Bazaar

We left the village at sunset, and motored directly across the Nile to a busy bazaar.

A camel strolled past

. . . while other children gave us dubious looks from their parents' shops.

Tom acquired a scarf . . .

and a ridiculous pair of balloon pants.

Buying a pumice stone and some mint tea gave me the freedom to photograph the spice market.

Although our boat wasn't as gaudily decorated--or loud--as some, it still looked beautiful at night.

We said goodbye to Nora & Kwesi at the St. George.  They had reservations at the Cataract Hotel.

Nubian Hospitality

Our ride along the Nile's first cataract included a refreshment break in a Nubian village. The uncle of our boat driver escorted us to his home on elevated ground.

We certainly wouldn't have been able to follow the signs.

Brightly colored homes lined the dusty streets.  I wondered if the village had been displaced by the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

Crocodiles are an integral part of the household we visited.  I couldn't tell if they were cultural or just something to tickle the tourists.

I felt sorry for this one who occupied a deep cement container in the middle of the foyer. The very dry reptile seemed to be even more exploited than the family extending their hospitality.

I wasn't sure the man's wife was thrilled with our invasion of her kitchen, although she did put out a nice spread.

I felt better when I saw Ahmed hand the homeowner a sheaf of bills, but his nephew's career choice seemed more dignified.

First Cataract

I regret not sailing the first cataract of the Nile in a felucca.  The white sails contrast vividly with the landscape, sky and water along a shallow point of the river, just below Aswan Low Dam.

Instead we rode atop a motorboat like this couple.

I've rarely felt as serene.  We passed the "firehouse" that marked Aswan as a major trading post in ancient times.

Aga Khan III (Rita Hayworth's father-in-law) wintered in Aswan.  Before he died in 1957, he built a mausoleum on the west bank of the Nile, just like the pharaohs. His fourth and last wife (Miss France 1930) placed a fresh rose on his grave every day she was in Egypt (or had a gardener do so in her absence) until her own death in 2000.  Somebody needs to make a movie about their romance.

A caravan of camels could be seen on the shadowed west bank as we neared a Nubian village.

Even the electrical towers looked beautiful in the late afternoon sun.

Hard Sell

Memphis Tours always builds in shopping time to support the local economy.  The crack salesmen at the Thutmoses Perfume Palace have perfected a surefire routine.  To soften us up, they invoked Chanel and Boss, who use the same scented oils to create their top dollar fragrances.

Ahmed instructed us not to bargain because the government had established the prices.  I intended to buy only a perfume bottle as a gift.

But after watching a glass blower, sniffing a lot of pleasant smells, sitting through a therapeutic demonstration and indulging in a complimentary 10-minute massage, I felt obligated to buy a bottle of mint oil.  Four or five drops in a cup of boiling water can soothe a cold or flu, first by inhaling the aroma, then by gargling with the water when it cools. We'll see.

Nora and Kwesi seemed more at peace about their purchases.  If I had been smart, I would have stayed on the bus like Sari and saved $60!

Aswan High Dam

Look no further than the Aswan High Dam for a lesson in geopolitics, ca 1955.  President Eisenhower committed American funds to help build a mammoth Egyptian public works project that would improve agriculture by regulating the flow of the Nile and provide electricity to millions of citizens who didn't live much differently than they had for centuries.

Then Americans soured on President Nasser, who instigated an international crisis when he nationalized the Suez Canal.  His bold move to control oil shipments from the Middle East to Europe led to a covert invasion of Egypt by Great Britain, France and Israel.  Eisenhower, who planned to run in the 1956 elections on a "peace" platform, declined to offer American support.  Nasser prevailed but Eisenhower withdrew funding for the ambitious dam in retaliation for his perceived chutzpah.

Premier Khrushchev, seizing an opportunity to further Soviet interests in the Middle East, contributed money and technical expertise for the dam's construction which began in 1960. Upon completion ten years later, the Aswan High Dam made Nilometers obsolete and forced the resettlement of 100,000 Nubians who lived to the south.

Egypt built an enormous friendship monument in the shape of a lotus flower atop the dam to show its appreciation to the Russians.

Lotus flowers also decorate the police barricades on the road that crosses the dam.

Here's the Nile north of (below) the dam. 

On the south side, the Aswan High Dam diverted the flow of the great river, eventually creating an enormous reservoir.  Until the Chinese completed the Three Gorges Dam in 2003, Lake Nasser gave Egypt bragging rights as home to the world's largest manmade lake.

From a boat, the dam on the Lake Nasser side doesn't look like much.

These renderings correct that impression.

We later visited a marvel of ancient Egyptian engineering.  I'd never given much thought to the creation of obelisks but apparently the process remains a mystery.  This unfinished example indicates they initially were chiseled on a slant in the same place the stone was quarried.