Aswan and a night on the Nile

Aswan- Egypt's southern most city. After going through Abu Simbel, we had some time to explore this city. There's a large bazaar that I walked around in for a bit. 

Unfortunately, most of Egypt is really starved for tourism after the Arab Spring. This is even more apparent in Aswan and Luxor, since tourists can jet in and out to see the pyramids and be done with it. They are clearly really hurting with the warnings that the US have given to all of us- though honestly, there isn't anything dangerous about it. It was interesting to me though that the top questions that I got were either "How many camels?" or "Where from?" When I answered America, the next question in Aswan was inveribly "Why Americans no come to Egypt anymore?" 

However, walking around is...well...a hassle. It's hard to walk 10 feet without someone trying to sell you something or get you to come with them or look at what they're selling. They also don't take no for an answer, but will follow you around for awhile. (Granted, I'm a much bigger target for them as a single woman walking about.) They were respectful at all times, which made this much easier than India was for me- where the men felt free to touch me and grab me- but it was still just tiring to be constantly saying "Lo shakuran" (No thank you) again and again. 

After a bit of free time in the city, we got on a boat and took a tour of Elephanitine Island. This area is still a Nubian village, and we went around the island with one of the locals who told us some of the history of the area, the island, and the Nubians. 

Here you'll see a still-working ancient water wheel for irrigation purposes. There would be horses hooked up to the large wheel inside which would power the buckets of water coming up and into the trough. 

After a tour around the island, we went onto the island itself to have a home-cooked meal with one of the other locals (Another Ahmed!). Not only was the food delicious, but it was great to chat with the locals and get some insight into the culture. He brought out his wedding album (So cute!!) and we talked with him all about their traditions. 

The things I learned were far too numerous to really count here, but the most amazing fact to me was this: The Nubians have 2 main dialects, but neither are in a written form. All language has been passed down through families. Up until very recent history, it was completely forbidden to teach anyone who wasn't Nubian the language. This was true even if you wanted to marry outside of the Nubians, so they never did. They can trace their lineage back over 5000 years, completely untained!!!! Holy crap!

Annnndddd, along with that, when Nubians do marry, the man moves into the woman's family home... after a wedding which usualy has up to 2000 people in attendance!!!!! (The rehersal dinner is much smaller, clocking in at a usual 800-900 people! What the what?!?!) 

Here's a little pic of my intrepid group at dinner, though the room was a bit too tight to get us all in the shot! We had a good time though!

The next morning we loaded up early onto a felucca- a traditional Egyptian sail boat- to sail up the Nile towards Luxor! It was such a beautiful and peaceful journey. 

I mentioned it was relaxing, right?!

That night, we had dinner and then slept out on the boat. It was quite a wonderful experience...until 2 am. Apparently, there was a wedding going on up the river from us, and the sound system could probably be heard in a 20 mile radius....and there were fireworks to boot. This went on to the extent that it actually rocked the boat until the call to prayer at 4:00am...when it stopped for about 20 min before continuing again. *sigh* It was wonderful while it lasted.....

Next stop, Luxor (Thebes)!!