Africa Cruisin'

I wrote this piecemeal along my trip and am posting it all today:

On Friday morning, we got up early (way too early! 4am early) to board the bus to the airport. It was around 5:45am when our EgyptAir flight took off for Aswan- which was absolutely remarkable, seeing as that’s the time we were suppose to take off, and nothing ever happens as it’s supposed to in Egypt. After a quick (1.5 hr.) flight, we arrived in Aswan, Egypt’s southernmost city. A bus took us on the short trip through the city to our cruise ship, which is currently docked (as I write) and will set sail in about a half hour. The ship is surprisingly nice; the rooms are fairly spacious with nice bathrooms, the food is quite good and service is amazing. Aswan itself is also very enjoyable. The city was the original home to the Nubian Egyptians (and still is) and has always been the meeting place and marketplace between Africa and Egypt. There is definitely more of an African feel in this small city which sits where the Sahara meets the Nile.

After food and an orientation of sorts to our trip, we headed out for a faluka (small boat) ride around the area where we’re staying. We saw Elephantine Island, which was used in ancient times as a fortress island; we saw the botanical gardens; we saw the home of the Agha Khan, the trader who gave his weight in diamonds to everyone who attended his 50^th birthday party, and then came back to the boat.

Next, we drove over the Aswan High Dam, which is a huge dam in the Nile which has created Lake Nasser, the largest manmade lake in the world. If the High Dam were to collapse, the water would rush through the Nile and into the Mediterranean Sea so fast that it would wipe out Tripoli, Tel Aviv and Capri. That’s a lot of water. Also, Nile crocodiles all live south of the dam, as they can’t get through. This makes me happy because my cabin is about at water-level and I don’t need a friend busting through my window when I’m sleeping and Captain Hook-ing me.

After the dam, we made our way to Philae Temple via boat. Philae is a temple to the god Isis, and is a Greco-Roman temple (built by the Egyptians at the behest of the Greeks when they ruled Egypt. The temple is a series of courtyards and buildings which get smaller and darker until you get to the holy of holies; the walls of the entire temple are covered in beautifully ornate hieroglyphic carvings. At first glance, the temple is impressive and old. However, when you stand inside the holy of holies and look at a carving on the wall, thinking about the fact that someone was doing the same thing thousands of years ago, you feel like a small part of a much bigger story, one which will go on forever, but one which could not have gone on without you or anyone else that has stood there. After Philae, we headed back on the boat where our Nubian guides sold handmade jewelry as they probably have for thousands of years.

After dinner I sat alone on the sundeck for a bit and read. The moon was bright and the docked falukas sat silently awaiting the next day of fishing. I thought about Africa as I read Hemingway, a man who had loved this continent at one point, and about its rich history, amazing scenery and frightening present and future. I’ve been touched by Africa in a very subtle way (as Egyptians and Africans alike will deny Egypt’s African-ness) and it has called me to explore more, letting me know in a faint voice that it has so much more to offer.

Overcompensating

Another early morning today (2:50am wake-up call). We hopped on a bus to Abu Simbel, one of the most impressive (if not the most) of the ancient Egyptians sites. Abu Simbel is a pair of temples, one built by Ramses II to prove to the people south of the Nubian land that he was mighty and was to be feared as a god, the other a tribute to his beloved and beautiful wife, Nefertari. The temples were absolutely massive with huge colossuses standing guard outside. Inside both is a series of chambers with more ornate carvings depicting scenes of great battles, of the Pharaoh’s romance and in praise of the gods. The craftsmanship that goes into such building is absolutely stunning and is difficult to comprehend without seeing it. Looking south past the water (about 50 km) from Abu Simbel, you can see Sudan. I was so close! And this is from whence all of the camels in Egypt come. We spent a couple hours at Abu Simbel and then drove back to the boat.

The boat set out around lunchtime and got us to Kom Ombo, where there stood an open Greco-Roman temple to Horus, the god of healing. Kom Ombo is smaller much than Abu Simbel, and a bit smaller than Philae, and is more ruined than the others. Apparently, prior to its preservation by Napoleon’s scholars, the temple would be dismantled by locals and the pieces would be used for building or to make millstones. We walked around Kom Ombo only for a short time and got back on the boat to finish our day’s travels.

Travel Buddies

By nightfall we’d docked at Edfu, a small port “city” with a riverside bazaar. A couple of us walked a bit and realized that the normal instances of Egyptian shopkeepers trying to goad you into their stores was even more forceful down south than it is Cairo. It is literally impossible to walk passed a storeowner without having him walk up to you and say “Hello, my friend. What you looking for? I give good brice (they can’t say “p” here). Where from? Where from?” It’s constant and incredibly off-putting, but if you watch the European tourists who haven’t been here long, they eventually give in and go into the stores “just to have a look.” They come out with “beautiful cartouche, for good brice.”

