Egypt -- Epilogue: The last miles and a blazing welcome home

    The stanza of Robert Frost's poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" reads: "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,/But I have promises to keep,/And miles to go before I sleep,/ And miles to go before I sleep." There are number of reasonable ways to read these lines, but the one that rang true on May 21 as we reentered the US via the Peace Bridge in Buffalo NY is that close as we were to getting home, we too had miles to go before sleep. Crucially, I needed to stay awake for another few hours, long enough for us to pull into our garage before heading upstairs to bed.

    Ten minutes past the border, as we turned onto the 400 from I-90, both divided highways, we ran into torrential rains and high winds. Or, rather, they ran into us. A weather system of some sort was pushing northeast bringing not only the wind and rain but quick darkness as well. I was able to drive, slowly, by following the center yellow line. Such traffic as there was sped around. It reminded me of driving through fog over the mountains in Vermont on my way home to NH late at night from my graduate school duties in Albany. Sometimes the fog was so soupy I rolled down my window to see the center line along my front bumper.

    Tired as we were already and hard as it was to navigate the rains, they had the effect of energizing my sleep-deprived brain. We stopped at a convenience store/gas station to get coffee as much as gas. The coffee had been on the warmer longer than it should have been, but all the same I was pretty alert from adrenaline anyway. And the rains had slowed considerably.

    We pulled into Houghton about 10:55, left most of our stuff in the car for the morning and went upstairs. Five minutes later we got a call from our neighbor, Dick Harter, who never calls at 11 p.m., to tell us there was a fire in one of the trees between our houses.

    Great! I pulled my shoes back on and hustled over to Dick's backyard, where, sure enough, a dead pine was flaring like a sparkler and shooting sparks into the damp air. Brian, our neighbor on the other side, had been sitting on his covered deck during the storm and seen lightning strike that tree, so he investigated; but fire had not erupted immediately and the tree did not fall so he figured that was that.

    Ninety minutes later, Dick noticed the flames when he let his dog out before retiring. More of a torch than a bonfire, the blaze still needed to be extinguished.

    Dick had already called Jon Cole, our local veteran volunteer firefighter, who arrived shortly after I did. He tried to reach the flames with Dick's garden hose, but couldn't snuff it out. He needed more water pressure and more volume so he left to get the firetruck from the station. He wanted permission to pull the truck into my driveway, which I gave, and I wanted permission to go to bed, which he gave.

    It was a strange way to end our trip to Egypt, although as I have thought about it since it seems fitting. It's not exactly a burning bush on the mountain side nor a pillar of fire in the wilderness, I know, but it kind of has that feel for me -- a sign that the task is done, the prayers have been answered, the bonds have been strengthened, the promises kept. 

    We gave thanks for safety even in this last moment and fell asleep before Jon arrive with his truck and fire hose. I would like to think we were sleeping the sleep of the virtuous, but that would be stretching things a bit.

Egypt -- Jim & Donna's Excellent Adventures, Pt. 20, Bartering with the Pros

     We were not due at the Luxor airport until 4:30, so Nagy brought us to a traditional market for one last cultural exposure (and shopping opportunity). Our van pulled up to an alley entrance that appeared dark because the buildings were close together. The alleyway seemed to be covered with fabric although it may just have been that individual stalls were draped. It looked just like the markets you see in the movies except we seemed to be the only customers, which meant shop keepers, eager to sell something, had no one else to approach.

    Eager is one appropriately descriptive word for the merchants. Persistent is another. What the timid North American tourists thought might be an opportunity to see the market and the wares -- to browse, as it were -- quickly become an exercise in trying to say "No, thank you." Then, just "No!" 

    Several merchants approached me straightaway with items in hand saying, "Don't break my heart."

 

 

    [These first two photos and the last are thematic rather than specifically from Luxor on our last afternoon. This street scene is intended to capture donkey cart and the merchant scene is from the Pyramids at Giza.]

    I must confess to feeling more than a bit heartless to turn down every approach despite being told I was breaking hearts. More than once we called to Nagy to step in for help. 

    One merchant was particularly insistent so Nagy told us to wait "over there" while he had what we thought was an animated exchange.We did eventually buy a very nice table cloth, which now adorns our dining room table; somehow Nagy negotiated a workable price for us. 

