The highlight today was a felucca ride on the Nile. It’s been a typically nice Egyptian day- sunny, no clouds, low-to-mid 70s – and we were blessed with a wind from the north. Since the river flows from south to north that means we sailed against the current but with the wind on the first half of our trip and with the current and tacked up wind returning.

A felucca is a traditional Egyptian single-mast single-sail craft with a center board and is quite maneuverable. Once the sail is set the rudder man in the rear can control the ship without assistance. Tacking can be done by simply throwing the tiller over and allowing the boom to swing across, well above the passengers’ heads.

We sailed upriver, passing Kitchener Island (former retirement home of the famous British general) and circling around Elephantine Island, a famous landmark in pharaonic history. On one side of the river we saw hotels and moored cruise paddle board. On the other, bucolic views of horses, cows, fisherman and even Moses-style bull rushes. The river was crowded with other sail and motorized craft, ranging from huge cruise ships (huge for the Nile, that is) to a two-boy kayak. The lads grabbed hold of our gunnels and drifted along with us singing Nubian songs, ending with Frère Jacques and Macarena. Another boy, Yosef, the son of our helmsman, was onboard helping. He’s 11 years old and in the fifth grade.

The crew sang some traditional Nubian songs as well, accompanied by only a single tambourine-like instrument. That’s where Judy got up and danced with a crew member.

To start the day, we bussed from our ship through the outskirts of the town of Abu Simbel and north through the desert to Aswan. Houses in the outlying towns exhibited the characteristic domed roofs, designed to more efficiently reflect the sun’s rays in the height of summer.

The desert is, as we’d anticipated, full of sand, but that’s not all. The vast stretches of sand are broken by strange cones of rock and sand. Sometimes they form a range of hills perhaps several hundred feet high. Other times there are single, isolated cones as if someone had filled a funnel and tipped it over upside-down on the desert floor. Hatem couldn’t provide an explanation and my guess is that ancient layers of rock withstood the desert winds while neighboring areas didn’t, leaving the hardier sections standing and the others blowing away. But that’s just a guess. Whatever, it was a beautiful sight.

At one point we crossed over two relief canals, ditches dug to take spillover water from Lake Nasser when the water level reaches dangerously high levels. Hatem explained that the government is launching an experiment to see if this extra water can be used to raise crops in desert soil, perhaps supplemented by silt dredged from the bottom of Lake Nasser. The Egyptian military has fenced in a huge tract of desert in anticipation of future agriculture business (the military has its fingers in many, maybe all, domestic projects). There are signs of housing being constructed in hopes that people will live there to tend the crops.

Egypt is desperate to find ways to expand habitation into desert areas. Of Egypt’s 387,000 square miles, only 5% or about 19,000 square miles is habitable. With a population of 100 million, that’s a lot of tomatoes squeezed into a little bitty can. The U.S., with just a little more than three times the population has 3.8 million square miles of which 47% is uninhabited, 1.9 million inhabited. You do the math: 1/3^rd the people in 1/100^th the area. Getting folks out of the city and into the desert has a big payback for Egypt. Finding ways for them to live and work there is the challenge. This agribusiness experiment is a move in that direction. Egypt is building a governmental administration center outside of Cairo for the same reason.

Upon arrival in Aswan we paid a visit to the Nubian Museum. It has great exhibits covering the Nubian region from prehistoric times, through the pharaonic times, including the dynasties whose kings were Nubian, through Christianization and Islamization and beyond. There’s also a very nice outside garden area that has a traditional Nubian house.

While touring the Museum’s outside gardens the noontime call to prayer was sounded. Actually, a whole bunch of calls to prayer were blasted out from the many minarets around town. Then we could hear chants raising from the various temples. Hatem said he couldn’t leave us to join in but would pray later in the day. Shops were closed but would reopen after prayer time, he said.

So now it’s dinner at 7 and another Nubian show at 9. Our new ship, the Farah Nile, sails at 10 PM. We’re off the boat at 7 AM to see the first of howmanyever temples tomorrow. I don’t know how a fellow’s supposed to get any shuteye on this excursion.

This is the capstone of Egyptian Temples 101 – Abu Simbel. Hatem has been drilling us all the way down Lake Nasser on temple stories, hieroglyphics, symbolism, history. We know the difference (or we’re supposed to know the difference) between a key of life and a papyrus frond. We’re supposed to know how to interpret an offering to a god scene, a gods heaping long life and adulation on the pharaoh scene and a pharaoh victorious at war scene. We know which came first: Ramses II, the Romans, the Christians, the Greeks.

