On-the-Road Tales

This morning, the 9 of us boarded a Felucca, a traditional sail boat to cruise on for the next 24 hours. It is basically one big cushion covered overhead by a swath of fabric so there is absolutely nothing to do except lie and get really really mellow. Of course, this simplicity comes with its setbacks such as – no toilet on board. Thus you risk dehydration by not drinking so that you do not have to announce to the Captain you want the boat pulled over to pee on the side of the Nile as a man on a camel wonders over a dune!

No, it was an outstanding experience. Given my inability to sit still I jumped at the chance the Captain gave to help sail. My eagerness was quickly quelles as I nearly got flung off the boat trying to lean on the rudder to steer against a strong wind. As I am sliding down the running board, losing the battle with the current, and my fellow boat members watching me nervously as we veer towards a concrete bridge post – he stepped in to help me. He gave me a rope to help hold the pressure which made it much easier so before ong I was tacking like the best of them, hopping every time we reached the shore to the otherside to reverse direction. We sidled like this up the river for about 8 hours. Around sunset, we docked along with 8 other feluccas filled with tourists on a deserted shore with donkeys and dogs.

Since we were spending the night sleeping on the boat, we dug an outdoor latrine with a curtain and all. Yep, another one of those experiences I will never be the same because of! The deckhand had spent the entire trip preparing our meals, peeling carrots, fresh potatoes so we had a wonderful candlelit meal on our felucca. Since we had a 0630 launch, and it had been an exhausting day sitting doing nothing, everyone bedded down around 2200 which is precisely when the drums started. All of our boats are owned by the same Nubian family and it was like a party for them all getting together without the wives and families so the night was just beginning. I am certainly afflicted by what one of the girls calls FOMO – fear of missing out – so up I got to join the campfire with the dancing, singing and merriment of the “Nubian Disco”, it was something special.

The night sleeping on the Nile, at the edge of the Sahara was surprisingly cool and we were piled with blankets. I could just imagine the briskness in winter…

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 3:05 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.