Today we flew from Cairo (in the North) to Aswan (in the South). On the way from the airport to the ship we stopped to see the Aswan High dam. « The Aswan Dambenefits Egypt by controlling the annual floods on the Nile River and prevents the damage which used to occur along the floodplain. It provides about half of Egypt's power supply and has improved navigation along the river by keeping the water flow consistent. » Aswan is a small city compared to Cairo, only 1.6 million people. Here also it is an art to cross the street. Fortunately, there are police to help the tourists cross. The Nefertiti is the name of our boat. The rooms are quite nice. Everyone has a balcony And a good size bathroom. The food is great and the ... read more

Our tour title is Ancient Egypt and the Nile River. As an introduction, this afternoon we visited the Egyptian Museum. I usually am not a museum person but still found this one interesting. This famous museum houses the world’s largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts (more than 120,000 items on display) featuring the famous Tutankhamun (king Tut) collection with the beautiful gold death mask and sarcophagus, and the royal Mummy room. Interesting King Tut Facts: King Tut ruled for only about 10 years, from approximately 1333 BC to 1324 BC. He was the Pharaoh of Egypt. His father died when he was only seven, and he became Pharaoh two years later when he married his sister. During his reign, Tutankhamun accomplished little. He's famous because his tomb was the first ever nearly intact tomb of a ... read more

Today was a free day as the tour starts only tomorrow. We did not do much today as a lot a places were closed until late afternoon because Friday is a sacred day of worship. We did go for a walk along the Nile. As we passed by a mosque we heard the call for prayer over a loud speaker. We got a lesson on how to cross the street from our program director (PD) : « just grab hold of a local and cross with him ». Even though there are areas marked on the street for pedestrians to cross, cars don’t stop. So crossing the street is an art. After our walk we ran into our PD as we were entering the hotel and we were all proud to announce that we crossed the ... read more

Here we go again. Leaving September 4 and returning September24. This time it’s Egypt. JP’s dream trip, top of his bucket list. We are taking a 20-day tour which includes a 7-night river cruise on the Nile in a 75 passengers small ship. We start our adventure in Cairo, then we fly to Aswan to begin our Cruise (Aswan to Luxor) and finish our adventure in Alexandria. If you are receiving this it’s because you subscribed to my blog in the past. If you no longer want to receive it please let me know and I will remove you from the distribution list.... read more

Today was my favorite day yet. We visited an indigenous tribe called Embera. As one of Panama’s seven indigenous tribes, this community embraces their traditional way of live and practices age-old customs as they were passed down through the generations. After a 2-hour bus ride we arrived at the Chagres National Park. We were met at the Chagres river by members of the Tribe. Then we embarqued into dugout canoes. Now try to imagine this: 3 canoe-loads of senior passengers sitting in canoes on very low benches, their asses lower that their knees. Does that make you smile. Then try to imagine these same seniors after a 40-minute ride trying to get up off those low seats. I can hear some of you laughing. Our visit started at their on-site school where we met the principle ... read more