Camels, old stuff, mosquitos, and a boat ride

Riding camels in the desert
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We were excited to leave Cairo after 3 days of chaos, and took a comfortable sleeper train to the much smaller city of Aswan, located on the Nile River.  Our first afternoon was spent on a boat ride cruising the local attractions, followed by a camel ride through the desert.  I'd been anxiously looking forward to that particular activity, because riding a camel in Egypt seemed very exciting, almost romantic.  Me, Brian, camels, and the sun setting on the sand dunes of Egypt - sounds nice, doesn't it?  Strangely enough, the ride wasn't as fun or romantic as anticipated.  Camels are very smelly and mine was very poorly behaved.  Plus the guy that was supposed to be leading my camel decided he would rather have a smoke with his friends, so he handed me the lead and I was completely on my own!  We made it unscathed through the one hour ride, and by the end our inner thighs were aching from holding on so tight.

Our Intrepid tour group
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At 3am the next day we had an early wake up call for our trip to Abu Simbel to see the temple built by Ramses II between 1274 and 1244 BC.  Yep, that's old.  We had to travel by van in a police caravan, as they do not let any tourists travel there (and many other places) independently.  Also there is a smaller temple dedicated to queen Nefertari, who was his favorite wife.

I don't think she was saying "Welcome to Egypt, my new American friends"

Abu Simbel
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The last day in Aswan was spent cruising the Nile on a felucca (Egyptian sailboat) with very basic facilities - that means no bathroom for nearly 24 hours.  That reminds me of a very funny story.....   So we had been sailing about 4 hours and I needed a bathroom break.  Our guide assured me that at any point we could stop on the shore to relieve ourselves, no problem.   I hopped off the boat a crew member gestured at the shore and said "go anywhere".  Brian and I found a path leading up a small hill to an area that gave us some privacy.  Just as we were getting "settled", we hear an Egyptian woman coming up after us, wielding a stick, screaming at the top of her lungs shooing us away - and I don't think she was saying "Welcome to Egypt, my new American friends".  We quickly zipped up and ran down the hill as far away from her as we could get and found a new spot to claim as our own.  When our mission was complete we ran back to the boat, hopped on, and departed before she could chase us with spears or her pack of killer goats.

Brian and his camel friend
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The boat had to stop sailing at 5pm so we pulled over on the riverbank and settled in for the night.  We didn't get a very good night of sleep - our guides shoes were stolen by a naughty local, the mosquitos were out to get us and no amount of DEET would stop them, donkeys were calling out to each other all night, and the prayers from the mosque went on all night.  It was an interesting evening, to say the least.

Anne