Africa hot. And other Egyptian musings.

I haven't mentioned it yet, but please let me take some time to tell you about the freaking weather here. And I will start by saying that sometimes ignorance IS bliss. (If you are not aware of the actual temperature, it makes it a little more difficult to complain.) The sun just went down an hour ago and it is.......100 DEGREES! At night! I am not joking! I just looked at weather.com and it informed me (without laughing or snickering or anything) that the high temperature today was 110 degrees! I am not kidding. My advice: Skip Egypt in the summertime. Either that, or do things when the moon is shining, not the sun. I am literally melting in a pool of my own sweat.

Today we got up before sunrise to ferry across the Nile to the west bank, where we got on our donkeys (yes, donkeys!) to ride up to the Valley of the Kings. Once I figured out how to stay balanced, it was actually kind of fun.

The Valley of the Kings is cool...the Pharaohs finally figured out that a pyramid might be a being screaming advertisement for thieves and robbers, so they moved the operation underground. Of course, these tombs were looted after a while (supposedly by the guards that were supposed to be protecting them)...all except one: that of the the "boy king", King Tutenkhamen. His stuff was found more recently (I forget what year) and is on display at the Cairo Museum...and his stuff is amazing (think gold mask and big necklaces).

Yesterday, we paid a visit to Karnak Temple. It is the grand daddy of all the temples...but we went at 4 pm, and I am sure the temperature was well over 105 degrees...so I lasted as long as I could without passing out from the heat.

Because of the temperature, I have no pictures of today's (and very few of yesterday's) adventures. Really, it's too hot to even smile and pretend it's a bearable temperature. Even as I write this right now, a pool of sweat is gathering between by boobs and it looks like I poured water down my shirt.

A few observations:
**I think the Aussies on my trip are country bumpkins. The accent can throw you off b/c it's so foreign and everything...but when they tell you that the best meals that they have had on their month-long trip were at the Rainforest Cafe in CA and on the boat, you know they don't get out much.

**Imaginative Traveller -- the company I am touring with. Hmmm.. Here's my take: Imaginative Traveller, IMAGINE that the next time you go on vacation you can afford a bigger boat. Imaginative Traveller, for travellers with no imagination of their own. Imaginative Traveller, IMAGINE that one day you can afford to stay in a hotel with central air.

**I am so glad that I came to Egypt, but it has been very different from other places I have visited, in that I really don't want to be out wandering the streets here...I have been better off by my pool or in my a/c room when I was not visiting a temple or a tomb or a museum. An hour or two in the market, some bargaining, and some sheesha, and that's about all I could handle this time around. Maybe it's being on a tour that has kinded of stifled me...but I can't imagine doing Egypt "on my own" b/c really I just wouldn't have a clue. I would have been very hot, very tired of schlepping my bags around, and very wary of just about everyone.

I just checked my e-mail and I got a message saying that my flight is 1 1/2 hours earlier tomorrow than previously scheduled! Thank goodness I check my e-mail so often, huh? Otherwise, I would have been royally screwed. I have a huge layover in the Amman Airport tomorrow. Sigh. But I will be back in Israel, this time in Tel Aviv with Dani and Victoria...and hopefully a few side trips north to see some old friends.


Love,
Sara

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