Cleopatra's Temple of Isis

April 25th
We finally get to Aswan 12 hours later and we get picked up from the airport by this guy who is on the phone and not really talking to us. We get to our hotel after another crazy car ride and he says “OK you guys are late for your tour so we have to drop off your bags and you are going to get on a bus to go on your tour....OK...first of all I am wearing jeans because I figured I would just change when I got to the hotel. I also have not brushed my teeth yet because I didn’t even want to think about bring my toothbrush into that filthy bathroom on the train. (Did I mention they never wash them? I am not over dramatizing either...it’s really true. Yes...it is true.) So we drop our bags off and he walks us over across the street and we are waiting for this bus...he is still not talking to us, he is talking on the phone and we are tired and cranky, but feeling like there is nothing we can really do, cause I guess this is the way it is, kind of thing.
The bus finally pulls up and it is hot in there. Everyone is dripping wet and sweaty; we are sitting in the back and not getting any sort of air at all. Finally I open the window and get some sort of air moving, but I need to close the window every once in a whole because it is so hot it starts feeling like we have a hairdryer on full blast. But in the beginning it is nice because it helps evaporates all of the sweat off your clothes and that helps cool you off a little.
We drove around town fast with the “tour guide” telling us things as we were going by. Everyone was hot and cranky and not really even listening. The bus stops at a dam and the bus driver says 8 pounds for everyone to go here and the whole bus says “NO! We don’t want to go here!” So the bus driver moves on and we go to a fairy which takes us to the Philae Temple. This temple is the last temple dedicated to Isis. It was made by Cleopatra’s dad for her. This temple was originally somewhere else, but the place where it was got flooded so they moved it piece by piece to this place where it rests now. Which is very beautiful by the way. It is right by the water and the rocks are amazing to see as well.
One of the things that I found wonderful about this temple is the carving. Some temples and tombs have carvings some have paintings. Here the carvings were done so that if you run your fingers across them you can feel and see what is on them. The curve of a knee or the wrinkles on the toes. At one point I was running my fingers along the wall and I burst into tears. I felt like I was a little girl remembering the times when I used to feel the walls. I remembered all of the people I was with. I had forgotten the connection I had with Egypt before this moment. For many years I had studied Egyptian mythology. The love story of Isis and Osiris was one of my favourites. I had dedicated myself to the Goddess and she had taken care of me and somehow I had forgotten, but everything came back in these moments of feeling and remembering as I touched the pictures. It took me a while to stop sobbing, but I was able to pull myself together and continue on with the tour.
After Philae Temple we got back on the boat and went to a Botanical Island, where we got to smell Henna flowers. Henna flowers smell so sweet and wonderful. Flowers here are so colourful. Not all of them have fragrance, but the ones that do are very memorable.
After Botanical Island we make it back to our hotel room and get a rest and clean up. David, Joseph and I went walking around the town. There are many people all wanting you to buy something for 5 pounds, one pound. Buy this, where are you from, that is a good place, need help buy this. Hi my friend, come see this, No hassle No hassle. We make it back to the hotel again and David and Joseph decide to go find some place to get beer. I decide to stay back and do some laundry. It’s good to get some time alone to just chill out. When travelling there is very limited time you are by yourself. There are always people around. This doesn’t always keep you from being lonely. I get lonely lots, not for lack of people around, but for lack of hugs or fun giggly talks with friends. I really miss that these days... Anyways this laundry night I watched Daddy Daycare as I washed our clothes and hung them out to dry on the balcony. Just as I finished up David got back and said they saw a drum and dancing circle as they walked around the streets. I was sad I missed it, but I was glad to have some time to just chill out too.