The Nubians were farmers in the Nile delta for hundreds of years, but were displaced by the high Aswan dam and Lake Nasser, which is by the way, the largest man made lake in the world. So, having displaced the Nubians from their homes and farms, they were given some space on the island we visited and further outside Aswan city, but not with land, so now they have to make their living mostly in service jobs. Many of the boat crew are Nubians. Yesterday was the festival of Adtha, a day for slaughtering and eating meat, and for children playing exuberantly in playgrounds. There are several right next to the boat and they particularly like the trampolines and one can see them even late at night jumping, jumping, while their parents sit in the garden sipping, sipping tea.
Our friend Annette was ill this morning so not able to go on the feluca, so here is a little of what she missed. We sailed past Kitchener's Island - we had hoped we'd have time for a tour, but the TOUR has its own agenda.
The Nubian village we visited is very poor, and there is alot of trash, as everywhere in Egypt. Think Mexico in the middle east. Our guide said even if there is a trash can, Egyptians will still throw it on the ground. I asked him if there were environmentalists here and he didn't really know the term. There were newly slaughtered sheep hanging here and there, or being skinned on the dirt pathway. Women were carrying offal in baskets on their heads, perhaps to the river to clean for casings?
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| Khaled our guide at house in Nubian village, which is clearly not in the middle of nowhere |
The little girls were dressed in mostly bright pink and sparkly Egyptian clothes and headscarfs. We went to a Nubian home. Many of them raise crocodiles. The Nile once had many in the river, but they all died when they could not make it past the sluice gates of the dam. So now the Nubians raise them and some are sold to croc farms and many are put in lake Nasser. Mark held one that was about 15" long, with his mouth banded shut, though his owner assured us his teeth were too little to hurt.
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| Mark with baby crocodile - a pleasure I declined |
We were offered refreshments on the top floor, open to the sky and views all around, with a pleasant breeze. We were also offered things to buy. I wish he had had some of these beautiful woven baskets for sale, that were not made of plastic. sigh.
We returned to the bus by boat and went to visit a granite quarry to see an obelisk that was being shaped out of the stone, but it cracked and so was left there. Believe me, in the heat, this was not a favorite trip. After lunch we went to see the high dam and lake Nasser.
Next, after that exciting tour of the Aswan High Dam, we visited what is called the temple of Philae, because that is the name of the island to which it was moved. Yes, moved. When the dam was built there were two very important temples that were flooded. I guess Nasser didn't have the money to deal with them. After all, the Russians paid for the dam. But when Egyptologists all over the world realized what had happened, many countries contributed $$ for them to be moved. Ramses II built a temple to his wife Nefertari and after 4 years under water, it was moved to Abu Simbel. Most of our group left early this morning for a flight there and will join us at the airport in Aswan later this morning. The temple of Isis was the one moved to the island of Philae. The site is lovely, but once again, it was defaced by the Roman Christians. Horrible to see these images chiseled away when the temple was converted to a church. There are some that remain untouched.
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| Temple of Isis or Philae Temple |
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| You can see the face on the right is chiseled out - thank you Roman Christians |
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| Graffiti - thank you woman from NY |
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