Back in Cairo, exhausted

So, since we woke up Wednesday morning at 7:00am, we've slept about 10 hours. Now it's Friday evening at 11:00pm, just to give you an idea.

It's a little hard to pinpoint where all we've been in the past almost 72 hours. We spent Wednesday in Aswan off the cruise boat. Though we didn't really spend much of a night, as construction started on a building across from our hotel at about 10:00pm and continued into the night. Then we had to wake up at 2:45am to head to Abu Simbel (which was awesome, though getting there was not).

The ride to Abu Simbel was about 3 hours... we got trapped in the back of a FULL mini-bus on the wheel well--Anissa sat with her legs propped up on the way there and we switched on the way back. Although having the non-wheel-well seat didn't turn out to be much of a walk in the park, as there was a rotund stinky European man with no concept of "personal space" on the other side. Needless to say, it was a long trip.

The temple of Abu Simbel was pretty amazing--one of my favorite things I've seen here so far. What's really astounding about it is that the whole temple was moved to avoid it being covered by Lake Nasser when the Egyptians built the High Dam in Aswan in the early 60's.

So after we got back from our day trip ordeal, we were pretty heat exhausted. We napped briefly, found some delicious dinner (at a tiny hole-in-the-wall place recommended by the folks from Rough Guide, Lonely Planet, and the front desk). We were to fly to Cairo at 1:00am, arriving at 2:25, so we took it easy most of the day.

Around 10:30, we hopped in a taxi toward the airport. The sky had gotten really hazy and was highly reminiscent of Lubbock. On the way out to the airport, sand started pouring in through the slightly-rolled-down-windows and pelting us in the face. Apparently, the Sahara was on the move.

This did nothing to facilitate our easy return to Cairo. On the contrary, we were told our flight would be slightly delayed "due to bad weather in Cairo and we will have news in 30 minutes." About an hour later, when A & I approached the desk to find out what was going on, we again got the unhelpful, "There is delay. Due to weather."

Very long story (and very long night) condensed to be very short, we spent 7+ hours in the Aswan airport, as our original flight was cancelled due to the sandstorm. It was a very VERY long night. We ate Arabic Sbarro Pizza (no lie), saw what's underneath a gallabeya (a sight that burns the eyes), and were basically delirious for hours. I yelled at the airline man twice (after being sweet and reasonable wasn't working, of couse), stormed past a security guard at one point (who was mostly sleeping all night), and felt general rage toward several eye-gropers.

Finally we boarded a plane at 6:30, and got back to Alice's around 10:00am. It's good to be back here... we slept for a long time, did laundry, made chicken enchilada bake for dinner, and just hung out with Alice and Anthony. So, it turned out to be pretty cool.

Don't know that I'll be posting new pics in the next couple of days, as we're going to try to recuperate a little before heading to Turkey on Sunday. Thanks to all who've sent messages of love or just what's going on. I miss being able to talk to you all easily! More updates will be forthcoming.

With love and sand...