I walked on into the darkness, guided by a series of dimly flickering candle lanterns. The candlelight revealed the sandy ground and about ten feet of the wind-worn walls of the narrow Siq in a mysterious, red glow. It was a cool night, yet the sand felt warm on my sandaled feet. Despite the steady flow of tourists walking in front of me and behind me, all was silent. Every one of us was completely lost in the moment, eagerly waiting and wondering if what we had come to see would appear just around the next corner. Slowly our procession wound its way deeper into the narrow canyon. The star-filled sky was hidden from our view, except for a narrow sliver that flowed like a sparkling river across the shadows of the upper part of the ... read more

Eastward I went toward the edge of Africa and beyond. My route passed the town of Rosetta, famous for the stone found there that helped researchers decipher the hieroglyphics, and continued through the Nile delta. The darkness outside my window eased my desire to watch the landscape go by, so I spent most of the journey fading in and out of sleep. I woke up when we hit bumps in the road, or when we stopped for a restroom break, or when large vehicles passed us in the other direction. The landscape was always the same, featureless darkness, so I always drifted back to sleep. At some point in the night I woke up as the bus entered a tunnel – It was the highlight of the night’s journey. Down we went into the earth leaving ... read more

All around me I saw the same, featureless, chalky blue void. If it weren’t for the bubbles coming out of my regulator and rising toward the faint silhouette of the boat above me I couldn’t have even told you which way was up. I sank deeper into the gloom with each passing second. As I went, I carefully equalized the pressure in my ears as I scanned the slightly darker blue below me. My depth gauge read just over 10 meters, so I knew that the bottom was getting close. A few seconds later several shadows materialized out of the void below me, slowly taking on the jumbled shape of a boulder field. One of the objects on the bottom stood out from the rest. Its surface was hidden beneath thousands of years worth of crust ... read more

The thought of sailing down the Nile on a felucca has always evoked romantic images of the past for me. Their broad triangular sails have been part of the Nile landscape since the time of the pharaohs. For thousands of years feluccas were the main mode of transportation along the Nile. Their importance waned only after the British pushed the steel rails south into the desert during the nineteenth century. Now they are almost exclusively reserved for the tourist industry. Many of the guidebooks list cruising on a felucca as the ultimate Nile experience. I have heard travelers call their felucca journey the highlight of their trip in Egypt, but I have also heard the voyages described as boring, uncomfortable and painfully long. I love boats, especially sailboats, and everything to do with being out on ... read more

Everything was going exactly how I had planned. I effortlessly breezed through the passport control station - Not really surprising considering that I was in a region that had been on the tourist circuit for over two thousand years. I found my backpack exactly were it was supposed to be on the baggage carousel and I didn’t even get a glance from the customs man as I walked past him, out into the scorching desert heat. I boldly pushed my way past all of the eager taxi drivers that were lined up on the curb vying for my business and then I walked down the entrance road to the airport, following a long line of baggage toting locals. Eventually I found the dusty curb on the big round a bout where I was supposed to catch ... read more