At Abu Simbel guides are not allowed inside the temples; tourists have to do it on their own. It really was fun to go after it without Hatem there to Shepard us around. He really did teach us well.

Abu Simbel was constructed in the 13^th century but became buried in sand. The temples weren’t “discovered” until the early 19^th century until a German explorer noticed the top of one of the statues poking through the sand.

The big deal at Abu Simbel is actually not the inner sanctums. You’ve seen one wall carving of Ramses stabbing one enemy while stepping on another and grinding his nose into the ground, you’ve seen ‘em all. Don’t get me wrong; these were some of the nicest, must colorful ones we’ve seen. Being buried for all those centuries preserved them well. (The one about him shooting the arrow shows two bows and arrows coming from Ramses’ body. The other bow is the god Amun’s who has joined Ramses in war.)

No, the big deal, and I mean really big deal, at Abu Simbel are the colossal statues outside the two his-and-her temples. Ramses was apparently so much in love with his chief consort, Nefertari (i.e., there was more than one) that he built her a temple all her own right next to his.

Ramses II’s domain extended south beyond Abu Simbel into present day Sudan (the border is about 40 miles south) but it is a significant distance from Ramses II’s headquarters in Thebes (present day Luxor) – about 300 miles and two caaracts as the boat floats. He and his wife visited in the 24^th year or his reign.

His temple, the big one, features four statues of himself carved from the wall of a mountain standing at the entrance. Each statue is 66 feet tall. Hers features six statues; each 33 feet tall. There are three statues on either side of the door: one of her flanked by two of him “protecting” her. Total count: Ramses 4, Nefertari 2. In his temple, Nefertari is shown much smaller than Ramses. I love you babe, but don’t get any big ideas; I’m still the pharaoh around here. Actually, in her temple they are shown as equal in size. She must have been some fine consort.

Both temples had to be moved in the 1960s as the waters of Lake Nasser rose. It was a close thing; a dam had to be constructed around the temples so they could be moved up the hill a few hundred yards. Because the exterior statues were not freestanding, but rather had been carved from the face of a mountain, they had to build a new artificial mountain. The statues were cut off in pieces and then glued back on the face of the new mountain. Not only that, but the original temples had been designed so that the sun’s rays shone through a slit so as to illuminate statues inside on a particular day in October and March to fall on four interior statues (but not a fifth, an out of favor gud). The new arrangement had to have the same orientation.

After our afternoon visit, we returned to the ship for a brief rest then turned right around and went back for a light show and then dinner at 7:45 PM.

Earlier, as we sailed toward Abu Simbel, we passed by Kasdr Ibrim, the only remaining Nubian building that survived Lake Nasser. It’s a fallen down fort that later on was used as a mosque.

Tomorrow is moving day: 5:30 AM alarm, breakfast starts at 6, bags out by 6:30, on the bus at 7 for a 3.5 hour trip to Aswan. We visit a Nubian museum, board our Nile cruise boat for lunch at 1 PM and then a felucca ride in the afternoon. Never a dull moment!

That guy Ramses II knew how to build a temple and his artists and builders knew how to stroke his ego and build his brand. He lived to 91 years of age and ruled at the peak of Egypt’s last pharaonic age, the New Kingdom.

Egypt had three kingdoms: Old, Middle and New Kingdoms stretching from the beginning of recorded history (3200 BCE, give or take) until Alex the Great conquered the place in 392 BCE. The times between the kingdoms were times of turmoil and uncertainty. Egypt was largely isolated from the outside world during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Egyptians did trade with foreigners and fought the occasional war but the cataracts to the south, the Mediterranean to  the north and the deserts and mountains to the east and west kept foreigners out and Egyptians in.

Technology, in the form of horse and chariot, disrupted that isolation. Improved transportation made travel across the deserts and around the cataracts. The Hisoks from present day Israel and Syria invaded using horses and chariots during the Intermediate period between the Middle and New kingdoms, upsetting the Egyptian apple cart during their brief (70 year) stay as rulers of Egypt. But during the New Kingdom, Egyptian pharaohs, including Ramses II, made Egypt a world power. They extended Egypt’s rule to include Nubia, where we are today and other parts of North Aftrica and the eastern Mediterranean kingdoms.

