Blog for Friday June 20, 2008
Today is Summer Solstice and we are merely 50 mile north of the Tropic of Capricorn at Aswan, Egypt. The sun is essentially overhead. It is hot at probably 116 F so we are staying inside the Mogenpick II (Rameses) where the AC can keep us fresh until the morning. First comes a story and then some of the day’s adventures including how we arrived here at Aswan on the Nile River.
In Greek History a man by the name of Aristophanes thought that there must be a place where the sun “stopped” in its journey around the earth and decided to come to the Nile River to test that theory. He placed sticks perpendicular to the earth at various points along the Nile River south of where we are today. He did this in places that he felt the sun would be directly overhead and then starts its journey back again. It worked, and as a mathematician, he discovered the Tropic line (Capricorn) and proved that the sun in its journey only went 23 ½ degrees south when it was overhead before returning to the other direction each year. Little pieces of historical information make the big picture today.
So, this morning we started out from Cairo by air to Aswan, after the journey from St Katherine’s the night before. Our arrival in the evening was only after a lengthy trip through the city on their “last day of the week”. Friday is a day or worship and ALL men must attend a Mosque while the women MAY attend the Mosque. After all they have the children responsibility and the home to take care of!!! (Quote from our guide!) Cairo, a city of 20,000,000 people as stated is the second largest in the world. (Mex. City) The world’s worst drivers drive here. I asked if there is such a thing as Driver Education. The answer was.” Sure. The person buys a car, takes it on the road and if they survive driving in Cairo the first day, they have passed Driver Education”. It is a matter of survival. The taxi drivers are called, “The Devils of the Road” so that gives you an idea of the ferocity of traffic. The cars go in and out, passing on left or right, honking all the time, screeching brakes, parking at a corner where the curb makes the turn! You get the idea and I won’t linger on it.
TRAFFIC IN CAIRO ON THURSDAY PM
Housing in Cairo is unique. . There were many buildings we noticed that seemed to be ½ empty and unfinished. I mean 10,000 of them 4-8 stories tall. There were many miles of them. The reason is that the buildings are “family owned” and they are waiting for the rest of the family to get married so they can move in and finish the building. Also, if no one lives there then there is no “use tax” applied. When the early suburbs started many apartment buildings were built, but it was before the automobile was accessible to many so there were no provisions for parking. Hence, now, cars are parked everywhere. They are found two by two, on the sidewalks, in courtyards, etc, etc, etc. Enough on Cairo as you get the picture. Fortunately our driver “Ibrahim” was excellent and took no chances but was efficient in his driving. We made one stop after breakfast in a sumptuous dining room with full buffet style breakfast as had been supper. The only night incident was that Ruth and Jim’s electricity went out at 1:15 Am, and after a call the breaker switch was found by Amman the maintenance man, and it cooled down again (96 in Cairo that day) after a bit.
We did stop in the Abu Simbel Papyrus Institute, where we watched papyrus made (demo) and surveyed the sample and did make some purchases. Last night we stopped at a “jewelry “store where we looked over the goods and negotiated. No fun to pass by all of these historic possibilities. Some papyrus sold in Egypt is made from banana skins and is not true papyrus. We had been told about that.
On the way to the airport, for the Aswan leg, we also stopped at the pyramids including Cheops, that Great Pyramid. The men rode the camels there and many pictures were taken (see). Also the Sphinx is just around the corner. All dating from about 2700 BCE and even though the outside cover of limestone is just about gone, they weather well there in the desert sun. 100,000 people built Cheops after 20 years. The stones vary in size from 2 ½ tons to 25 tons.
THE CHEOP PYRAMID AND THE SPHINX
We made it to the airport and met Harry, again, who made sure that we got to and on the right flight. (We sure are taken care of.) The security man was there but unobtrusive in his suit.
The flight To Aswan was smooth and the Nile River was on the port side of the lane so ask Karl about that view. I had the Nubian Desert on my side. As we approached Aswan it was obvious that they had created many “oasis” of sorts along both sides of the Nile. All of it irrigated. There are tens of thousands of acres (hectares) of crops growing. Our new guide (number 4) Ihim met us and got our baggage into the van to escort us to the boat... It went smoothly and we arrived at the Ship (Mogenpick Radamis II) and received our instructions for the days we were here. That left much of the day to relax, and we did just that.
At about 4:00 our new guide Kassam (#5) told us we were to go with him on a sailboat ride around the area. This boat has a Nubian Driver. More in the A.M- Morning…
We did take a ride on the old ancient sailing ships that were used to haul stone from the quarries to make the pyramids and statues. The captain was a Nubian and his helper was , too. Hasam (our guide ) lives here in Aswan. The sails were filled enough at times to provide full motion, but one stretch around a newrby Elephant Island (rocks like elephants) we needed to pull the boat with a motor launch. (see) These wooden boats are called Feluccas and hold many tonsof whatever. On this tour we saw many birds especially the herons, Egrets and Terns. (see).
BlACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON
This skipper was really a master at maneuvering the ship with sail.
THE NUBIAN MATE ON THE FELUCCA
The day ended with a wonderful evening meal at “our” table in the dining room and we all retired early and had a good restful nights sleep! More tomorrow as we embark for our first stop further down stream. Sorry about the lack of pictures. I willtry again tonight!
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