After saying so much for the past few days, today there is little to report. It was largely a day for coughing and blowing my nose, but Osama and I went to the old Aswan Dam (ho hum) and then the new High Dam (ho hum), the Unfinished Obelisk and then we took a boat to the relocated Philae Temple.
I came back to the altar for lunch and cancelled the trip I bought to sail on a Felucca. There was no wind, it is stinking hot and I'd be trapped on a about with Osama and the boat operator.... Not my cup of tea.
The delight of the day has been Serge and Frédérique. They are friends who have know each other twenty years. Serge is, perhaps in his fifties, and a chef; Frédérique is an artist! We met yesterday and ate together last night, but this afternoon, while Serge rested, Frédérique and I had a very nice talk. I wish we had met sooner. He is sweet, French, quite open and it is a delight to have someone to talk with. He bout my coke last night, and when he and Serge left to do something tonight, he was sure to say that we would eat together tonight.
It was nice to relax here where the touts cannot get me, in comfort and with a bath after a day of rest sometimes in the sun, sometimes in the shade. It is very hot here. I depart at 6:30 tomorrow morning for the airport to go to Abu Simble. This piece is in the heart of Egyptians. Wiki it! Then a stay in a hotel here in Aswan, and then on Saturday, another early departure, this time to return to Cairo. I pushed myself to ask for my flight to be changed to earlier in the day so that I can go to the Egyptian Museum. I told Emco, my host agency here, regardless of what is going on in Tahrir Square this time, if the Museum is open, I am going in.
Then Sunday, my birthday—the pyramids at Giza, the Sphinx, Memphis and the Complex of Sakkara. How's that for a way to celebrate being 64! Then Chapter Two of my epic vacation comes to a close as Monday, I head for East Africa, landing in Nairobi.
Later, Thursday...
Gobsmacked! Serge rested, Frédérique and their guide, Denise, dined together and it was lovely. Denise is sick with a bad cold like me, too. in fact, I notice a lot of people coughing and wheezing around me. After dinner, Serge went to their room an d i decided to join Frédérique on the top deck while he has a cigarette. We talk for a bit, sometimes in English because I think he likes to practice and he does very well, and then out of nowhere, he gives be a BEAUTIFUL scarf and an Egyptian amulet to wear.
He wants to give me strength, he said. He has seen my timidity. And he said the nicest things to me and coming from a stranger who wants nothing from me, it was, like so many things on this trip, overwhelming. But this time I was being overwhelmed by a living person. Frédérique is turning 40 on Dec. 6; I turn 64 on Dec. 5. We both work in the visual arts, so our connection was wonderful.
Friday...
This morning I had to meet my ride at 6:30. As I waited, down came Frédérique to wait with me and to say goodbye. When I got in the cab, I was heart broken to leave them—particularly Frédérick. Back to being on my own. So off I go to Abu Simble.
Well that is weird. Up at 6:00 to be at the airport in time to go to Abu Simble. The flight is half an hour; we are very close to Syria and in what was once Nubia. When we land, your guide finds you and steers you to the correct bus. As I have said, this is industrial tourism. The bus ride is 15 minutes. When we arrive, we hurry to the monument because the mob that comes from Aswan by bus must leave by 9:00 and. That means my group of 12 English people plus moi will have the tomb to ourselves.
I am first off the bus and first into the tomb. In fact, for 5 minutes, I am totally alone inside. The group resembles in the shade of a tree to listen to more explanation about the site and it's history. Then we have a little more free time before it is back to the airport for the flight back to Aswan. It is stinking hot; the sun practically burns your skin. In summer here, the temperatures stay in the fifties!!
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
We are a fairly large plane and we are full. Everyone has gone to all this expense and devoted so much time to see Abu Simble, but in fact, one has very little lime actually there. Now, Iam back on the pane in Abu Simble heading back to Aswan (and the rumored, nice hotel, the Basma).
Note:
1. Have I mentioned that the famous scarab is actually a dung beetle?
2. I am pining for Frédérique's scintillating company.
3. My cold is awful.
4. There are flies everywhere!
OK, the Basma Hotel. It is like a resort. I have two balconies: one is HUGE with two deck chairs and the other is small. The cross ventilation with two walls of sliding glass doors is spectacular. There is a pool (that I won't use), and restaurants and bars and stores and the most beautiful and refreshing terrace bar where I ordered two cokes. I should be sleeping, but I can't resist this bar for lentil soup and a garden salad and some chilling.
Yesterday, feeling crappy and headachy, I decided to take some aspirin, and without thinking, on the boat, I turned on the tap and took my pills with a glass of tap water. At dinner, I told Serge, Frédérique and Denise, and they all panicked—Denise especially. She went to her room and returned with some medications and she told me to take one right then, so I did. I don't even know what it was, but so far, so good. I have a lovely bath tub and nice beds; a nap is in order after lunch.
There were so others here in the restaurant when I arrived, but they have all gone and I am alone with five waiters.even with the worst cold I have had in a long, long time, this is an exceptional experience. And although this is like no travel experience that I have ever had before (travel agent, drivers picking me up at the airport, someone calling me sir all the time, guides, TIPPING, the whole package), this is a fabulous way to go if you can swallow the bill. And feeling so weak, this is perfect.
