Day 7 - Monday, February 26th

During the night we cruised from Kom Ombo to Aswan. When we moor at these towns we can be anywhere from the first boat at shore to the 6th. These boat captains are amazing! They pull up parallel to the lobby doors of the last boat moored so that as we walk from our boat to shore, we walk through the lobby's of the other boats we are next too - and passengers from other boats walk through ours. It is amazing to see all of these boats side by side out into the middle of the Nile and unfortunately we didn't take a picture of this incredible sight!

Our first visit of the day is to the Unfinished Obelisk. This gigantic obelisk is semi-finished and if it had been completed would have weighed 1,197 tons and stood 134 feet high. a flaw was discovered in the granite and so the obelisk was abandoned and still partially attached to the rock.

From here we drove across the first dam of Aswan to the Aswan High Dam. Our Habibi, who is a political professor (and visiting Archaeology professor at private universities) in his other life, gave us a very good condensed version of the political history of Egypt from the time King Farouk's power was taken away (26 July 1952) and Colonel Nasser was elected President in 1956 to the present day. The associations with other countries, the choices made that were not good for Egypt, the problems that have occurred for and in Egypt because of decisions made these last 50 years.

The construction of the Aswan High Dam increased the agricultural & hydroelectricity production of Egypt and saved the country from famine but the environmental consequences have been high. The construction of the dam formed Lake Nasser and destroyed monuments and temples of Ancient Egypt, silt that previously flowed through the length of the Nile is held up in the Lake. The lack of silt forces the farmers to use harmful chemicals and has changed the plant and animal life in the river. If this dam broke (or was destroyed), the enormous Lake Nasser would be freed and the entire Nile Valley civilization could be wiped out in 7 hours - from Aswan to Alexandria.

One of the temples affected by the creation of Lake Nasser was the Temple of Isis on the Island of Philae. It was partially submerged after the building of the first Dam and the threat of greater flooding with the completion of the High Dam was a great concern. In the 1960's the rescue of the temple complex was organized by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, & Cultural Organization). Between 1972 & 1980, the complex was disassembled & removed stone by stone from Philae and reconstructed 20 meters higher on nearby Agilkia Island, which was even landscaped to resemble the sacred Isle of Isis. We were taken by motor boat to the Temple of Isis, a beautiful, feminine feeling temple. It's surrounded by water (of course - it's on an island!), beautiful flowering trees and just shear loveliness! It was a lovely temple to see on such a sparkly, sunny day!

Next stop on this very busy day was to a perfumery. The Nubian people, the native Egyptians, grow the flowers and supply the flower essences for perfumes around the world. They have for sale, the essences that are supplied to Channel, Hugo Boss, Clinique, Yves St. Laurent, etc., and beautiful perfume bottles. The essences are very strong and powerful and last for years in the perfume bottles - they last longer than the perfumes that are created from them.

This is a very busy day!! Our next adventure is a felucca ride. A felucca is the traditional canvas-sailed boat of the Nile. They are so quiet and peaceful to sail on. We sailed around Elephantine Island, past the Botanical Gardens and the Mausoleum of the Aga Khan. The felucca boats are Nubian family businesses. Our boat is sailed by 2 brothers who also entertain and sell traditional crafts on the boat! One of the brothers sang us a song in his language and then showed us the hand crafted wares he had for sale - carved wooden camels & donkeys, camel bone jewellery & letter openers, crocheted hats. All for a very good price of course and many of us supported his industriousness!!!

A few of us more adventurous tourists (Helen, Ian, John-from N. Saanich, B.C., Les and I) left the beaten track and explored the back streets of Aswan. This had a totally different look and feel than what we got from the street along the shore line. We did do a little business with some of the vendors and got a taste of the everyday life of these Egyptians!! We have pictures!!!

Our entertainment on board this evening was Nubian! Another Whirling Dervish, singers and dancers, it was very African sounding and lively!!!

Tidbits from today:

• The Nubian people are the original Egyptians - about 320,000 in population - no written language oral only - only Nubian's are allowed to speak the language - aren't allowed to marry outside of their culture (although how they will control this I don't know)