Aswan

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Today we are in Aswan. Aswan is a city where two dams we built to control the Nile.
In ancient time as well as modern times the Nile would flood and recede seasonally alternating flooding the surrounding lands. The god of the Nile is depicted as a man with the head of a crocodile. It is to this god that the Egyptians made offerings so he would control the floods and not destroy the temples. Unfortunately it took man to build two dams, the high the low dams to control the floods and create electricity to allow a modern Egypt to emerge.
The first dam, the old or low dam, was built in 1902 by the British using blocks of local granite. The dam is 130 feet tall and is 8,000 feet long making it, at the time, the worlds largest. You are not allowed near the old dam as it is a military installation and stopping on the dam to take pictures is strictly forbidden.
The second dam called the High Dam, was built by Add al-Nassir (we know him as Nasser) beginning in 1960. It took Soviet financing and the sweat of 30,000 Egyptians working around the clock to hold back the Nile. The construction was completed in 1971.
The dam has hydroelectric turbines built into it. There are 12 turbines with a capacity of 175,000 kilowatts ensuring there is an excess electric supply allowing Egypt to come from the ancient to the modern time.
The dam also resulted in the creation of Lake Nasser the world’s largest man-made lake. The lake ensures control of the flooding of the Nile and assures a plentiful water supply during the low season.
The dam also resulted in the loss of the annual deposit of fresh highly fertile silt that fed the agricultural market. The rising water also flooded the ancestral lands of 100,000 Nubians living along the shore of the Nile. These people were moved by the government to higher ground, but unfortunately less fertile requiring the use of chemical fertilizers which are now finding their way into the waters of the Nile. As one Nubian elder said, “We cut off the arm to save the body” More on Nubians later as we visited a Nubian village and learned of their culture.
Also the building of the dam resulted in the flooding of many ancient temples and buildings. The Government with help from UNESCO was able to gather the funds and the manpower to move and reassemble many of these ancient artifacts. Unfortunately what we are now seeing is a reconstruction and not the originals because when they were moved they no longer had the placement for the original religious significance or the buildings had to be placed in different locations due to the topography of the island to which they were moved. In any event we visited one of these temples, the Temple of Isis
The Temple of Isis was originally located on Philae Island. In 1960 a huge coffer dam was built around the island and the water was pumped out. This allowed archeologists and engineers to painstakingly dismantle all the buildings on the island and relocate them to nearby Agilqiyya Island. It took 20 years to complete the move.
The temple itself is well preserved with many carvings depicting Isis and her husband Osiris. The temple shows the Osiris myth in great detail.
Osiris had a jealous brother Seth who wished to kill Osiris. So Seth tricked his brother to lie in a coffin which we sealed up and tossed into the river where Osiris drowned.
Wracked with grief Isis prayed to the gods who restored her husband to her. Their rejoicing at their reuniting resulted in the birth of Horus the Falcon Headed god. Unfortunately this really angered Seth who once again set out to kill his brother.
Osiris is captured by Seth and cut into 14 pieces and spread around Egypt. Again Isis pleads with the gods who agree after 30 days of prayer and sacrifices to restore Osiris but they could only find 13 of the 14 pieces. Restored Isis and Osiris live happily but Horus will be an only child, remember the 14th piece? Can you figure out which piece was missing?
Because of her ability to affect the resurrection of her husband (twice) Isis is known as the goddess of life.
After the temple we head to the quarry where we see the “incomplete obelisk”. This quarry is where many of the stone for temple building came from. Mo our guide feels this is a dumb stop as the quarry is mostly gone and the incomplete obelisk is basically a rock on its side. While carving the obelisk is cracked twice so the builders left it there in the quarry. Yup it is just a rock on its side and we run the gauntlet where I am able to buy a replacement for my stolen hat.
We head back to the boat for lunch and a little rest.
After lunch we head out for another adventure, a ride on a Felucca and visit to the botanical gardens.
A felucca is an ancient sail boat that boasts a large square sail. The Nubians, a race of dark skinned Egyptians who live in villages around Aswan, take tourists for short rides in these quiet sailing ships so you can get a feeling of what it was like to be on the Nile up close rather than from a high riverboat.
Also as a captive on board we are also great targets to buy Nubian handcrafts! We are also entertained with some Nubian music (“she will be coming around the mountain” was one selection) and soon arrive at our destination the Botanical Gardens.
The gardens are located on Kitchener’s island named after the Englishman Lord Kitchener who started the collection. In the states and elsewhere Botanical Gardens are usually filled with color and fragrances are well planned and beautiful. The garden here may have once been all that on Lord Kitchener’s time, but that time is long past.
The garden is mainly different kinds of trees labeled with the scientific name only so you must be more educated than I to know what you are looking at. Fortunately we only have 30 minutes in the garden, long enough for me as it is hot and I am a little tired. Ian and I walk and chat and soon we end up at the coffee shop where we will meet our guide.
There he sits chatting politics with the rest of the tour guides. I find an ice cream stand and but a Mega Strawberry on a stick for 15 pounds ($4) and sit in the shade.
It is soon time to go and this time we board a small motor boat for our next adventure, the Nubian Village tour.
A little history about who Nubians actually are. You may recall Queen Hatshepsut who was the only female Pharaoh wanted to expand her empire but not through acts of war. She sent emissaries to follow the Nile south into Africa. There they came across a dark skinned people and called then Korus people meaning DARK.
The Nubians were convinced to join the Egyptians and became united but separate in that they fought an enemy together but lived separately. Into modern times, now united by the Moslem religion, they live and work among the Egyptians but remain separate in many ways.
So we take a ride to the Nubian village and are taken to the home of a weaver where we are taught about the Nubian people and their culture, share a drink and tour his home. Overall it was a unique cultural experience.
Back on the motorboat for the ride back to the cruise ship and dinner. After another fine meal and time for Belly Dancing and the Whirling Dervish.
Now the belly dancer was amazing. She did here dance or two first and then went into the crowd and pulled folks onto the floor to participate and shake their booty. Some should have left their booty sit, but all in all it was great fun.
Andy, our 80 something Aussie, hit the dance floor and his wife June shouted “shake it Andy, Shake it”
“I am dear, I am” came the reply.
After the belly dance came the Whirling Dervish. Now the Farina clan saw a Dervish in Morocco but this was 10 times more amazing.
This guy was in colorful costume and twirled and whirled for a full 15 minutes NON STOP. The colors and the moves were amazing and, well you had to see it to understand. Needless to say the dancers were great and fun was shared by all.
It is 10 PM and I am bushed. Rick is still under the weather and decided to skip dinner and head to bed early in hope that rest would speed his recovery.

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