Trip to Kom Ombo and Edfu

(written by Nancy)

This is the second half of day 4 of this adventure. We’ve been up since our 2:45 am wake-up call, but after a tasty lunch on the boat, we were cruising along the Nile. Our next stop was Kom Ombo - a nice little city with a monster sized temple. This temple was a mirror image with two gods being honored: Sobek and Horus. So we saw alligator headed guys and falcon headed guys on every column. It was HOT, but we knew we’d only be out in the heat for about an hour. As we got off the boat, we walked up a series of steps, through a colorful, little market, to the ticket booth. As always, there was a representative from the Tourism Police standing nearby to “protect us.” He was wearing his white uniform, carrying a nice-sized machine gun, and was pretty much asleep in the heat. There was the usual great security, too. You walked through a building with a metal detector and a security scanner/belt for backpacks. Everyone beeped as they walked through. No one was looking at the items going through the conveyor belt. What a riot!.

We meandered through the temple for a full hour, taking in the statues, the hyroglyphs, the huge stones…

Then back to the ship. We continued to cruise for a while, standing on the top deck of the ship watching the Egyptian world go by… children swimming in the Nile, donkey carts traveling along dusty roads, beautiful palm trees with stark desert sand dunes just beyond the lush trees. The houses were small, brick/mud type huts with straw roofs, we saw people bathing, building fires. Very interesting.

There was a teeny tiny pool on the top deck of the ship. It was about 12’ x 15’ and it was filled with cool water… we assumed it came from the Nile and went through some type of filter… We really didn’t care. It was cool and wet - very refreshing. We jumped in and out about four times to cool down. Jacob just remained in the water until dinner time.

Dinner on the ship. Nice. A few interesting vegetables… pumpkin, stewed okra, cooked celery, always tomatoes, carrots, cabbage. Did I mention there are only 15 passengers on the ship? This is low season for sure (no one in their right mind comes when it is so hot. Not sure what that says about us). So, in the dining room we have an amazing amount of attention from the Egyptian staff. They are lovely and kind and speak just enough English to ask if the boys want fish or beef. They learned that I liked vegetables and fixed me enough each night to feed a family of five.

After dinner there was a “dance party” in the lounge. Of course Jacob had to check it out. He danced… but I missed it because I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Jim and Craig watched part of a soccer match with the other 5 guys on the boat. The boat continued sailing to Edfu. We docked there. We were all in bed by 10:00 pm. (I might have been asleep by 9:45 actually. I’m such a party animal.)


Day 5 - Sunday, June 20th.
Somewhere in the world it is Father’s Day. We will have to celebrate when we get home. No such holiday here. We start off with a 6:00 am wake up call, and march off the ship at 6:30 into the village of Edfu. We walk up the steps and are swarmed by horse carriage drivers and taxi drivers offering to take us to the Edfu Temple (dedicated to the god Horus - the falcon headed guy). Luckily, a previous guide of ours had told us to take the horse carriage and pay 40 Egyptian Pounds. Period. The first guy comes up to us and agrees to take us - and wants 100 pounds. Craig is our negotiator on this project and says, “40.” The guy says “80” Craig: “40” The guy: “70” Craig: “40” The guy: “60”… you get the idea. We got the ride for 40 Egyptian Pounds (about $8). We did give him a nice tip at the end of the morning. \

This driver was great. Dark Egyptian skin, beautiful smile, short graying hair, seemd to know everyone else in town. He would hold up his whip (never using it on the horse) and wave it and make some great Egyptian “yee haw” kinda sound. Craig sat up front with him and was handed the reigns a few times. The city was dusty, fairly clean (just a few major piles of trash in the street), and filled with horse carriages. Several cruise ships had unloaded at the same time - but again, it was considered a very quiet time compared to other months of the year.

We arrived at Edfu and our driver told us he would wait, to look for #38. Sure enough, he had a small cardboard sign (4”x 6”) with 38 written in pencil. No problem. We knew he would find us.
The temple itself was amazing. We were greeted by a huge (118 foot high) pylon - that’s the big entrance to the temple. It was sitting right on the River Nile. It had many falcon statues, huge columns, heiroglyps… We wandered through every nook and cranny. Jacob had to be in sensory overload. Craig kept wanting to climb up on rocks and walls, but learned his lesson at the Unfinished Obelisk and Abu Simbel… and kept himself under control.

