10. Aswan: Water, No Water, On the Water; Obelisks, Nubians, Souks. 12/27/22

Greetings from Aswan after a very long and exhausting (but great) day (after a bad start)-

Woke up and jumped into the shower which turned icy cold after about 2 minutes…with shampoo on my head. Did the best I could and we phoned the front desk –- This is a pretty expensive and new place; small boutique hotel. I’ve stayed in places where the water is an issue, but not at these rates! They apologized and sent “engineers” onto the roof. They also decided we could shower in another room where guests had not yet arrived. Mike went to that room and after two minutes the hot water turned icy cold. We were clean but annoyed. We decided to move on and get going with our day, while they supposedly worked on fixing the problem. At breakfast, everyone else seemed content so I assume they had hot water.

We headed to the little boat (that is our access to the rest of Aswan) that goes from the hotel to the dock in Aswan. Actually, we’re getting to be real pros getting on and off this little boat (sort of a metal tub with an engine and decked out with cushioned bench seating along the edges. Most of the time it’s just us and the guy who steers the boat (who’s always barefoot and wears the long coat-style shirts that are traditional rural wear in Egypt). When we got to the dock, Allah was waiting with the car. He’s very infatuated with this thing called “the unfinished obelisk” so we agreed to go see it.

In short, the story is that it was commissioned in around 1450 BCE and would have been the tallest obelisk in the world if completed. The workers decided to carve it out of bedrock and then cracks appeared and they abandoned the project. The base is still attached to the bedrock; it’s lying on its side. 

When we hired Allah to be our driver for these days we told him what we wanted to see, and he also made some suggestions. From what we know Allah has studied “commerce” (finance or business in our jargon); now he is going to school to learn tourism. Maybe we are part of a school project. Anyway, we wanted to visit a working Nubian village. Nubians are indigenous peoples in Sudan and Egypt. In this case we were headed to another island in the Nile—an hour-long boat ride to get there. We went to a different dock to meet the boat. The boat was similar to the one we use to get to and from the hotel, but that’s only a 10-15 minute ride. As we waited, one boat came to the dock called “Tiger Family,” and I really hoped that would be our boat. Most of the boats at the dock were filling up with tourist groups; we kept our fingers crossed that those large groups of foreigners would not also be going where we were going since that would really overwhelm these kinds of villages. (They were not!)

Soon another boat came along and it was just for us.. The guy steering the boat had his 12-year-old son with him and the kid actually steered the boat most of the time while the father looked on—occasionally giving direction. It’s truly amazing how many different types of water vehicles are moving along the Nile—including young boys who paddle along on small surf boards. When they get tired they grab on to one of the boats like ours and “hitch a ride.” We putt-puttered for about an hour and then got out of the boat and walked into the Nubian village, which I dare say has obviously been transformed by the fact that tourists come to the village (although while we were there you could count on one hand the number of foreigners). Still, you can see the influence of foreigners in the murals and the names of little cafes. But you can also still see the lifestyle and the warmth of the people.

We got back to the boat about 90 minutes later and headed back to the dock; the trip back was about 50% faster in this direction because of the currents of the river. Then we asked Allah to drop us off at Aswan’s big souk/market (a very very linear souk) that probably stretches for a mile or so. It’s situated between blocks and blocks of 5-story residential buildings that frame the market. There is also now (probably about 15-years-old) a wood structure that helps to contain the market. We walked the entire length of the market and also took some offshoot streets where food and meat and fish were being sold. People in the souk seemed to think we were from France (a compliment?) and they kept asking us questions in French. My less-than-high school level French seemed sufficient to be friendly and polite. Unfortunately Egypt doesn’t have a lot of handmade crafts and most of the market (other than the food areas) sell commercial, manufactured clothing, dishes, shoes, etc. Then again, it’s clearly a big spice market with the traditional pyramid format displays of incredible spices (and also some pigment dyes). Those displays enrich the market,

While it’s a big and busy souk, it is incredibly tame and organized when compared to souks in Morocco or Tunisia or to large markets in Asia and other parts of Africa. This was like a walk in the park! One reason is that there aren’t any motorized vehicles in this Aswan souk; that always adds to the chaos. There wasn’t he kind of pushing you get in other big souks. And the food stuff—live chickens and other animals –were at a minimum.

After strolling to the end and back again, we settled into a little fish restaurant (Allah had suggested it—“if we could find it,” he said) and had an early dinner. Mike ordered the mixed fish grill and I ordered the Nile fish “casserole”. Both came with “salads.” Before the main courses arrived, the waiter appeared with bowls of baba ganush, tahini, spiced aubergine with vinegar and peppers and herbs (that one was fantastic), and tabouli, along with fresh pita bread. That could have been dinner. Then the main courses arrived. They were good (especially mine, which was the fish in some kind of tomato sauce with spices) but we struggled with all the bones!. The only thing we missed was a nice glass of wine with the meal; alcohol is not served in many restaurants (except tourist restaurants and restaurants inside hotels). We sat outside – in the souk; actually the little restaurant doesn’t have any tables inside.. they just cook inside the little space.

We then met up with Allah and he drove us back to the dock to meet the boat back to Ben Ben. This time a whole bunch of workers were also on the boat. I guess it was the night shift for the hotel.

We ended the day early (or at least tried to) because we need to be at the dock at 6 am tomorrow morning in order to drive back to Luxor to catch a plane to Cairo and then a plane to Amman. Supposedly the hot water problem was resolved… but when I tried to take a shower (tested the water this time).. it was hot for about two minutes and then ice cold. They moved us to another room… no where near what our other actual room was like… but it has hot water and we leave in just a few hours, so it doesn’t matter.

This is it for Egypt. So much more we’d like to see and do. Perhaps a return trip?

Best – Fern