This brings me to European tourists in general. So Americans have a reputation, throughout the world, as being loud, culturally insensitive tourists with big hats, crappy cameras, shorts and sandals with socks on. This may or not be true. However, if we’re guilty of it, the Europeans are 100 times worse! Cultured Europe, my ass! Every ancient ruin, bazaar and city-center seems to be filled with funny-sounding hoards of people who refuse to wear sleeves (sleeveless shirts are bad enough in a country whose culture isn’t based on modesty) taking pictures in everyone’s way and telling jokes about the sites without actually appreciating them. It’s enraging. I’m gonna throw Aussies in there too, by the way. That is all.

Everybody Was Edfu Fighting

Sunday morning we got up early again and went to Edfu Temple, which I’d contemplated skipping to sleep in, but was pleasantly surprised with. This temple, which is also dedicated to Horus, the hawk god of healing, was absolutely gorgeous. A Greco-Roman temple built by the Ptolemies, this “young” temple spent many years half-buried in sand which makes it now one of the best-preserved temples of the ancient world. The high stone walls and pillars stand tall with hieroglyphics and hide tiny nooks and side-rooms which, as one walks around alone, one can picture a priest, thousands of years ago, walking through with great reverence and some fear, to appease the great god who brought healing and destroyed chaos. Though a gargantuan structure, this place was peaceful and quiet and was the most introspective of ruins I’ve been so far. The rest of the day on Sunday was spent at our leisure and the boat made its way north to Luxor, our final destination. Most people caught up on sleep during the hottest part of the day and sat around the deck and read, etc. We made a quick walk up and down the riverside street in Luxor at night, but got to bed early.

Luxoriffic

Monday was our last day of touring and we got up early once more. I actually didn't get up as early as everyone else, as reception forgot my wakeup call and I slept passed the time everyone was leaving. They went to the Valley of the Kings; I slept in. I grabbed a taxi on shore and met up with the group at Hatshepsut Temple, a temple built by a woman who pretended to be a man, since women couldn't be Pharaoh. It was a fairly small temple which had mostly been reconstructed, but the stairs leading up to it were gargantuan and impressive. They were also difficult to climb in the already blazing heat. After Hatshepsut, we went back to the boat for lunch.




Post-lunch we made our way to the grand finale: Karnak and Luxor Temple. Karnak is a temple built for the sun god, and greatest of all Egyptian gods, Amun Ra. This temple, the biggest place of worship in the world (at over 100 acres), was built piecemeal by a number of pharaohs, but was finished by Ramses II. The place is simply enormous and the pillars that stand row after row are incredible. We toured around a bit, feeling dwarfed, and then got back on the bus due to the heat (it was somewhere in the 120s). Our final stop was Luxor Temple, which sits in the center of the city of Luxor. This is a smaller temple and is really interesting mostly for its geographical location and because people are still discovering things about it now. Unfortunately, the heat on Monday made some of the things difficult to really enjoy. We made our way back to the boat. Monday night was spent a bit on the boat and a group of us went to a "British Pub," expecting sweet relief from the terrible beer we've been drinking this entire time. No dice. Once again, it was Sakara, Stella or Heineken. Yuck.


Suxor

Luxor, despite its amazing historical scenery, has one main drawback, the people who live in Luxor. My friend, Carole, and I went out shopping on Tuesday morning and to see the city. Big mistake. The taxi drivers, carriage drivers, shopkeepers and restaurant owners swarmed like vultures. In Cairo, especially at the bazaar, it's a common thing to have people goad you into your shops. However, in Luxor, it's two hundred times worse. Mostly, it's because Luxor is a town run completely on tourism and it's the off-season right now, but they went from the normal annoyance to that which enrages. I still have a carriage driver waiting outside the Sheraton to pick me up. After constant haranguing, we finally got what we needed and gave up, heading back to the boat. The rest of the day was spent hanging on the boat and relaxing. In the evening, Sarah, her mother (who came on the boat cruise with us), Carole and myself went along the corniche for dinner. It was a bit nicer further down into town and I saw the nice, quiet part of Luxor which sits meekly beside the Nile. It could be really great if they just took out like 90% of the people. At 11pm, we caught another flight back to Cairo.

I was a bit disappointed that so few of my classmates made the Nile cruise (only about 20 out of 45) but for those who did, it was an amazing and whirlwind tour of the parts of our host country that once made it the dominant power in all the world. For its good and its bad, I've taken quite a liking to Africa.