EGYPT RIDE – FINAL THOUGHTS
Nice breakfast spread given we’re miles into a box canyon.
El-daif feth Allah – “The guest is God’s blessing.”
Dying young after only nine years in power, King Tut was a minor player in the Egyptian panoply of dead leaders. Nonetheless, over 5,000 items were found in his tomb. Among the items – all sorts of preserved foods; more than any dead pharaoh could possibly need to meet his eternal appetites. I’m going to guess he was preparing to host a party. Modern Egyptians are no different – they love to have (and to share) a good time. Tables – whether in a restaurant or a desert camp -- groan under an abundance of delicious breads, salads, sauces and meat dishes. And, if you happen to let it slip that you will be spending your birthday in said desert camp, as one of our riding companion did, you better expect to be surprised by a four-wheel-drive delivery of a cake and a band!
Life at the Speed of Crazy
If you’re like me and view using your turn indicator as an intelligence breach, Egyptian drivers are your people. The highways swirl with dented cars, motorcycles loaded with entire families or cages of chickens, a shocking number of white (only white?), ancient VW vans, and the occasional tinted-window BMW. Lanes are advisory and road signs rare. Off the highway, speed is controlled not by traffic lights but by sleeping-camel-size speed humps. Car travel is indeed a blast, as long as you don’t have to drive. News flash – horseback riding in Egypt is not much different. As one obsessed with footing, I was completely comfortable letting my beautiful stallion have his head and gallop through the deep sand around the pyramids. I was startled, however, to find that the same pace of travel would be applied to the hard-pan, stony canyons around Luxor. I gladly ceded my place in the lead to a more conservative position toward the back of the pack. My reward, a face-full of grit and a new reputation as a nervous nelly that would shock my riding companions at home.
Temples at Night, Akhmed’s Delight … Balloons at Dawn, Sadly, Time to Move On
We started our last tour with Akhmed with a late afternoon boat ride across the Nile to the Temple of Karnak, the largest religious building ever constructed (sorry Rome -- anywhere, ever, full stop). Located on the banks of this life-giving river, the Karnak complex is dedicated to the mightiest of the Egyptian gods, Amun-Re. After touring Karnak’s many areas, we walked the 1.5 mile Avenue of the Sphinxes, which the priests would have processed for the Opet Festival, and arrived at Luxor Temple just as the moon was rising. Dedicated to Mut, Amun-Re’s wife, Luxor Temple celebrates the fertility of the land as she receives the flow of the Nile. I’d thought myself pretty much ‘ruined’ (past being impressed by all the glories of ancient Egypt) but was once again humbled by this timeless jewel set amidst the hum of a living city. A boat ride back to the calm of our West Bank home made for a fitting final night in Luxor.
It was still very dark the next morning when I stepped out the door of our walled guest house expecting to find a van. Instead, I was greeted by our guides holding our horses. Hoping not to wake the neighborhood, we silently climbed to our saddles and wound through the quiet streets to the sugarcane and alfalfa fields that have come to feel like home. We’d not been told what our dawn ride might entail and were surprised to emerge from the cane onto a field filled with dozens of balloons glowing orange as they filled with hot air. Soon, the sun and the balloons had risen, and they hovered overhead and ultimately, landed around us as we took our final gallops through the Egyptian desert. What a lovely send off.
Egypt, you have my heart.
