"...and here they make offering..."

Type, ya lazy trout! I’m sitting on a deck in Dahab with my strawberry daquiri, enjoying the sun and light breeze. Temp’s around 30 degrees, cooled considerably now that we’re beside the ocean, and this laid back ambiance has sucked the motivation to type write out of my fingers. But I’m way behind in telling y’all ‘bout what we’ve been up to and I’m starting to forget the sequence of events so let’s back up a little.

We got off the train in Aswan in 41 degree weather and it got a lot hotter. Our guide took us to drop off our bags and get checked into the boat before heading out to our first temple of the day. Philae temple was actually moved and reconstructed at higher ground before the Aswan dam submerged it. It’s only accessible by boat but the ride’s only 10 minutes or so and worth the float. Gerges began his recital “...and here they are offering to the Gods...” a litany that was repeated at successive sights which I began to tune out as I snapped pic after pic (3200 so far and those are just the ones I kept).

A quick tour of the dam followed Philae before returning to the boat and this enduring memory: there’s machine guns and soldiers holding them everywhere. Part of it’s due to the new world age where important sights have to be protected from terrorism and part is due to the current political climate in Egypt. Mubarak’s been in power in this ‘democracy’ for over 25 years supported by two billion a year in US aid. The US also supported the Shah of Iran and look how well that turned out.

Mubarak keeps the ‘radical’ Islams at bay but at a price. And the price tag is the everyday heightened security that’s most visible in heavily armed ‘tourist police’ and frequent roadblocks. Ok, I’m no political expert but wouldn’t sharing power reduce the need for violent incursion? Human nature; once you get something you use all the power of the position to hold onto it.
Partying on the boat

The boat sailed at 9 following a meal at a table we had been assigned for the duration. Our table mates, like the rest of the passengers, were not native English speakers but like most Europeans I’ve met, spoke much more English than I did of their tongue. Makes me feel less worldly.

Even though most of our co-passengers spoke some English, they weren’t anxious to meet non-germanpolishswiss peoples so most of our conversations over the next three days were with staff. And they were great, ensuring they remembered everyone’s (especially Luka’s)
Hetshupset's Temple at Luxor

name. Unfortunately there were no other children even close to Luka’s age so we swapped off, occasionally fobbing him off on a staff to play pingpong while we sipped beer on the deck.

The boat stopped at Komombo (or was it Edfu?) giving us an opportunity for us to see the local antiquities and Gerges a chance to say “...and here they are offering to the God..” Someone along the way must have told him how to control his charges and I was told - not asked - to not take pictures until he’d done his sermonette. At the completion of subsequent tours I was cut loose to snap pix of the site.

Back on the boat, next stop Luxor and I must say it was as impressive as the pyramids. Karnak is there as well as Hetshepsut’s temple (the one with the big ramps down the middle) and Luxor temple. The Valley of the Kings, where they found Tutenkamen’s tomb along with several Ramses and a dozen other pharoahs, is here as well. We did the light show at Karnak after dark (duh!), very impressive and majestic.

There wasn’t a whole lot of time spent cruising. We spent a full day and night moored amidst three other ships in Luxor so with nothing to see out the window we were obligated to get out and about. It was easy being on the boat with meal times proscribed and meals prepared so little to do but tan and dip. There was a small pool but Very cold and a cold tub with jets for when the sun got too hot for lying still.

My movies and pix show the life along the Nile and while I wasn’t there 3,000 years ago, it doesn’t appear anything has changed. Donkeys are more common than tractors in the fields. The mud huts are without electricity and fishing is done the traditional way from boats of traditional design. Where they were once millenia ahead of the world, they’ve fallen several millenia behind.

We disembarked in Luxor and were dropped at a bus depot where the insulation I’d spoken of earlier was stripped away like a bandaid from hairy skin. It hurt like hell and I’ll tell you about the pain and wonder of seeing Egypt uninterpreted next time.