Oct 2nd

Day 9

Playing catch-up with this blog thirteen years after the fact has proved to be a real challenge. Shortly after we returned, I had created a photo video show of the trip that I thought would be a big help. Coupled with the accumulated photos (and their metadata) from Carol, Rob and myself, I thought the trip’s narrative would easily fall into place. Unfortunately, the video presentation has been deleted and not everything we did was captured for posterity. (Selfies didn’t hit the big time until 2012!) And, because none of us had reset our camera’s internal clocks to reflect Egypt’s Eastern European TIme zone, some of the attached metadata often proved to be a bit sketchy.

And thereby hangs our “lost day” in Aswan: Sunday, October 2nd…Day 9. There are no photos from any of us with that date in any time zone. The trail of pictures leaps from Oct 1st to Oct 3rd. What did we do?

There were a number of group activities I recall doing in Aswan for which there is no pictorial record. So, in the spirit of a complete narrative, I will relegate those to this day, right or wrong. The events were real. The details? Foggy.

One such adventure had Rob and me striking out on our own for an authentic Egyptian meal off the tourist circuit. We found a small storefront restaurant that appeared to be open so we entered. As it turned out and unbeknownst to us, they apparently were not actually open to the public this particular evening because they were hosting a wedding dinner. We, however, must have looked particularly hungry. Or touristy rich! Enough so that server seated us, the only patrons. But, there was more. As we were trying to figure out what we might order, he came back with both an explanation and an offer: a sort of prix fixe dinner that was comprised of all the dishes being prepared and served for the wedding celebration! It was dining kismet!

There were two shops in Aswan that our group visited en masse. One was a sanctioned GCT learning event that incorporated a unique souvenir opportunity into the experience. And the other, while probably not on the GCT itinerary, ended up being another major source of souvenirs for gullible American tourists!

The first was a papyrus museum and factory where we learned the history and manufacturing process for making paper out of papyrus, a method that has remained pretty much the same over thousands of years. There were also incredible hieroglyphic-inspired works available for purchase. Both Carol and Rob bought papyrus paintings that, upon our return, were professionally framed and now grace both respective homes. Her’s depicted the Judgment of the Dead in the afterlife; and his depicted the eye of Horus, a symbol and deity whose story Rob took a particular shine to.

The other stop was a shirt and clothing shop that specialized in stitching a cartouche of one’s name, written in hieroglyphics, on the front of a polo shirt. All four of us took the bait on that one. Some of the shirts can be seen in photos from later in the trip.

Another GCT exclusive: our group was invited to a local family’s home for a typical Egyptian dinner and conversation. He was a very welcoming host, eager to discuss his life and professional interests. I have completely forgotten his story. But I do remember that he had a website that went into great detail about himself and his services, which I looked up once there was wifi available. But what those services were now draws an almost complete blank other than I think birds and/or bird-watching was involved. Sadly, the URL is lost in the sands of time.

Our entire tour ensemble was also entertained one Aswan evening (maybe this one?!) in the hotel’s central courtyard by a troup of Whirling Dervishes. Sometimes referred to as a “gentle face of Islam,” the Dervishes’ whirling is a form of physical meditation, glorifying their god and seeking spiritual perfection until they’ve reached a religious ecstacy. One couldn’t help but admire their not succumbing to dizziness or vertigo.