    Danil and the Friedmans found a few things they had been hunting for, so the market experience was profitable for all of us -- though it may have been tiring for Nagy. 

        My last photo in Egypt is of this drawing we found in a cafe we stopped at on our way to the airport. I thought of Picasso. It was displayed near a row of traditionally dressed men who were sitting against the wall chatting. I thought for a moment of trying to get them in the same frame as the drawing, but decided that would be rude.

    Nagy was prepared to order another lunch for us, but so close to our river cruise lunch we voted for coffee, tea, and soft drinks instead. 

    After this last stop we were dropped at the airport where we said our goodbye's to Nagy, who had become a good and valued friend in the ten days we had known him. Once inside, we underwent three different head-to-toe security screenings -- X-rays of carry-on bags; shoes, belts, coins, phones, laptops, et. al., in little bins on the conveyor belt, and so forth. 

    Before we were able to check our bigger bags I had to open them so an expert in antiquities could check to be sure we were not taking genuinely ancient items out of the country. He ripped open all the tightly wrapped stone objects and the nativity sets, which we then had to re-wrap and repack. So much for the strategic, careful packing we had engineered earlier in the day!

    The antiquities inspector was wearing an ID lanyard that read "Saint Louis Art Museum," so I asked him if he had been in St. Louis. He said he had spent six weeks in St. Louis working with the Egyptian Antiquities Collection housed there. 

    When I asked what he thought of his experience, he said it was "OK." Then he added that St. Louis is as hot as Luxor.

    Air travel back to Toronto for our drive home was, as expected, long and uncomfortable, but full of specific answers to prayer, mostly directed toward border crossings. We arrived in Cairo about 10 p.m. with a layover for the flight to Frankfort at 4:30 a.m. Once in Frankfort we said a quick goodbye to our Canadian team -- Matt, Chandra, and Danil. They had to reconnect in something like 45 minutes, so it was high-fives and run. Our connection was four hours, so we took our time locating our gate, found a place to eat, and tried to stay alert for the boarding call.

    Our specific answers to prayer had everything to do with getting in and out of countries due to enhanced and/or shifting Covid requirements. These never did develop as an issue.

 

    At the US border, which can be a long, tiring experience, we found we were the only car. The Border Agent asked his three obligatory questions -- Where are you coming from? Where are you going to? and Are you bringing anything in that we need to know about? -- and sent us on our way.

    Actually, I am not sure of his exact wording since we had mostly been awake for the last day and a half, and I just wanted enough clarity of mind to drive back to Houghton. That was its own adventure but the major hurdles had all disappeared. Thanks be to God.

Egypt -- Jim & Donna's Excellent Adventures, Pt. 19, Cruising the Nile on the Omar Sharrif

     Our last day in Egypt began slowly. Pack. Check out of the hotel before 11. Sit in the hotel lobby until Nagy arrived to collect us for our last excursion -- a boat ride on the Nile. Sounds good. Doesn't happen every day. 

    We had the morning to figure out how to incorporate things we had bought here and there over our ten days in Egypt so that they wouldn't break or throw any one bag over the airline weight limit. We had found "a little something" for each one of our ten grandchildren and a family gift for each of our four children's families as well -- some breakable and some made of alabaster -- so this task took some specialized engineering. 

    At 11 Nagy ushered us out the back of the hotel and down to the river front where we waited for our ride, the "Omar Sharrif," to pull up to the dock. From there we motored slowly upriver for a while before tying up near the opposite shore for hot mint tea. Our boat captain, a good friend of Nagy's, made the tea at a special set up under one of the seats in the back part of the boat.

It was an efficient setup. The tea was great.

Tea time was an opportunity to debrief with our team, Matt and Chandra, veterans of missions work, and Danil, like us, new to missions travel.

    Danil is not only resilient and good-natured, he had the coolest sunglasses on the team by far. He was tolerant of the old folks, he rolled with the teasing that followed him everywhere (Sorry, Danil), and he loved the heat. We took all of those to be special gifts. Danil was a great teammate!

    Matt asked us what we thought was the best part of our trip.

