Egypt Day 3: Edfu, Kom Ombo

We were able to see the exterior of our own boat for the first time since on this morning no other boats were parked next to ours.

We then boarded horse-drawn carriages (called caleches) to be taken to the site. We had already paid for rides through the tour company and were told we didn't need to pay the drivers again. I rode with Willah, Joseph, and Rachel. Though the company was pleasant and the driver terribly friendly, I still would have paid NOT to have taken the carriage. The poor horse needed a bath and looked pitifully thin. The driver didn't look much better. 

Another carriage passing ours

When we got to the site, our driver insisted on taking our picture. Then, of course, he insisted that we pay him and my initial offer of 1 Euro he deemed insufficient. All I had were bigger bills (trying to get change in Egypt was oftentimes impossible--it made getting change in Greece seem like a breeze) but when we departed he was still kind and smiling.

Almost immediately upon getting out of the carriage, vendors attacked. Many forced scarves into our hands, telling us they were a gift. I didn't want a scarf and I tried to give it back but the man wouldn't take it. Eventually he told me I was making him angry, so I told him fine and started to walk away but he wouldn't let me go. He insisted on tying the scarf around my head. He kept telling me to remember him and his shop and not to forget that we were friends. It was so annoying. 

The same vendor pestering Rachel

Finally we got into the site which made up for the obnoxious vendors outside.

Me with the scarf still tied around my head and Andrew in his scarf and galabiya

Inside the temple, surrounded by lotus-topped columns, David gave his report on papyrus and lotus plants.

Before we dispersed to explore on our own, Clemente gave his report on the eye of Horus.

Hunting scene

Hippo prey 

No mummies here

Ptolemy's cartouche

Wall of writing

Blank cartouches abound!

Back of the temple

There were many smaller rooms and corridors within the temple, the walls of which were all covered in sculpture and hieroglyphs, just like the exterior walls of the temple complex.

Guy with a baboon and a duck on his head

Guy with a . . . fire-breathing dragon (?) on his head

Inside the chapel of the goddess Nut, there was a lovely painting on the ceiling representing her creation of the world. It was impossible to get a picture of the whole scene in one shot with my camera so here are two poor pictures.

The upper left shows her head and arm over it stretching toward the bottom left

Her feet are in the bottom right corner and her legs stretch up along the right side in blue

As we exited the site, we were filtered back through the area with the vendors and the shops. The guy from before found me again even though by this point I'd taken the scarf off my head (I had supposed he put scarves on us all to make us easy to spot as we came out). He demanded that I come to his shop because I had promised and he thought we were friends. I told him I had to meet up with the group, which I did. He kept pestering me and following me and grabbing my arm. I started walking faster and he got really angry. He demanded his scarf back, so I took it out of my bag, handed it to him and turned to walk away. He grabbed my wrist, I pulled my arm out of his grasp and turned around ready to punch him in the face if I had to. I think he could see how angry I was and finally left me alone.

We headed back to the boat in our horse-drawn carriages. About halfway there, our driver started asking for "baksheesh" (Arabic for bribe/tip). After my experience with the vendor on the site and after having already given this guy extra money even though he'd already been paid, I was in no mood to give him any more and I still didn't have any small bills anyway. When we got to the boat, he was not so friendly as he had started out and as I walked away, he kept hollering for more money.

A wonderful new towel creature greeted us upon our return to the boat.

After lunch we had more reports on the top deck. Sara told us about Shen-Ring Circles and tomb architecture and Andrew talked about Cambyses in Egypt. 

In the King Tut bar of the boat, Willah gave her report on Egyptian divination and Margie told us about crocodiles and the crocodile god Sobek. By then, we'd arrived at our next destination, Kom Ombo. On the walk to the site, we saw these two fellows and their slithery friends.

The temple complex included a nilometer (a means by which the Egyptians could measure how high or low the Nile water was) where Max gave his report. 

After the nilometer, we explored the rest of the complex.

Crocodile!

 At the exit of the site was an awesome crocodile museum.

Mummified crocodiles

 Still wrapped croc mummy with his "eyes" still on

A croc with human arms?

When we got back to the boat, it was Egypt night. Many of the other passengers were elaborately dressed in Egyptian costumes and all the dishes at dinner were Egyptian, including OKRA! It was really spicy but delicious. A new "friend" was waiting for us when we got back to our rooms . . . 

Ahmed, the super nice towel artist, insisted on having a picture with Willah and his latest creation who is, in fact, wearing my clothes. Unfortunately Ahmed has squished the sculpture's head, which was pretty good and wearing my recently purchased fez hat. The best towel person, however, was Kyle and David's which made me laugh hysterically for a good long while.

Yes, he's reading Herodotus. In Greek.