3/12 & River Hathor

Today looks pretty nice, so I will go out in the afternoon. I will go down the road to buy gas, get more money and explore some of the markets that were closed the last time we were there. Big Whoop! I go out in the afternoon, because that is when the room gets really chilly. The heat doesn't come back on until 4.

Yesterday, I ate lunch in the hotel's dining room and took some pictures of my new friends.

The whole group sitting around the fire. I am now invited to sit with them until my food comes. Notice the guy on the right in the puffy jacket and watchcap. He never takes them off.

A close up of the refugee couple. She keeps talking to me, a mile a minute in Italian until someone stops her:

The fireplace:

The dining room:

The lunchtime waitress:

My lunch yesterday was ravioli with a mushroom filling and fresh asparagus in the sauce. I asked for a smaller portion, because at the rate I am going, I will be a blimp by the time we go home.

The breakfast room

The breakfast waiter (the only one who speaks any English in the whole hotel)

We are now cruising on the Nile. This was perfectly timed in the trip. We were all pretty tired after Luxor and the getting up at the crack of dawn itinerary. The River Hathor docks during the night, so we don't feel we are missing anything. (Also we really aren't traveling that far. We move from one small temple to the next and just relax.)

Our boat:

The view:

Maggi on the lower deck. Note the much larger ship in the background.

At the Temple of Horus, Passant told the tale of how the falcon-headed god Horus avenged the murder of his father Osiris by killing Seth.

The actors in the play:

Don was Osiris, Passant - Seth, Fran - Isis (wife of Osiris & mother of Horus) & Chuck - Horus.

Chuck by a statue of Horus:

Back on the ship after lunch, we had the cooking lesson. Everyone who came helped chop and stir. Here's Maggi taking a turn:

The finished product - Okra & tomato stew:

We ate it at dinner and received a copy of the recipe in our handout.

That night we had a "Galabeya" party. Galabeyas are the robes that are worn by everyone. We had very decorative ones (which we had purchased in Luxor) but there were plain ones worn by all of the workmen that we saw. You wear regular clothes underneath. Perhaps they keep these clothes cleaner? Here's Larry, Maggi & John.

I thought that this was going to be the height of silliness, but we all had a good time. We danced, and played games. One game was a variation of musical chairs, but with spoons. We walked around a table with spoons on it and when the music stopped the person who hadn't grabbed one was out. Another game was wrap a mummy. I had to wrap toilet paper around Chuck. The rest of the group voted on the best mummy - we didn't win.

The next day we visited Kom Ombo Temple. This one was so close to the Nile that we just walked off the ship to visit it.

Passant tried to find places for us to sit down while she told us about what we were about to see:

John, Linda & Chuck

Chuck and I in the oracle's hideout:

That afternoon we took a "Felucca" (traditional Egyptian sailboat) to a Botanical Garden on an island. Unfortunately, there wasn't any wind - so they attached our sailboat to a motor boat and pulled us along.

That night we had our farewell dinner in the ship's dining room and then a Nubian show in the lounge. The show featured a whirling dervish. These guys can spin forever. This guy went about 10 minutes. The guy at the hotel in Luxor must have done 20. I got dizzy just watching them.

More spinning

During our time on the ship, they showed Death on the Nile and Cleopatra on the TVs in our cabins. We were too tired to watch.

That night we docked in Aswan, but stayed on the ship.