    Donna and I agreed that what stood out most about our experience was the opportunity to meet people, to be with them during worship, and to enlarge our understanding of the Egyptian church. This engagement with people included this opportunity to bond with the Friedmans and Danil. Being sent to Egypt was a privilege.

While we sat drinking tea and chatting, a ferry pulled up to a dock nearby with several dozen villagers who make the trip to Luxor and back via these flat boats. There are bridges across the river, of course, but the ferry is clearly more direct and faster for folks who would have to travel by foot. And,no doubt, the ferry is safer too.

The roof of the flatboat is held down by used tires. The ferry boat captain docked for his passengers, then sat and waited, presumably for  more people to arrive to warrant a journey back across the river.

When tea time was over, the Captain of the "Omar Sharrif" started the engines and steered us back into the current for a leisurely ride down river. The bank opposite Luxor is fairly undeveloped although new construction is clearly visible back from the bank. These photographs show what an undeveloped river bank might have looked like for hundreds or thousands of years -- reeds and palm trees and wildlife. In the distance rise the barren mountains housing the Valley of the Kings.

I tried unsuccessfully to photograph any number of the birds that inhabit the river environment, so this one hunting in the shallows will have to represent many species. 

A bit further down river we tied up to some unoccupied boats and our captain disappeared to get our lunch, which he brought back in due course.

    So we ate in leisure and looked at the scenery. Among the interesting things on display were a number of boats like ours with names like "Agatha Christie" -- a bit more upscale or at least more literary than Omar Sharif -- and my favorite "New Titanic. That didn't seem like a logical choice for a river craft given the fate of the original Titanic, but it did catch our attention!

    Private boats modeled on ancient Egyptian sail craft were moored at various points near what I would think to be upscale housing being built close to the river -- like waterfront development anywhere, I suppose, for people of means.

    At other spots along the riverfront we saw villagers swimming. Here a group of boys had herded sheep out onto a spit of land, perhaps to clean them off, perhaps to keep them close while they took a swim. We couldn't tell for certain except that the boys seemed to be having more fun than the sheep.

Then, lunch over, we motored back to the hotel, loaded into the van and headed for a traditional market for a last cultural experience.

Egypt -- Jim & Donna's Excellent Adventures, Pt. 18

 

    After a 2 hour rest following our tour in The Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Karnak, we set off for a "simple" Egyptian evening meal at Pastor Jimi's church. One of the members of the church  had come in after his workday to prepare the meal for us,working in the small church kitchen adjacent to where we ate.

    Because we were not attending a worship service as we had the night before, there were fewer members of the church congregation attending. We were able to have long conversations with a number of folks. Donna connected with a few of the young married women, one of whom is pictured here in a blue top. It was unusual for us to converse with pastors' wives because most do not speak English, and for our visits they were usually tied up preparing to feed us.

    Those church folks who had gathered to eat with us brought their children so we were able to see again how well the adults and children interacted. 

    Some of the children ate with us but others sat down to eat after we adults had finished, which allowed us further opportunities for conversation. 

    This second seating arrangement was due more to space limitations, as far as I could tell, than to custom. At any rate, it worked smoothly and congenially for everyone

    We could watch the inter-generational dynamics as older children moved without apparent friction or direction between play with the younger children and helping with meal tasks.

    Donna asked Pastor Jimi at one point about difficulties the church might be facing, given that the church has to rent space and, consequently, cannot be officially recognized as a church and so on.

    Pastor Jimi, who is in his early 40's, was full of optimism and vision. He told us that he regarded obstacles as problems, but as opportunities. He felt certain struggles were important because they helped the church rely on God. 

    Challenges the fellowship faced, whether from government regulations or from the need for a building to own or from pressures coming through the broader culture -- these things kept believers from complacency. To be clear, he would welcome prayer and financial help, but his church has made a conscious choice to be proactive, to see God's hand even in obstacles.

    In another conversation Donna was asked for advice about family issues. As we sat in the midst of a happily functioning multi-generational family and church fellowship, Donna told them she thought it is good to keep the family together as long as possible. We had seen how well the teens were interacting with everyone. Furthermore, girls in Egypt are given a good education. College may call for a different decision, but barring extenuating circumstances it appeared to us that everyone would benefit from keeping the teens with the family and in the church.

    

We left the church gathering rather late. Area pastors had gathered to meet in another room so our conversations naturally ended. 

