The wake up call was at 5:00am and it rang twice before I answered it. We quickly got up and organized our day bags. We went upstairs for a fantastic breakfast. Lots of fruit, cheese and vegetables.
Before meeting up with the group, Antonio and I ran upstairs to the top deck to view the Nile. A stunning morning view. The green coast and the sky filled with different colored hot air balloons. We were late to the bus as we ran to catch up with the group.
The bus took us through Luxor, the restaurant signs in English and Arabic.
Today we were heading to 4 historic spots: Karnak Temple, Luxor Temple, The Valley of the Kings and Al-Deir, Al-Bahari Temple.
Pulling into the parking lot of the Karnak temple, I knew I had traveled to a different world. A long stone road, led to the perfectly symmetrical walls that guarded the entrance to the temple of the Sun God. On either side of the road were hundreds of statues of goat-lions, the animal of Ra. The oldest temple in Egypt it is around 6,000 years old. Promising to let us have picture time after his explanation of the history, Amro told us about the temple. I missed some of the description in Spanish, but remembered two main points. First the walking stance of the Egyptian statues symbolizes the military march, the current of the Nile and/or the link to the heart. In the hieroglyphics a sun over a duck means the birthday of the King.
We walked all the way to the end of the once spanning complex. Absolutely incredible. We saw the two tall obelisks and a statue of a scarab that we walked around 7 times for good luck. Although looking pretty ridiculous in my white shirt and fedora, I was glad to have it as the sun came up fast and beat down on us. To think that 4 months ago I was wading through 3 feet of snow in Poland is ridiculous. Now basking on the banks of the Nile and exploring Egyptian ruins. What a year! We took a lot of photos, so many that I went against my normal rule and dropped my photos down to six mega pixels as I won't have enough. I'd almost taken 200 photos by the end of the first day.
I foolishly hadn't brought any water and was getting really dehydrated. I loved examining all of the hieroglyphic, incredible in their detail. I made a last glance back at the temple before boarding the bus.
We drove through the streets of Luxor, across town to the spanning sight of the temple of Luxor. The temple had the traditional symmetrical walls and central obelisk, but was made even more incredible by the hundreds of columns that made the temple proportionally equal.
We walked through the temple admiring the platforms and huge stone walls. In the back passage way, we were shown the "first porno," a hieroglyphics scene depicting the artificial insemination of the Sun God Horus to the Goddess of the Nile.
The hieroglyphics were truly incredible and I tried my best to remember sixth grade history. Our guide gave us free time and we were allowed to wander around. We were immediately accosted by men in traditional dress, wanting us to pay them for a picture. One guy even had Melissa and me do a "ceremony," in which I touched the hieroglyphics and then Melissa. We apparently married.
We had to head back to the bus, the last ones to arrive yet again. The included day had ended and now began our additional paid for journey. We drove a little farther out through the desert. Winding through the sand dunes, we were heading to the Valley of the Kings. in our cruise ship and bus we were living in a bubble, but Antonio and I saw the "real Egypt," the life of the poor people as we drove through the streets.
We pulled into a central visitor's center and then boarded a tram to the entrance of the tombs. The Valley of the Kings had been discovered in the early 1920's and was a spanning series of canyons hiding the ceremonial tombs of the Pharaohs. We only had admittance to three tombs and had the ability to choose.
The first tomb we went into was for Ramses VII, and entering it, I saw incredible hieroglyphics. Although slightly worn, I could see the once vivid colors giving life to the drawings. What I remember about this tomb was the long hallway, open room and next hall way with the actual sarcophagus. Melissa and I walked around trying to soak it all in. Coming back out, I stood alone for a minute, breathing in deeply through my nose, while looking at the two pictures, one a god with wings and the other a scarab. I walked back out, putting on my hat as I exited the tomb.
Our next tomb really felt like an adventure movie, as we had to climb these huge stairs supported by the rock and then climb deep underground. This tomb was particularly hot, like a sauna, and I was pretty sure the one guard in the central room was going to pass out from the heat. Also beautifully decorated. I tried to imagine what it would have been like to discover this place, especially this one as there were booby traps.
Our last tomb was a large hallway with a huge interior burial room. We stood at the back looking up at the entrance. We didn't have much time and had paid a lot for what would have been cheap to do on our won. Still, I was so happy to have seen it.
The last stop of the morning was the Al-Deir, Al Bahari Temple, an incredible 3 story monument with large sloping ramps built into the center of the mountain. We walked to the top floor and our guide explained everything before telling us to meet back in 45 minutes. We explored and took pictures. Admiring the clear difference between the hot desert sand and the green valley where there was water, I explored the top area. It seemed like a lot of time for not that big of a place. I took my time walking down and met up with the girls at the snack shop where they were being proposed to and offered many camels by the workers. As we boarded the tram, we learned that there was another level and temple that we had missed. I didn't want to miss it, so I jumped out and ran all the way back up to the top, snapped a ton of fast pictures of the colored hieroglyphics and then ran all the way back to the bus.
We stopped along the side of the road to see the Colossus of Memnon. Two twin Statues of sitting figures. We took photos before heading back to the cruise ship.
We were welcomed on board by the crew with hot tea and clean towels to wash our hands and face. We then had a much needed lunch and drinks.
An excerpt from my journal about eating lunch on the ship:
Dining on the cruise ship is an eye opening experience in the world we live in today. Our waiter, Hussein is always waiting on us. Its an open buffet and the crew is constantly cooking and preparing for the next meal. The table is set with three sets of silverware. From our window we have incredible views of the Nile as our motonave glides without rocking over the surface. The view from the window is a constantly moving postcard of palm groves, sandy banks and flocks of white egrets. As I eat my copious amounts of food, viewing this paradise, I have the lifestyle that I support and demand. This is my fist experience on a cruise and I have to say I really like it. But when I look past the natural beauty and put down my fork, I see that salient juxtaposition, that dilemma of equality that I choose to ignore. On the banks of the river are crumbling houses, starving children. On the Nile are small boats that rock violently in our wake. When I leave the boat I am accosted by people trying to sell me trinkets. I brush them away like the sweat flies and climb aboard my air-conditioned bubble of the bus. This is privilege, capitalism, equality, irony. The more I travel, the more I'm confused by the world, and the more it seems to all come together.
After lunch, we went up onto the roof to swim. I took advantage of the free time to write while looking at the incredible landscape from the bow of the boat. For the rest of the afternoon we would be cruising on the Nile to our next destination.
4:00pm was tea time and we went down to the covered deck for some tea and cake. The life. A massage guy came around and Antonio volunteered me. I went downstairs to the massage room and truly lived up the cruise experience.
At 5:00pm we had our orientation about the rest of the trip. Amro explained all of the additional trips and their prices. We were told our hotel rooms to be in Cairo (we're actually in Giza, on the other side of the Nile). The prices were high and we wanted to talk to him later about doing stuff on our own. The meeting went an hour too long as people kept asking stupid questions. We talked to Amro, who told us to talk to him tomorrow.
We hung out in Chupi's room before coming back upstairs to salsa on the dance floor. Outside was a crazy scene as little rowboats selling touristy stuff latched onto the boat and tried to sell things to us. They would throw the packages of clothes up into the air and expect us to throw money back down to them. Crazy. After dancing, we went upstairs to swim. We wanted to stay up until 2:00 to see the boat pass through the gates so we went downstairs to shower and get ready for bed before coming up at 1:45. We went right up to one gate and completely stopped as we waited for more water to be put in. Once the level was sufficient enough, the boat was allowed to pass through.
Now in the second part of our cruise down the Nile, I went to bed, ready for the next day.
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