THE GODS LOVE NUBIA

Aswan, Egypt
(Friday, May 20th)

After Abu Simbel and shopping we rushed back to our hotel, threw down our stuff, and hurried out to the water to meet our felucca captain as we were a half-hour late for our felucca ride! Oops.

(Our captain, Sero)

(Other feluccas sailing the Nile)

Sero, our captain, took us out on the water in his boat with the help of his assistant and we started off towards the Nubian village he lives in across the way. Both Sero and his assistant are Nubian, a very proud and hard-working people. When we got to the Nubian village, Sero took us into his home where his family was preparing lunch for us.

Their living conditions were fascinating! Each and every room had two or more beds in it—there were family members everywhere—and It looked to be really run down and sparse…and then there was the flat screen they were all watching in one of the bedrooms. What?! They looked like they didn’t have much money but then they whipped out cell phones while watching a flat screen. We don’t even have a flat screen! His young daughters were fascinated by us and kept popping their heads in to look at us. They were cute.

(The most amazing Egyptian meal EVER)

Then the meal came…I can’t even begin to describe how amazing it was! By far, it was the BEST meal we had in Egypt. It consisted of fresh pita, tomatoes with a delicious spice on them, rice like we’ve never eaten before, fresh chicken, and an okra/tomato concoction that we practically ate directly from the serving bowl. It was SO GOOD. We stuffed ourselves until we couldn’t eat any more, and then it was time for our felucca ride!

In a food coma, we started sailing around Aswan on the Nile River. The ride was beautiful but really hot. There was a shade on the boat, but the sun was able to sneak around it—it was around 110 degrees out on the water. There wasn’t much wind, so we didn’t have a strong breeze, which meant we moved slowly through the water since feluccas don’t have motors, but it was really delightful.

It was so interesting watching the Nubian people across the way, seeing their livelihoods on the water as they fished and swam and sailed. A number of young boys had taken out small canoes and rafts and would grab hold of a passing felucca or motor boat and take it for a ride. I envied them—I wanted to get in the water so bad!

(One canoe of boys)

Miriam mentioned wanting to see a crocodile, which aren’t in the Nile around Aswan (they are, however, in Lake Nasser around Abu Simbel), and our captain got very excited and took us over to a village across the way, where we met his friends who just happened to have three crocodiles! One 18 year old monster and two 5 year olds. They then insisted we hold one of the little ones! Miriam was petrified, but she handled it like a trooper!

(Yep, she's nervous)

The old man in the shop LOVED me and insisted on cuddling up next to me when we were taking the pictures. Kind of creepy, but he was harmless. Hahaha. The crocodile felt so bizarre and interesting! I loved getting the chance to hold it!

(The Sahel village where we held the crocodile)

(Miriam in the sunset)

It was getting late and we had been on the water for quite some time, but on our way back to the hotel the wind died. No wind equals no sailing. We were rowed over to a landing and then Sero insisted on walking us back to our hotel (about 15 minutes away). It was very interesting walking with him because no one approached us. They would walk up to him say something and then walk away. He said as long as we are with someone the touts are not allowed to approach us directly—they have to speak with him first. Ah, lovely.

We got back to our hotel, said goodbye to Sero, and went to freshen up before braving the souq again. Maybe it was because it was Friday, the first day of the weekend in Egypt, or because it was really warm, but we were left completely alone while walking on the Corniche, and the touts in the market weren’t very pushy at all, most of them just calling to us from their shops.

We headed straight to the musical instrument shop and found Ashraf, the man who owns it, and insisted on making some purchases. He had told us the night before that he didn’t want to haggle with us so he gave us amazing prices on things. He offered us a small, hand-painted, camel-hide drum for one quarter of the price of other shops. Awesome. His instruments were really neat and he took great time with us—we LOVED shopping at his shop. He didn’t pressure us to buy anything, he demonstrated what all of the instruments sounded like and told us which ones were real and which were meant for decoration.

We ended up getting a medium sized oud (a lute-like string instrument), drums, and tambourines. Everything was hand-made and hand-painted by the African people. They are really neat.

Fresh off our great shopping experience we realized a young man who had tried to sell me a decorative pyramid had followed me down to the music store and had waited, trying to convince me to buy the pyramid. I was in the perfect haggling mood and really wanted an alabaster pyramid and wasn’t sure if I would be able to get one if I didn’t take him up on it. He claims it’s alabaster, but I’m not so sure—whatever, it’s pretty! His original asking price had been 150LE ($25 US), and I told him I only had 20LE left. After following me down to the music store he offered it to me for 30LE ($5). It probably was only worth the 20LE that I had, but I knew he was probably struggling to sell anything these days with so few tourists so I didn’t push it. Miriam offered to “lend” me the extra 10LE (remember, I supposedly only had 20LE left), and we headed back to our hotel, feeling successful for once and feeling much better about Aswan after the amazing day we had had.

The day had been so positive, especially spending so much time with the amazing Nubian people. They really are a testament to perseverance and are so sweet and welcoming. The Gods love Nubia (according to the song), and so do we.

(Aswan after sunset from the felucca)