Nefertari and Nubian Nights

Abu Simbel was absolutely incredible! To get there, you must travel in a convoy. There are three convoy times from Aswan: 3:30 AM, 4:00 AM and 11:00 AM. Andi and I booked a private tour to leave with the 11:00 AM convoy. What does traveling in a convoy entail? It means that all of the tour buses and cars on their way to Abu Simbel wait in a designated location until the appropriate time and then drive in a line to the site. It was bizarre, and comical to say the least, and in high tourist season (December and January) there are sometimes over five hundred busses in a convoy, while ours only had forty.
Upon meeting our guide and our driver we inquired about the tour, and made sure that lunch was included as promised. Our guide had NO idea about lunch, and I showed him the conformation email on my BlackBerry (thanks for the worldwide service Mom!), which clearly stated we had paid for lunch amongst other things. He had a quick and heated exchange with his boss, and assured us everything was sorted out. I am relaying this to demonstrate that just because something is promised, or stated does not mean it will come to fruition here. It is imperative you inquire about something multiple times so as to ensure you will get what you paid for.
The drive to Abu Simbel is three hours long through barren desert, and we slept most of the way. When we arrived at the temples our guide talked to us about them and we were free to walk around. The temples at Abu Simbel were built by Ramses II. He had over one hundred children, forty wives and reigned for sixty-seven years, to mark his territory and demonstrate his power to all southern enemies. He also built a smaller one beside his for his primary wife, Nefertari, dedicated to the goddess Hathor (the cow goddess of fertility, life, family and music). Because of the construction of the Aswan Dam in 1962, the temples had to be moved about two hundred meters, to ensure they would not be submerged by Lake Nasser.
To say the temples were majestic would be an understatement. It is incredible how precise they were. The four statues of Ramses II outside his temple are identical. The reliefs inside are massive, beautifully decorated scenes of his war victories (he signed the first peace treaty to ever exist with the Hittites after the battle of Kadesh). And once agan, “Land of the Pharaohs” (my Egyptology class from last Spring) proved to be useful, as I knew so much about the temple from the class. Nefertari’s temple was just as lovely, but on a smaller scale. I am so thrilled we took the time out of our short trip to visit these two temples, because they are by far the most incredible works I have ever seen, and I honestly don’t know when, if ever, I will be back.
Upon returning to Aswan, we decided to try traditional Nubian food for dinner. The restaurant was just outside the main part of the city, and up on a mountain. The view was spectacular and we sat in an open-air tent and enjoyed the amazing (and cheap it was LE20 or $3.50 for a chicken dish!) food. Tagine, slow cooked meat or vegetables in a spicy tomato based sauce (different than Moroccan tagine), is commonly eaten so we tried it and were really impressed.
At the restaurant, we also found some American travelers who we had met on the train from Luxor. They are three women from New York who go on one girls’ trip a year. They informed us that after dinner they were going to a Nubian wedding they had heard about from the receptionsit at the hotel, as it is apparently believed to be good luck to have foreigners at a the celebration. We decided to join them and it was a really interesting experience! Despite the fact that they wanted us to go dance with them, we decided to be spectators. Women and men danced separately, and sat separately with a tissue paper wall separating them (does this seem like a mechitza to anyone else?). We got back to our hotel and crashed.
The next day we checked out, and walked over to the Nubian Museum. It was absolutely massive, and extremely well organized. Nubians have an entirely different culture and language from Egyptians, and that dates back to Pharaonic and even Pre-historic times. Because of the building of the Dam, a lot of Nubians were forced to resettle, and ultimately this is what led to the construction of the museum. My favorite part of the museum was the exhibition that explained how they moved all of the temples and monuments, complete with pictures and written testimonies.
After the museum we went to the souk and got a few t-shirts as souviners as well as some dates. I first discovered my affinity for dates in Morocco, when I decided to just eat dried fruit for an entire week. Upon arriving in Alex, I was extremely disappointed with the selection of dates. Apparently, because of the warm, dry climate, dried dates are only indigenous to Upper Egypt. We got to try a few different kinds (there were over ten different kinds…who knew?), and settled on the sweetest ones.
We did some homework, and then had our final meal in Aswan before heading to the train station for our eighteen hour trip home. Thus far, the train had been a really positive experience, however we were aware there could be problems. Technically, foreigners are not allowed on the regular trains beyond Cairo. However because we are students and an Egyptian university and have resident visas, we were told it wouldn’t be a problem. We were asked several questions by the police at the Aswan station before we were even allowed on the train, however after a quick debate in Arabic they decided there was no harm in letting us on. Once we finally pulled out of the station I was extremely relieved.
I slept for most of the ride, and wasn’t even bothered by the length of the journey. I had to wonder if this was a side effect of my month in Egypt, or the Benedryl I had taken around 1 AM. I was surprised to find myself happy to return to Alex. Returning to somewhere familiar is always somewhat comforting after time away, but I won’t be here for too long, as I am going to Cairo on Wednesday to see my parents!