Rock Like An Egyptian

We can sum up our week in Egypt in a few words: best old stuff ever! We were so lucky that Gus' parents, Nancy & Tom, were able to join us for the week. As a Christmas present (to us & to themselves), they set up a full-fledged tour that included a Nile cruise and, best of all, our very own Egyptologist. Hesham, who insisted on us calling him "H" (he apparently had little confidence in our ability to pronounce Arabic names), had vast knowledge of ancient Egypt... and plenty of opinions about modern day politics, all equally interesting to us. He also correctly identified us early on as an audience open to salacious tales of pharoahs and gods, as well as a plethora of off-color camel-centered jokes.

Speaking of camels, we did do the obligatory Egypt camel ride near the Giza pyramids and at least one "Walk Like An Egyption" pose for a photo. The Nile cruise was fantastic - a perfect mix of lounging on the sundeck and exploring lots of really, really, really old stuff. And since Gus and I have been traveling for a while (and trying our best to have at least some semblance of a budget), the buffet food was a true godsend (thank you, pharoahs, aka Nancy & Tom).

It's hard to put into words the size and complexity of all the different ruins and monuments that we saw. We marveled at all that civilizations 5,000 years ago were able to accomplish, although the things we marveled at were a little different. Gus constantly asked 'H,' "Now how exactly was this constructed?" while Sarah was primarily obsessed with putting together a detailed pharonic timeline and intricate chart of Egyptian gods. (Definitely stories fit for 'US Weekly!')

We knew before we got to Egypt that we would see pyramids and tombs. But what we hadn't thought about were all the cultures that had passed through since. We were so surprised - pleasantly so - to see that many of the most famous Egyptian ruins had gone from pharonic temple to Christian church to mosque and back to a tourist-attracting Egyptian temple. This was the first predominently Islamic country that either of us had visited. We never got tired of hearing calls to prayer, and Hesham was happy to fill us in on the practicalities of being a Muslim in a relatively liberal country. For two people whose main prior knowledge of Islam had come from books and CNN, it was a really good experience to see the religion and culture firsthand.

We're now in Uganda, typing from a bug-covered computer screen (don't worry, we took our malaria pills!). The connection isn't so fast, so there are no photos for now. As a consolation, you might someday get to see a video of us flipping upside down (multiple times) while rafting the Ugandan White Nile. This was today's adventure, and definitely one of the best of our trip. But more on that later...


Of course we rode on a camel!


Mom lunges for the prize during a cruise-sponsored cutthroat game of "Spoon Pickup" that was alot like musical chairs. Competition was tough, but she took home the gold against a tenacious Spaniard and a plucky Canadian using a diving-slide technique that could not be matched by her adversaries.


Some of the Moore family at Ramses' Abu Simbel temple. This was going to be covered by water in the 60s when they built the Aswan High Dam. It was cut up and built into a concrete mountain above where it had been before.