This morning we visited the shores of Lake Nasser to see three temples relocated to this spot from areas now submerged beneath lake level. Of the three, one dates from the time of Ramses II, one from the Grecian period and the other from the late Roman period. Of the three, Ramses II’s temple is the real standout.

Wadi Al-Seboa Temple, circa 1200 BCE, features Ramses II mixing it up with gods and goddesses to prove that he is blessed by and an equal to them. It is finely decorated and well preserved. Hatem showed us the kartuses that spell out Ramses II’s birth name and coronation name.

Hakem said that here in Nubia Ramses II was able to claim that he had, as a pharaoh, actually become a god himself. He couldn’t make that claim back at headquarters in Themes; the priesthood there was too strong to allow him to elevate himself to raise himself to the level of the one true god.

Dakka Temple dates from the Grecian era (200 BCE). It too depicts the pharaoh being blessed by the gods and goddesses. Unfortunately, the kartushs giving the kings name spell out only “pharaoh” as if everyone knows who the current pharaoh is.

Hatem has offered to spell our names as a kartush and Arabic too if we wish. We can purchase a kartush in the gift shop ensconced in gold or silver to take home as a souvenir.

Dakka Temple shows clear signs of Christian occupation. In the inner sanctum, the pharaoh’s statue normally stands with statues for the gods (e.g., Horus) on either side. The statues in this temple have been removed and in the place of the pharaoh’s statue an image of what is identified in Greek lettering as St. Peter has been sketched, receiving the adulation of the Egyptian deities. Elsewhere French graffiti, including the date “1828” mar the surface of the walls.

The third temple, Maharraqa, is from the late Roman period, perhaps 300 – 400 CE. It’s unfinished and rather plain. At that time the Roman ruler of Egypt, who had declared himself pharaoh, had ordered the temple constructed but must have run out of money or slaves or will power to complete it.

Hatem said we wouldn’t bother with Maharraqa Temple except it was on the way to the pickup spot where the boat would return us to the ship. What he didn’t tell us was that in front of the temple was a man with a living two-foot-long crocodile, fresh from the waters of Lake Nasser. See the picture of me making nice with the croc. That’s a string you’ll see tied around the poor crocodile’s snout. Crocodiles can’t survive modernity, including high-speed turbine blades, so they are no longer found in the Nile but thrive in the lake.

Back on board the ship we were treated to a ship’s tour, starting with the kitchen. Each cook showed off his bailiwick (salad prep, pastries, ovens, etc.) with great pride and humor. They took special care to describe the elaborate water filtration and chemical treatment processes they take to ensure that the salads we eat are perfectly safe. I say “we” but exclude Judy and me. The rewards of eating greens are greatly overshadowed, for us, by the risk, no matter how remote, of La Touristica.

They showed us the luxury suites (unoccupied on this voyage). Nice, but who would spend extra bucks when the real action is on shore? Finally, the bridge, where our captain sat in a throne-like chair steering us down the lake. He said that the worst weather comes in the spring when strong winds blow across the desert from the west, obscuring vision and making for rough water.

A break for a rest and lunch, we’re back in the boat off to see more. Again, three sites that have been moved from what is now the lakebed to dry land: two temples and a burial chamber.

The Amada Temple was constructed in the New Kingdom under Pharaoh Thutmose. He preceded Ramses II. By conquering Nubia and Kush, Thutmose established the economic wealth (e.g., gold) that flowed from that region and elsewhere, giving Ramses and others in the New Kingdom the wherewithal to build all the temples we’ve been seeing.

I wish I could retell the stories that are depicted in the many wall carvings we saw today and yesterday. Hatem has given us blow-by-blow descriptions of many and they are fascinating. They deal with the Pharaoh giving tribute to the gods and the gods extending protection and long life to the pharaoh. Others tell stories that establish the power of the pharaoh to reward those loyal to him and to punish his enemies. There are strong parallels to present-day political ads we see on TV: “Vote for me and I will reward you if you do I will punish our enemies and I’m blessed by God to do this work.”

Elderr Temple belongs to Ramses II and is distinguished by the well-preserved wall carving stories that retain much of their original coloring. Hakem pointed out that each color had a significance. Blue, the color of the Nile; black, the color of the silt that the Nile deposited, making crops grow, and so on.

