Excuse moi, sil vous plais! Excuse moi!"

I looked up to see a French woman brushing her hand through the air, waving at me to get out of the way so she could take a picture.

It was a nice little Indy Jones moment in the, "Well, what are you waiting for? We've got work to do!" tradition.

By the way, this was during the second of three visits I made to Giza. Some people were telling me I'd spend an hour there and be ready to leave.

They were wrong. I couldn't get enough of it!