Day 5 and 6

3:30 AM wake-up call and a 3 hour bus ride later I was at Abu Simbel. You see pictures of the pyramids and these temples, especially this one but it never really hits home just how large they are until you are there.
At the front of the temple there are 4 GIANT statues of Ramses II. As I write these I keep having to double check to see which Pharaoh it was because Ramses II seems to have statues of himself ALL over the place. Talk about ego-centric and self-enamored. I no longer can claim that award. I actually got to see his mummy in the Cairo Museum. He had RED HAIR! Whether it was real or residual dye from the mummification process I have no clue but it’s pretty sweet just the same.
The other temple at Abu-Simbel was for Ramses II wife. He actually had 3 wives but he really loved this one and she is almost always the wife depicted with him.
What really floored me about this place is that this isn’t the original location. It was under water so the entire thing had to be moved. Once you look at the pictures I think you might understand why I’m so flabbergasted. I don’t understand how they moved the entire thing. It’s HUGE! I know I keep saying that but even now it still blows my mind.
When we got back we boarded the cruise boat for the first time. Let me just say I will vacation on the Nile ANY time. We walked into our bedroom and Emily and my jaws dropped. The room was about the size of a hotel room and you could actually walk around in the bathroom. We went to lunch a little skeptical, remembering the food we had been eating for the past several days, but it was amazing! I have to find a recipe for Beef Wellington and Pumpkin soup. Mom—I’m making a list of all the foods I would like when I get back. First thing I want after I get back to the airport is a Route 44 Sonic drink and cheese sticks. I know, weird request, but I’m really craving some American food right now.
We laid around all afternoon on the top deck, swimming, enjoying the sun, and marveling at the sights we saw as we floated down the Nile. While I’m thinking about it here are some interesting things I learned on this trip that I never heard in Sunday school.
1) The Pyramids were seen by Abraham, Moses, Joseph, and Jesus
2) There are 3 temples that are almost exact replicas of Solomon’s Temple
3) Christians picked up using pagan symbols on purpose
4) The golden calf the Israelites built was most likely in honor of the Goddess Hathor
I’m sure I’ll think of more as I go along but those were the ones that are standing out to me at the time.
It gets dark early in Egypt so when we got off to see the temple of Kom-Ombo it was dark. There was a mass-exodus off the boats and everyone was trying to get into the temple. There is NO concept of lines over here so we got separated for a little while and almost trampled by Asian tourists, who believe it or not are VERY vicious.
Kom-Ombo was used as a hospital or a pharmacy. The temples on the east side of the river were used for more for worship, schools, and secular purposes. Anything on the west side of the river was used for the mummification process or something relating to death. At this temple, archeologists found the largest number of mummified crocodiles ever. They’re pretty wild looking! The other major reason this temple is important is that it holds the oldest Egyptian calendar which helped to date Egypt’s history and in turn the bible. We almost missed the boat because we didn’t know what time departure was so they had to back it back up for us.
Side note: Emily and I had an interesting porter. We had a towel animal everyday and one day he left us flowers.

Day 6… We only did 1 thing today because apparently tomorrow is supposed to be a KILLER! We got up early again and set out for the temple of Et-Fu. This temple was dedicated to the falcon god, Horace. It took over 25 years to build and 160 to decorate. When the temple is begun, Egyptians would place a master plan of how they wanted to look years from then when it was completed. I think I may have to create one of these for my house someday.
One of the most important things we saw here was the ark they used to carry the statue of Horace on. Apparently the Ark of the Covenant we read about in the Bible would have looked similar to this. I’m always forgetting that Moses spent 40 years of his life in Egypt as a prince, and the Israelites even longer, so it would have had a HUGE impact on their architecture, art, etc.
We finally got to do some shopping on our way out of the temple. Osman hadn’t let us really do any shopping up until this point because he wanted us to feel completely safe. As we walked by the shops the owners would yell—No touchy, no hustle. I bought 3 scarfs and my Egyptian Dress. I am on a huge scarf kick right now! You have to barter because they’re all trying to rip you off. I’m slightly concerned about walking into a store back home, and saying, “I don’t like this price. I’m paying in cash, will you take 13 dollars?” I got from dress down from over 50 euros to 10. I told them how much I would pay and then kept trying to walk off until I got it for 10. It was kind-of fun!
We got back to the boat and had church services. I’m thinking about making a list… Strangest places I’ve ever had church. The Nile would definitely rank up there. Then Osman held a hieroglyphics class. I can’t wait to get back to one of the temples so I can look at the walls and identify some of the glyphs.
I spent the rest of the day laying on the top deck, enjoying the sun, and reading my book. Finally that evening was Egyptian Night. I’ve been looking forward to this night since we got to Egypt. Since we didn’t get to try on our dresses before hand they were too big on some of the girls. So I spent most of my time altering and pinning dresses. When I finally got to myself I had about 20 minutes to get ready. Emily did an AMAZING job on my hair is a grand total of 6 minutes.
Towards the end of dinner the staff was playing music and one of our guys Frank starts dancing around the dining room. So we all joined in, to everyone else’s amusement, dancing in a konga-line around the dining room. We headed the party upstairs and did what I call Jewish-style dancing. (Girls on one side and guys on the other.) It was all very G-Rated since we are Church of Christ and have NO clue how to dance.

That’s all for now!
Love, Rebecca

Day 5 & 6 Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004571&l=507d8&id=1523040053

Egyptian Night:
Album 1-http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004572&l=cfffd&id=1523040053
Album 2- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004573&l=e2f82&id=1523040053