I feel a little like a rock star—flying to a site like Abu Simbel and back yesterday morning, and then the luxury hotel in the afternoon. And now, this morning, another flight, this time to Cairo. And the day after tomorrow, I fly to Nairobi. Tomorrow, one thing I will do on my birthday, is start with the Malarone (the anti-Malaria drug).
In southern Egypt, fully half the population is engaged in tourism. With some 10-15% of usual crowds, most have been displaced. My sense is that the older generation of tourism officials are taking all the business, leaving the young to cope. Virtually everyone who deals with me is a middle-aged man. I feel for the many, many people down the food chain of tourism here who are doing completely without. And it is all because of the protests in Tahrir Square and the media overkill.
So imagine the conflict: the protests are bringing a form of democracy to the people, but they are also bankrupting many people. That makes for a complex relationship with the protest. Tourism is the second industry here. I didn't ask what the first one was: sand? Probably agriculture. BUT, to be clear, everyone I speak with is super happy that Mubarak is out. What's ahead, though, remains unclear. There is abundant optimism here and a new found popular strength.
Notes:
1. Cauliflowers here are the size of pumpkins.
2. From the air you can see the longest, straitest, flattest roads imaginable.this is a bleak landscape like no other I have seen.
3. Only since the construction of the Aswan dam have hippos and crocodiles been absent from the lower Nile.
4. I am writing this in a lobby restaurant. I am alone. There are roughly eight staff coming and going, in and out, but I ordered 10 minutes ago and still no food. I am feeling faint and actually have been fearing for consciousness I am so hungry. Te restaurant was not open when I left early, and I did not know we were going to the museum, and driving here took an hour with traffic. I am seriously faint with hunger. It is 3:00 pm. So I flagged one of the staff a few minutes ago, and still no simple sandwich. And this is one of those "sophisticated" establishments.
Saturday...
Emeco, my host agency, consistently has me at the airport before anyone else. S I do a lot of sitting around reading the New Yorker or a book on my iPad. But mostly, I watch the other people and the staff and how people interact.
The fight was uneventful and Ahkmed was there to meet me at Cairo airport. He is a charming man; I really feel comfortable with him. Having guides when alone is an interesting experience. It is a professional relationship, but it is bed on my pleasure. Still, we have to get to know each other. Most, I don't want to know, but Ahkmed would be a pleasant visit any time.
So there's the nameless driver (Ahkmed told me his name, but I have forgotten; he speaks not a word of English), Ahmed and me in the back of the car for eleven. Then we pick up Dahlia—all coordination by cell phones—so there are three staff and a bus serving a single client. I am used to it now, but at first it was jarring. I am in for the same, only different in Kenya/Tanzania.
Morocco? Was I in Morocco? It feels like a vague memory already. It is the past; Egypt is my present. And tomorrow a birthday to remember and then Egypt, too, becomes part of the past.
So as I was saying, the four of us and the van for eleven kept rolling and then we dropped off Ahkmed. Denise and I continued on to the Egyptian Museum. Well, let me revert to point form:
1. The building is chock a block with stuff in crates. Some crates are wrapped in plastic, some are exhibits and others re unopened. There is room after room and it is chaos. They are building a new museum near the pyramids, but it is unknown when it will open because of the revolution.
2. There are enormous display cases FULL of unbelievable objects—hundreds of them—unlabeled.
3. The jewelry alone is worth a museum.
4. The painted sarcophagi, huge and towering over you, can launch a person width imagination into a lifetime of dreaming.
5. The museum shop was looted during the revolution. I am broken hearted about that because what I see everywhere is crap.
6. It's more mall than museum, really. People take calls and they sit around. Guides are all talking.
7. I see what the guide drives me to, and we kind of go at her pace.
Gold, shmold. Cases of lapis win! And to the Egyptians, silver was the most revered precious metal.
The last room we went to was all Ahkenaten. More than any other Egyptian, Ahkenaten was my man. The statuary of his reign is different from all the others. You know work of his reign even without scholarship. It is unique, for me, gorgeous. And whereas I have seen a piece or two in touring exhibitions in America, I have never been in a roomful of works from his dynasty.
I suspect the absence of much documentation, or sophisticated presentation like audio guides or whatever, enables the guides to earn their living. I expected to tour around at my own pace, but in fact, a guide is a good idea.
It is the densest museum experience imaginable.
NO PHOTOS ARE ALLOWED
The food has arrived. It is now 3:20. I inhaled the food but I feel like I can stand up and go to bed to rest before a heavy day tomorrow. There is a lot on the agenda plus Dalia says she can take me to a pace that might have things I like and that are not made in China. And I want to have a nice birthday dinner in the evening if I feel up to it.
I found out today (Saturday) that Monday I am free all day because my flight to Nairobi doesn't leave until some ungodly hour late at night. I guess I am on an overnight flight which does not make me very happy given my current state of health, so right after finishing eating, I was in bed for a 4.5 hour nap.
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