Aswan, Egypt
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008People say a picture’s worth a 1,000 words, this one’s worth 2,000…
It pretty much sums up our 4 day Nile Cruise and we had the most amazing time. The people, Egyptian sites, and experiences will stay with us forever. We could write pages about the sites, but instead this post will be dedicated to the people that made Egypt special.
Our trip wouldn’t have been the same without Shelly’s “mini-me” sisters, Frida and Mika. Seeing them together in one location was pretty funny because they were exact images of each other, just at different stages in a person’s life… 3, 7, and 32 years old. Mika, the youngest, couldn’t get enough of Shelly’s name and was constantly shouting it from across the dining room, sun deck, hallway, and anywhere else Shelly was spotted. They were very funny together and the three of them were instant friends.
Another person that made a big impression was Robert, our friendly guide during our stops in Luxor, Edfu, and Aswan. He gave us a private tour of all the sites, haggled with local merchants on our behalf, and even arranged our morning wake-up calls. However, the best time we had with him was when we met his cousin, her husband, and their two boys at a coffee shop in Aswan for a taste of local culture. It was great to sit down and talk with them about daily life in Egypt and was the best learning experience Robert could have given us.
Lastly, our trip wouldn’t have been possible without the countless taxi drivers, carriage handlers, and felucca (it’s a boat) captains during our trek. Below are pictures of our favorite Egyptian transport specialists. The first was the owner of a horse named Prince who took us from our cruise ship to the temple in Edfu. He was kind enough during our return to find an Internet Cafe and wait before taking us back to the ship. His generosity gave us a quick 10 minute internet session to let everyone know we were alive and doing well. The other picture is of our two felucca captains, with Nubian treasures for sale, that guided us around the Nile for an hour. They didn’t say much but had the skills to sail into the wind, which seemed pretty cool to me.
Lastly, Shelly celebrated her 32nd birthday on the ship and the boat had a party for her. Both the boat crew and guests gave her gifts, which was very nice. The boat was also kind enough to bake her a cake and play some Nubian music on her behalf. Unfortunately, though, I forgot the camera (I know, bad Nate) so there’s no documented proof of this birthday. You’ll just have to take my word for it, it was the best birthday she could have had.
As with all places, we’re going to be sad to leave Egypt behind. I think it’s safe to say that this has been the most enjoyable part of our trip so far. We can’t say enough good things about the people and how welcoming they are to us.
Tomorrow we depart for Arusha, Tanzania and get ready for our African Safari. We’ll try to make one more post before heading into the bush. If we don’t then our next entry will be in mid February. We hope everyone is doing well back home and take care.
nkurtz