Incidentally, the Nile dams regulate the flow of water so as to avoid disruptive flooding in the springtime. But the dams cut off the flow of silt that used to regenerate the soil each spring. Not to worry; chemical fertilizers can make up for the natural nutrients the floods used to bring.

Finally, a burial tomb for an unknown, probably rich person but one who was not of royalty. Wall stories depicted mourners, dressed in white, including a troop of professional mourners hired to fill in for less than mournful relatives, I guess.

The afternoon wouldn’t be complete without another wildlife encounter. Sure enough, outside the burial chamber was a guy with his pet scorpion and an asp, like Cleopatra’s friend, safely housed in a glass jar. Pictures of Doug and me with the scorpion are included.

Back on board we were scheduled to view a video in one of the ship’s lounges. The computer wouldn’t talk to the projector, so they ended up showing it over the TV system. Most of what I saw (between eye rests) was quite interesting. It dealt with the procedures and equipment used to move the temples from their original position to their new above water sites. Much of the work was manual, including the sawing of the stonework into pieces for transport.

Then dinner and what was supposed to be some sort of party involving traditional Nubian dress. Maybe we, along with others of our group, were in the wrong location but it never happened.

Tomorrow is our last full day on the lake and in Nubia territory. The Nile river cruise is next.

We just returned from Kalabsha, a complex of three temples moved here in the 1960s to preserve them as the waters of Lake Nasser would soon engulf them. We’ve returned to the ship and will be sailing down Lake Nasser soon. That means we’ll lose wifi soon. You’ll be sorry to learn that that means I won’t have time to give a detailed historical discourse today. Suffice it to say, we saw a temple from the era of Pharaoh Ramses II, circa 1200 BCE and two others from the Hellenistic era, the time when Egypt was ruled by Greece, roughly 300 – 0 BCE. There were also stones on display from prehistoric times (prior to 3200 BCE) depicting animals, birds and plants from that era. All very interesting, but for now you’ll have to suffer through with just the pictures. But then again, be honest, you never read the words, just look at the pictures, right?

Here is the long version:

When the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s the Egyptian government undertook projects to relocate ancient Egyptian architectural features to high ground. Foreign governments led by UNESCO provided funding and technical expertise. This effort was successful: all identified temples and other ancient objects were relocated before the area was flooded. Of course, the potential remains that there are other temples not identified that have been lost.

The basic process was to cut the temple walls, columns, etc. into manageable chunks, transport the chunks to the new site and reassemble them on a site prepared beforehand. Cracks between chunks were covered over with mortar. Care was taken to preserve the images carved into the rock walls.

The island we visited today houses three temples, which is the usual practice: two or three temples per reconstruction site. If nothing else this makes it efficient for tourists: three temples in one trip.

We visited first Temple d’Amon, constructed during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II around 1200 BCE. Ramses II was a prolific builder during his 60-odd year reign. This temple, like most of his work, is dedicated to a single idea: Ramses II is a great and powerful pharaoh, blessed by the gods, able to slay all foes and will be blessed by eternal life after death. The carved artwork we saw this morning was disturbingly similar to the political ads we see on TV.

Hatem, our guide, explained in some detail the meaning of the artwork. Surprisingly, to me at least, some of the wall carvings are painted and quite detailed. The painted carvings are inside an enclosed chamber. Paint that lasts 3200 years is better than what Sherwin Williams and the rest claim. The inner chambers were built into a cave, so the reconstruction had to be set in a similar man-made cave. The carvings in the outer, open courtyard have lost their paint but are still quite legible. As far as I could see there are few hieroglyphics, but the images carry very specific meaning that tell the story well without words.

The temple d’Amon was moved by Americans. They used diamond-bladed saws such that the cracks in the stonework are virtually unnoticeable. In other reconstructions we’ve seen the work is much less meticulous and the cut lines are clearly visible.

Next, the Kiosk of Quertassi, dating from the Greek era, perhaps 200 BCE. This small structure, again set into a hillside with decorative columns out front, was described to us by Hatem as being a birthing chamber. Whether or not anyone actually gave birth in this structure is not clear (to me). The significance is that the pharaoh is indeed given life – birthed – by the gods and goddesses.