We were dripping with sweat by 8:25, time to get back on the ship. Our nice carriage driver got us back in time, having his horse merge in and out of traffic, (both cars and carriages), laughing, Egyptian-yee-hawing, always turning around to ask us if we were happy. (“You happy, yes?”)

We get back on the ship, spend a few minutes in our teeny bathrooms cleaning up, and have b’fast on the ship. Then we start cruising down the Nile. It is very comfortable on the top deck of the boat during the morning. Jacob and I are in the pool and we play multiple rounds of Marco Polo - which is a riot in such a small pool. Then we changed the game to “Nefer” “Tari” and then to “Abu” “Simbel” just to liven things up.

It was so hot you couldn’t walk across the top of the boat (astro-turf type covering) without shoes. You couldn’t lean on the railing. You couldn’t touch the metal ladder to get into the pool. The temperature was 48 - which is about 110 degrees Fahrenheit. “If it was a degree hotter we would burst into flames!”

We’d get in the pool, then sit around in our wet suits on the deck… We cruised through Etsa, a town with an incredible dam system. The cruise ships (there were four) all lined up and went through an old lock in single file (about 10’ clearance on each side). Then we moved to the modern lock system. Where we sat inthe lock and the water level dropped about 20’. It was fascinating to watch… and to see the village kids on the side of the dock shouting and waving, asking “Where you from?” and “What your name?” and smiling broad smiles. The workers on the ship would toss money to the newspaper vendors on the shore. It was quite an event to watch! We spent the remainder of the afternoon cruising, watching Egyptian village life go by, and jumping in and out of the pool to cool down.

The ship arrived in Luxor at 5:00 pm and we could get off to explore - which of course we did! We were looking for an internet café, and after passing 20 guys trying to sell us junk or give us rides, we found one. We all went in to this tiny little room with some air conditioning and a 16-17 year old boy running the place. He had seven computers set up and internet access. A Spanish speaking couple were on line talking via skype to friends back home. While we were in there, two little boys, about 8 years old, chubby cheeks, gave the owner their few Egytpian pounds so they would play games on the computer for a half hour. They were adorable! I was watching them, but they paid us no mind - they were into their game, laughing, talking to each other, pointing. We got on the internet, downloaded info to the Blog, Craig send Brooke-the-architect a face book message or two, and then Jacob and I stayed behind to add a few more pictures while Jim and Craig wandered down the street to find a cold beer and the soccer game. We weren’t sure about splitting up (especially with me and Jacob - a woman and child out on their own. Shocking!). But we did - and we all had an adventure!

Jim and Craig went to Cleopatra’s Bar, an open air bar area with the World Cup playing and good beer - except when a fly landed in Craig’s beer and sank to the bottom. Meanwhile, Jacob and I stayed at the internet café another 20 minutes, downloaded a few more pix, paid the bill, and went outside to find a horse carriage to take us on a tour of Luxor. Ali and his seven year old son Darwan (?) were our drivers. Susie ‘was the horse’s name. We took an amazing tour of downtown Luxor - the local market where the villagers shopped, a bumpy, dirt street with stalls on either side selling vegetables, spices, clothing, pots and pans, meats… the vendors were sitting on the ground next to their stalls, the local folks were shopping, negotiating, children were running in and out of the shops, babies were crying, men were smoking, the women were wearing their full street length robes, heads covered, and some with their faces covered - just their eyes (and sometimes just their glasses) showing. Fascinating. I was humbled watching these people going about their evening shopping.

We drove down the Nile, past the Karnak Temple, past shops, piles of garbage, sketchy homes. We also saw the area that the goverrnor of Luxor is re-doing to prepare for the tourists. UNESCO is helping to fund a new street and area for tourists in Luxor. Unfortunately, it requires wiping out many people’s homes and also moving the large Coptic Christian church… the row of sphinx’s will be amazing, but at what cost to the people of Luxor?

We stopped by a shop “that is only open one day, and everything is 50 percent off.” Jacob and I wandered through and found a few really cool papyrus drawings. While we were in the shop, Ali’s son gave Susie some water and let her rest. We finished our tour, dodging in and out of cars and buses in the horse cart. My heart was racing a few times.

We walked back to the bar where Jim and Craig were… no Jim and Craig. We walked back to the ship (harassed by shop owners coming and going) - no Jim or Craig. We walked back to the bar, the internet café again… no Jim or Craig. We decided to go back to the ship and wait.