November 12, 2006 Luxor, Egypt

November 12, 2006
Luxor, Egypt

This morning we had a very early morning. We got a wakeup call at 5:45 and were down at breakfast at 6:00. Half an hour later we jumped the back of a tiny bus and headed for the river. After a short ferry ride we were on the west bank.

Once off the boat we walked for about 5 minutes to the Colossi of Memnon. They are two incredibly large statues. I did not understand the explanation (or do much listening) because I was busy taking lots of photos and being very impressed by the giant sculptures.

Next, we all jumped on donkeys to ride over the mountain and into the Valley of the Kings. The donkeys were totally awesome! They were surprisingly fast and agile. We rode them for about 45 minutes. At times we were on steep cliff sides looking into the celebrated valley. At the end of the ride I was sad to say goodbye to my donkey…

The Valley of the Kings was incredible. Many of Egypt’s greatest pharos were buried in a small area (including King Tutankhamen and many of the Ramsis). All of the tombs that we visited were incredibly well preserved (except for damage inflicted by the Christians). It was awesome to see the hieroglyphics in their original colors (sorry, no pictures allowed).

After spending most of the morning in the Valley we jumped back in our tiny “bus” and headed for the temple of Medinat Habu. It was a very large temple that has remined in good condition. Many of the paintings and hieroglyphics have retained their color. The ceiling was especially cool.

From the temple we stopped at a local shop specializing in papyrus art. I was blown away by theses Egyptian handicrafts. The works in the shop have the same physical and chemical characteristics, same dark ligneous cells, and same ability to be rolled as those used by the ancient Egyptians. Since our group was granted a 30% discount, I was foced to purchase several small pieces.

At 13:30 we went to a local guides house for lunch. We were served an incredible amount of local cuisine. We had soup, chicken, rice, and many types of vegetables (I forgot to take a picture mom). When everyone was full our host began selling some of his goods. Everyone made a number of purchases (I got some gifts for my brothers).

Once everyone was out of money we got back in our bus and made a visit to Animal Care in Egypt (ACE). They are a nonprofit organization that provides free care to many of the cities animals (mostly donkeys and horses). They are always looking for some extra veterinary help dad! It was a super cool organization and anyone interested should check out the website: www.ace-egypt.org.uk

At 16:15 everyone was totally exhausted and we returned to our hotel.

I plan to spend the next several hours catching up on some internet time and updating my blog. At 19:00 we are meeting for a small lunch (everyone will probably still be full from our huge lunch). I plan on getting to bed early tonight because we have another early start tomorrow!

NOTE: here is a picture of Travis (one of our New Zealand buddies) and his awesome shirt: