Day 33: Oct 7th: How you feeling? Hot, hot, hot!

The wake up call was bright and early today: 5:30am. It would have been fine except that I was feeling quite terrible. Alicia made it down for breakfast, but I only managed to make it to the bus on time. Our first stop were the Colossus of Memnon. They were quite splendid and impressive, and reminded me of the sphinx the way they were falling apart and all. The birds were happy to call their faces home.

After this, we endured another short bus ride to the Valley of the Kings. We were there quite early but already the sun was starting to get very hot and the crowds were pouring in. After a brief but thorough introduction from our guide, we quickly made our way to the suggested tombs. First stop was Tuthmosis III (step son of Queen Hapshepsut). To get to this tomb we had to climb up a narrow metal staircase of 32 steps. As we waited to decend into the tomb, we saw people come pouring out just exhausted. We took one more breath of fresh air before climbing down alongside the people eager to exit. Upon entering, we crossed over a giant well used to dissuade robbers from entering. Once across this we walked down yet another ramp to get to the tomb chamber. The drawings everywhere were spectacular. They weren't as colorful or detailed as others (in fact most of them were almost stick-figures), but there were so many stories being told. They covered every inch of the rooms. The heat inside the tomb was surprisingly like a sauna. Not cooler at all.

With only an hour left before the bus departed, we hurried out to get to King Tut's tomb. This was far easier to get to and not crowded at all as it cost another 8 bucks to get in (for students). The tomb was much smaller, but the paintings were still beautiful. The scale of the paintings was much larger as well (individual figured covered an entire wall). Also in the tomb was one of the three gold mummy coffin shells and the mummy himself. It was interesting to see how young he looked compared to the ones we saw in the museum. At least he looked relatively peacefull being in his own tomb.

Next came the tomb of Ramses IV. This tomb wasn't too hard to enter, not counting the line. I was too weak to wait in the sun so Alicia graciously waited for the two of us. Once inside, we were greeted with colorful wall paintings and large hallways leading to the end room. The paintings were quite vivid as well.

After this we tried to go to one last tomb but we didn't have enough time and had to get back to the bus. Our next destination was the Temple of Hetshepsut only a short ways away. It was very impressive in size, and was made to look even more prominent with huge cliffs looming behind it. There were quite a few large scale statues still standing at the entrance, and the paintings inside were amazing and very beautiful. We'd say they may have been some of our favorite yet. It was amazing that as many colors had survived exposed to the sun for thousands of years. The story behind the temple was especially interesting. The queen wanted complete power in Egypt and so claimed to be the son of Amun-Ra instead of the Daughter of Ramses II. It was here that Tuthmosis III had defaced her image within the temple in order to claim it as his own. But even in its damaged state, it was a incredible temple.

Of course we couldn't go the whole day without being taken to a market where there was free tea, clean bathrooms, and of course an onyx and alabaster shop. While we took advantage of the two former, we left the latter to the adults. Whilst they were purchasing, we chatted with the Egyptians outside "working" the alabaster stone. I asked if they were actually making something or if they were just chipping away. Sure enough, they were just chipping. The next logical (to them) question to ask was of course if we were married. Alicia said yes as she had her "wedding ring" on and I said no, adding that I was worth over a hundred camels. We all laughed, knowing that everyone on the street trying to sell you something will often compare a woman to how many camels she's worth. Its of course completely ridiculous and quite disturbing, but you've just got to laugh. We ended the conversation with one of the demonstrators pulling out a picture of his wife and daughter. It's all a show, with a little truth behind it. Sadly.

We got back to the boat to do some relaxing by the pool. As you might imagine, this was a rather foreign concept to us, but we quickly settled into the routine and awaited tea time at sunset. We were sailing towards Aswan at this point, passing amazing scenery and small towns. The setting sun over the Nile is unlike any other sunset for sure. Especially when you catch the occasional nude bather (they were really far away don't worry) and the teenager washing his clothes (strange!)

Right around sunset we arrived at the lock in the river. There was quite the backup of boats and the Egyptian boat salesmen were benefiting. It was quite the spectacle. These small boats would come up right next to the ship and from way down below they would yell up trying to sell their shirts, scarves, and carpets. When they thought (it didn't matter if someone was or not) that someone was interested, they would put the item in a plastic bag and chuck it up on the sundeck. They even got one in the pool. Then it would be thrown back down to them after someone had looked at it and decided they didn't want it. We don't know how they would have ended up getting the money as no one on our boat made a purchase. It was very fun to watch.

As it was bingo night after dinner, we opted for the cozy bed (they are awesome!). Until tomorrow!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry