This morning we had breakfast, our last with that excellent fig jam Adel had brought along, then it was ashore to find some way to get to Idfu. We’re sitting in Adel’s village waiting for a friend of his to drive us to Idfu, then on to Luxor. If we wanted to sail to Luxor we’d have had to said the whole night through to get there on time. It was definitely a mission getting the Egyptian guy to give us a decent price to take us to Idfu. When told the price of the van Rob, the loud Aussie, screamed “I don’t want to buy the van, I only want to rent it!” We finally agreed on a price and climbed in for the ride to Idfu. At Idfu’s main taxi rank we haggled some more for the next cab to Luxor. Once in Luxor that afternoon we said good-bye to the dudes we’d been on the boat with and went our own way to find a place to stay. We ended up staying in the Golden Pension in the center of Luxor, only finding the place after the touts almost got in a brawl over who was going to lead us to a hotel.
We got cleaned up and met Adel that evening. He took us to this roof beer garden where we bought him a drink, then took him out to dinner. Talking with Adel was enlightening, for he was telling us about what he knew as an Egyptian; things we wouldn’t hear unless we took the time to get to know a local. We learned that a camel costs E£2,000, and that Egyptian men can’t get a passport until they’ve completed their two year mandatory military service. After our dinner we walked back to our hotel with Adel through the bazaar when there was a total blackout. It was a bit unnerving, but Sarah was armed with her torch which she handed to Adel to lead us along with. She then grabbed my arm so I’d know if someone was trying to kidnap her to sell her into the slave trade. We walked for ten minutes by flashlight when the lights regained power lighting the streets up just as we reached our hotel. We bid farewell to Adel and he wandered off into the dark, presumably to go find some people to sail back to Aswan with.
Sarah and I went wandering through the markets some more that evening, for it was such a nice night. We’re all getting better at bargaining – Rich says we’ve moved up to the intermediate level.
NOTES TO ADD
* Kid running up river with $ so the jayfay could visit. Would see same kid farther down the Nile after a few hours sail
* Getting Adel wasted, cutting in front of cruise ship and turning into the shore to avoid it. Towards shore but there was a cow up to its head in the water, cooling off. Adel didn’t see until late, so turned boat again, sending us into the tall leafy reeds on the bank. Good job Brad & Sarah – no more smoking for the captain