Finally, Temple d’ Mandoulis, the largest temple on the island and a German reconstruction. Like Quertassai, it is from the Grecian period. The name of the pharaoh is unknown. The inscriptions again explain how this king is favored by the gods and goddesses, his prowess over his enemies is absolute and that he is assured of eternal life after death.

Several large stone carvings are on display on the temple grounds. These are the prehistoric carving of animals, birds and plants that were co-inhabitants of the Nubian region. Some of these animals, such as the elephant and ant eater, are no longer native having moved with changes in climate over the 5,000 plus years since they were carved.

We returned to our ship via boat, a long canoe-like vessel that held all 22 of us with room to spare.

This afternoon Hatem gave a lecture about Nubia and Nubian culture, which parallels and intersects with Egypt and Egyptian culture. Nubia is a region that extends from roughly the New Aswan Dam south into the Sixth Cataract in Sudan. It, like Egypt, can be subdivided into Upper Nubia (the southern part) and Lower Nubia (the northern part). At various times in history the Lower/southern part was referred to as Kush. It’s all very confusing.

Nubia is not a nation but rather a culture with its own spoken, but not written, language. Construction of first the old Lower Dam and the Aswan High Dam flooded the villages and fields of the Nubian people; the Nubians were “relocated” to new homes some distance from the Nile and Lake Nasser.

The Nubian people have their own distinct language, unrelated to Arabic. Because the Nubian language is oral, not written, the entire Nubian culture is endangered. Efforts are underway to create a way to transcribe oral history stories into a written format and to educate young people in the Nubian language and culture. But as is the case in many other parts of the world the success in preserving the Nubian way of life is uncertain.

Lake Nasser extends beyond the Egyptian-Sudan border. That boarder, arbitrarily drawn by the British during their 70-year reign in the region, divides both Lake Nassar and the Nubian people into two parts. Hence there are Northern and Sothern Nubians, further complicating preservation of language and culture.

Yes, there are fish in Lake Nasser. Hatem showed pictures of giant perch, some as much as three feet in length. However, a viable commercial fishing operation has yet to be established.

It turns out Judy and I have had two experiences of the Nubian kind before coming on this trip. Last June Enrique took us to see a Nubian temple that had been moved from Egypt to Madrid. It’s an outdoor display in a prominent park in central Madrid. We visited at night to see it lit in a very dramatic fashion. Hatem showed a picture that looked just like what we saw. And then in November we took Esme to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to see mummies. Mummies we saw, but there was also a special exhibit of Nubian art. If I’d known we’d be getting such a strong dose of Nubian culture I’d have paid more attention. We’ll have to go back when we return to Boston.

That’s about it for today. All that’s left after the lecture is a sunset ‘high” tea (it’s on the top deck but no watercress, crumpets nor raised pinky fingers are involved) at 4:30 PM, cocktail party at 7 and dinner at 7:30. More cruising and temples tomorrow.

Sure enough, the phone rang at 1:54 AM, our wakeup call for today’s outinThe hotel provided a box breakfast and there we were, on the bus with toothpicks to keep our eyes open, for our 5:55 AM flight to Aswan. Upon arrival we visited an interesting temple site and both Nile River dams at Aswan. The two subjects, separated by more than a thousand years historically but close neighbors geographically, are indeed related.

Since today has, so far, provided little of the excitement of yesterday, my thoughts will be focused on geography and history. Sorry ‘bout that. Skip today, you busy youngsters with kids and careers. You old fogies can pour another cup of coffee and read until boredom becomes so intense you can’t stand it any longer. But if you do continue, you’ll learn about the six civilizations that made their literal mark on the Temple at Philae.

Egypt today extends from Alexandria on the Mediterranean and then south to the First Cataract on the Nile and then to Lake Nasser and the border with Sudan. Ancient Egyptians traveled the length of the Nile until they hit the rapids that made further southerly progress difficult and impossible. Beyond the First Cataract was the territory of the Nubian people, although at various times Nubia was controlled by Egyptian pharaohs; at other times Nubia was independent but still an important trading partner. Beyond is modern-day Sudan and Ethiopia and the rest of Africa. In that sense the First Cataract marked what is sometimes called the “gateway to Africa.”

