December 31, 2009 Aswan, Abu Simbel

We were already docked when I got to the dining room for breakfast. The bus was waiting on the quay when we finished so we boarded and drove through the nice, modern, relatively clean city to visit the two Aswan dams. I first heard of the High Dam when I was in the sixth grade. The summer before, I visited Washington’s Grand Coulee Dam and imagined the High Dam to be on that scale. I was surprised that the Aswan High Dam was much less impressive than Grand Coulee and not nearly as high. The TWU group and some of our students went back to the boat while the rest of us were issued box lunches and headed to the Aswan airport to fly to Abu Simbel. We ate our lunches in the waiting room and then boarded a small jet, landing in the stark desolation of Abu Simbel on the southwest shore of Lake Nasser, not too far north of the Sudanese border.

I first heard of Abu Simbel around 1960, prior to the building of the High Dam which would flood the site. To overcome the problem the colossal statues and the entire temples of Ramses II and Nefartari were cut out of the rock and moved to the higher ground of their present location. I had wanted to visit them ever since. Today was the day!
           
We took a short shuttle ride to the site and walked around to the front. The statues were as magnificent as I had imagined. Hala talked about the temples and their relocation and then allowed us to explore on our own. Elena, Dean, Monté, and I went in to the Ramses II temple. We had it almost to ourselves; there were several times when I was alone in one of the ancient temple rooms. It was a magnificent experience. The guard allowed us to photograph the inside from the door, giving me the large brass key to the temple to pose for a photo with Elena. Next, we entered the other temple which we had completely to ourselves. It, too, was spectacular. Like the Ramses II temple, we had it to ourselves.
           
I bought an Abu Simbel book from a vendor, talking him down from LE 300 to LE 125. Our flight back was quick and uneventful. As soon as we returned to the boat, the whole group walked down the quay and boarded a felucca to go sailing on the Nile. It was manned by two friendly Nubians. We sang and danced to a Nubian beat as we sailed up to the base of the first cataract. On our return they brought out trinkets to sell. I bought some wooden camels for gifts and a beaded choke necklace for myself. We watched the sunset and were treated to a beautiful full moonrise behind a new mosque that is under construction on the east bank. It was getting dark when we docked.

At dinner, a New Year’s party was announced; most of us avoided the festivities. I went in at 11:50 and stayed until 12:10, preferring the ambiance of the upper deck until I retired an hour later.