    On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a cake shop for Nagy to buy some cookies, which, as it turned out, were his parting gift to us. His gesture was a fitting end to a terrific evening and an even more terrific short stay in Egypt. 

We did admire the cakes in the display case but resisted buying for ourselves. Then it was back into the van to head for the hotel to sleep and pack for the trip home.

[Oh, my! Chocolate rhinos!]

    

Egypt -- Jim & Donna's Excellent Adventures, Pt.17, Karnak Temple

     Driving down out of the Valley of the Kings, we stopped at a shop, the Egyptian Alabaster Stone Factory, where local village families had for untold generations been producing stone objects by a variety of handcraft techniques. It's easy to figure out where the stone comes from and why local people gravitated toward working with alabaster.

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    A little further along we stopped at a Nubian village that specializes in "essential oils." At both of these stops we were given presentations of the wares being produced on or near the site. Nubians are an indigenous people originally found in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Although their civilization is very old, many of their old settlements were displaced by construction of the Aswan High Dam further south on the Nile.

    These opportunities to buy local Egyptian wares allowed us to see where and how the products are produced without the jostling of the markets that can be confusing for tourists unfamiliar with the give and take required of bartering.

    Two of the photographs in my last post, Pt.16 -- that of the impressive colonnade facade and the long staircase looking east toward Luxor -- show the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. There is a long, complex story related to this temple and its uses, which is confused historically by the fact that Hatshepsut as a female Pharoah, though amazingly accomplished, had to masquerade as a man during her reign and by the fact that following her death many of her likenesses were deliberately defaced. We are familiar, of course, in our own time with how privilege and power create strong jealousies and a desire to control the historical narrative. 

    Throughout our visits to these various sites, Jacob, our tour guide, proved to be a wealth of information about the ruins. He ably directed our attention toward the things we would most benefit from seeing.

    Our last antiquities stop of the day was the Karnak Temple, which is another marvel of engineering, architecture, art, and successive shifts in belief systems. From what I understand, as many as 30 different Pharoahs added to and altered the complex that currently comprises the Karnak Open Air Museum. The part that is open to tourists is commonly thought to be devoted to the god Amun-Re. 

    One item of special interest to me were these stones lower down in the walls along the main thoroughfare that showed the effects of annual flooding from the Nile in ancient times. The annual floods were utilized by engineers to "float" huge stone pieces into place on barges from their quarries in Aswan further south. When the waters receded, the huge stones could be set upright or shifted into place.

Also of interest at this site are the rows of goat-headed Sphinxes. Why there are so many and why they are so well preserved is in itself a genuine curiosity.

    Evidence that the Temple site was appropriated for structures and purposes of subsequent groups abounds. There are, for example, later building materials built into the older, grander materials. The brick wall pictured here clearly employed local materials, but its purpose is not self-evident.

    We didn't get close enough to the white domed structures pictured below to know whether these are elaborate pigeon houses such as we had first observed on our way to Asyut or elaborate human habitation. If these are pigeon houses, their purpose is to raise a food source that would add protein to the diet.

    At other points were signs that the site was later used by Christians. Two of these indicators are the badly damaged relief sculpture at the end of this colonnade with arms outstretched in the form of a crucifix, and the other is a painting of the Virgin Mary near the top of a large column. The painting appears to have weathered away whereas the relief has suffered, apparently, from intentional vandalism. 

  The second largest obelisk in the ancient world -- weighing 343 tons and made of a single piece of granite -- was erected here by Hapshetsut.  As with other references to her accomplishments, Pharaohs who followed her on the throne tried to obliterate her name from the obelisk by chiseling off or altering her name. They failed, however, because they did not recognize and remove one of her alternate names carved into the obelisk. 

    As with other antiquities sites, there is far too much here to take in and process on one short visit, let alone remember for later story-telling. We felt fortunate to have had opportunity to spend an afternoon walking through this Temple, and we are grateful for the pieces of grandeur that have survived and are now being protected and preserved. 

    Reminders of the human desire for power, control, and immortality are overwhelming. Among the multitude of details and reflections now stored in photographs and memory, this experience has  made us realize just how fragile and fleeting is our time to make a difference in the lives God has given us.