Egypt is an upside-down country. The Nile flows from South to North, one of the few rivers in the world to do so (the Red River in Minnesota is another). Hence the southern region of Egypt is called Upper Egypt and the northern region is Lower Egypt. Ancient Egyptians, unencumbered by magnetic compasses, visualized their country as having Upper Egypt at the top and Lower Egypt at the bottom, opposite of our visualization.

Philae is an island near the First Cataract. It was, in the latter years of the Egyptian religion, the site of an important temple. Egyptians of roughly 300 BCE worshiped the goddess Isis. To probably oversimplify and misstate the situation, Isis was the goddess of creation, Orsiris was the god of the underworld and resurrection and Horus was the god that guided the people of Egypt.

Isis was recognized way back in the early days of the Pharaohs, 3,000 BCE and before. She came into her own in the last millennium BCE and especially when Egypt was ruled by the Greeks and then the Romans, from roughly 300 BCE until maybe 400 CE. The Nubians also worshiped Isis and both the Greeks and Romans adopted Isis as part of their pantheons of gods. Christianity was responsible for stopping Isis worship in Egypt for the most part, but she still plays a role even today in modern paganism. That girl’s sure got staying power!

The temple at Philae was established as early as 500 BCE or before but most of the Egyptian inscriptions we saw today came after Alexander the Great arrived in 323 BCE. The Romans added their own touches, including columns and inscriptions that look to be straight out of Rome. The last inscription in Egyptian hieroglyphics, dating to 394 CE, was found at Philae.

Many of the faces of the gods, particularly Isis, have been marred and made unrecognizable. It seems that such vandalism was done by those who rejected those gods. One suggestion is that Christians, who came to Egypt in the first 500 years or so after Christ, were responsible. Christians did indeed use Philae as a place of worship. Their entries on the wall designate an area for this purpose.

But the story doesn’t end there. Napoleon made his ill-fated move to conquer Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean in 1802. We saw graffiti inscriptions in French carved into the temple walls like, “Jacque was here 1802.” So, this one site, Philae, tells the story of Egyptians, Nubians, Greeks, Romans, Christians and French.

Now to the dam story, and you can be darn sure we’ll cycle back to Philae before we’re done.

The British, who ruled Egypt until the 1920s, caused a dam to be constructed at the First Cataract in 1902. The purpose was to control the annual floods that the Nile brought to downstream areas and to produce low cost hydroelectricity to spur economic growth. It was increased in height twice to provide more power and better water control. Then, beginning in 1960, Egypt and its new partner, the Soviet Union, built what is now called the Aswan High Dam upstream of the Low Dam. (The U.S. and Britain declined to offer aid and assistance.)

Unfortunately, Philae, sitting upstream of the Low Dam (but downstream from the High Dam) was flooded, partially submerged all year and sometimes completely submerged. In 1960, the newly created UNESCO organization took on the project of rescuing Philae. They built a coffer dam around the island of Philea, sliced the architectural stone structures and rebuilt the temple on the nearby island of  Agilkia Island. That’s what we saw today. We reached the island in a small boat powered by an outboard motor that dated from the 26^th Dynasty if I don’t miss my guess.

As always, take my history lesson with a large grain of salt or two. I’ll correct myself as I learn more. Pitch in if you think I’m in error, please. I need all the help I can get.

Behind the Aswan High Dam is Lake Nasser, named for Gamel Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. It’s the large body of water on which the good ship Steigneberger Omar el Khayam floats, the ship that will be our home tonight and the three following nights. We arrived on board at about 12 PM, had lunch at 1 PM and were “toes up,” as one of our members put it, shortly thereafter. We went topside for high tea at 4:30 and will have to suffer without sustenance until dinner at 7:30. Shipboard entertainment starts at 9. Never a dull moment!

We drove over both the Low and High dams and had nice views upstream and downstream from each. As you’ll see in the pictures, the land around Aswan is a desert of sand and rocks punctuated by a never-ending array of power transmission towers. You’ll also see a picture of the First Cataract. Imagine the raging Nile river at full strength coursing over those rocks.

The weather is a few degrees warmer than Cairo, maybe in the mid 70s. But when the breeze blows and when the sun sets it gets downright chilly.

Tomorrow we cruise to other archeological sites on and around Lake Nasser, but where and what will be figured out in the morning.

Oh, and the entertainment? Three Nubian guys doing traditional dance to the beat of two Nubian drummers. The dancers dragged most of the audience onto the floor for some fun dancing to great Egyptian rhythms.