So, if you read yesterday’s entry, we just really weren’t that thrilled with Aswan. On the bright side, that last evening turned out pretty well – we ended up wandering through the market and it was much livelier, and somewhat less annoying, than it had been during the day. The colors were brighter, the shops were more authentic (locals shopping for groceries, for instance), and there were more people about to distract the most aggressive vendors.
Still, we were ready to head on, and I for one was very much looking forward to getting out of Aswan. We woke, had breakfast, then headed out to grab some supplementary supplies for the Felucca trip. Our captain had said he was going to pick up a case of water, food for meals, and beer, but we wanted to have some snacks and back up water. So we did that stuff and then met our captain in our hotel lobby around 9:30am, piling into his car for the trip to the boat.
The boat was the first of our surprises – it wasn’t the one we had test-sailed across the Nile the day before. It was bigger, and nicer, but not the same. Our handy guidebook had warned us about this eventuality, but there wasn’t a lot to do unless we wanted to refuse to go. And the new boat seemed pretty nice. So, ok, well take this boat.
And then it became apparent that our putative captain was, in fact, more of a salesperson and trip reseller than anything else. Hmmf. Ok, this was kind of warning bells, but again, what are we going to do except cancel the trip and start over, only to probably end up with the same scenario again?
Speaking for myself here, and with the sledgehammer foreshadowing that everything turned out fine and that the felucca trip has been fantastic, it was this kind of needless dishonesty that really turned me off to Aswan. If our “captain” had flat out told us that he just arranged trips, that he had a great boat and crew for us, but that he wouldn’t be going himself… it would have been fine. Instead, there was this whole charade of test-sailing and talking about his boat, which boat he knew damned well we wouldn’t be sailing on. It just seems kind of pointlessly dishonest, if you know what I mean.
Anyways, our new boat was indeed bigger and better than the one we expected, and it’s pleasantly decorated with a Rastafarian theme, complete with Bob Marley flags (one real, one painted). The cruising/sleeping area is big enough for ten people, so the four of us are entirely comfortable. and the captain and steersman are both plenty nice and seem very competent.
This first day, we made about 20km of progress, proceeding from Aswan to just north of Kom Ombo. During the day, it was plenty hot, and it became apparent to me that there was no way I was going to follow the prudent advice of not swimming in the Nile. So I swam a bunch, which turned out to be fantastically refreshing (and, as of this writing, about 24 hours later, I have no significant rashes or new limbs to report). We saw a bunch of great sights, but mostly of the relaxing, non-dramatic type. We did pass under a modern cable-stayed bridge, and watching other feluccas go under it was an interesting juxtaposition of modern and ancient transport.
We sailed from about 11:30am until about 6pm, and ended up on a large beach with other feluccas, most of them carrying native Egyptians, including one large group from Kom Ombo that consisted primarily of lawyers, with a few other professions thrown in. Luke started talking to them, and the next thing we knew he was holding babies and dancing. Lars and Anna drifted over and joined while I wrote up some blog entries and fended off a couple of offers to buy marijuana.
It turns out the big group was a regular outing that a bunch of guys make every two weeks or so. As one of them told me when I eventually joined, “we do this every two weeks… there are standards of behavior we just can’t do at home, and out here we can do whatever we want, except drugs and women.” Ok, so they weren’t rock stars, but they were having a great time. Shortly afterwards, they headed back to Kom Ombo, and we had dinner on our felucca.
Eventually we bedded down for the night, plenty warm with only light sleep sacks or blankets. The slight motion of the boat was very pleasant, though. It did get kind of cold in the middle of the night, but nothing like we had experienced in Sinai. Altogether, it was a wonderful and relaxing day, made all the better by contrast with the past few days of stress and hassle.