July 9, 2008

Wake up call at 5:15. A failed attempt to beat the heat at some of the sites we were seeing that day. We went to the Valley of the Kings that Morning and it was HOT. However, it was totally worth it because we got to see a whole bunch or ridiculously sweet tombs including the famed TUTENKHAMAN…aka King Tut. That guy was a little tiny guy. His mummy was actually on display there, and was real little. It was the first of several thousand year old dead people that I had the privilege of seeing in Egypt. Anyways I asked our guide about the height of Egyptians back then and he got all ticked and was like, what we need to understand is that he was only 18 when he died and not yet fully grown. Yeah, our Egyptian guide was ridiculous. We were all ready to kill him by the end. He kept calling us his Habibi’s and we were seriously ready to stage a mutiny. Anyways, we did not. The guide still lies to torture another BYU group next fall. So, after the Valley of the Kings, we headed to Ramses II tomb and after an annoyingly long lecture by our fearless tour guide Habibi, we got to wander around. It was really cool. For those of you endowed, I have some really really interesting hieroglyphics pictures to go through with you. They actually helped normalize the temple ceremony for me, it really was strange the aide in understanding that the Egyptians helped me with regarding the temple. I would prefer to defer that insight to a more personal setting. The funniest part about the trip though, was my friend Paige, who was actually in my ward last year, were twins. We both wore Wal-Mart $5 T-Shirts, white paints, straw hats, and fanny packs. It was ridiculous, and I loved it.

We had free time in the afternoon and then went on a camel ride. Well actually the camels were on the other side of the Nile, so yes, we took a faluka ride across the Nile River. It was not just any faluka ride it was a dancing faluka ride and our captain was a dancing machine. So we had a dancing faluka captain and then our 65 year old professor hops up (yes Kelly, the Draper man himself) and starts cutting some serious rug. What could be better? Oh yeah, for the first time in supposedly five days there was strong enough wind to let out the sails and really fly down the Nile. Oh yeah and on the flag they had a huge Bob Marley banner and the ship was called Amsterdam. I hope that explains our dancing faluka captain. It was amazing. Simply amazing. The camel ride was actually pretty amazing as well. Despite the hairiness, the smell, and the fact that it just plain hurts certain parts of your body to sit on them, the camel was actually enjoyable. My guides name was Ali and he was 10 years old. He was a really fun little kid and I loved him. I felt bad because he had to walk while I rode but his boss would not let him ride up with me no matter how much I tried to persuade. We wandered around as the sun was coming down, which made really cool camel pictures had they have been taken by someone not on a camel. Seeing as I took the pictures they were real blurry, but I had my ten year old guide take one for me and even though my head was cut off I feel like he really captured the moment. My favorite part was wandering through houses. It was just like India again. Like almost exactly. I really did not feel out of place. Well, despite being on a camel, having white skin, not speaking Arabic, and being led by a ten year old boy on a ten foot rope, I felt totally like I belonged. Okay, not really what I meant. What I meant was that for a lot of the huge caravan of 48 camels we had, many people were kind of shaken up by the poverty. Suppose it takes a lot to compete with India, but Egypt did come close. I am grateful to have India to compare everything with for the rest of my life. By the time the ride was over though, I was ready because I was in serious pain. Not so much in my legs, or back, but somewhere in between.