Day after day, Dave and I waited for my authorization from the Sudanese Foreign Ministry. Every day it was open, we went to the consulate. Dave’s visa went through the first day we went back, but every day since they told us that no authorization had arrived. George at Acropole kept sending people to the ministry in Khartoum, Sudan to push the process forward, but there was no end in sight.
I was stuck in Aswan and Dave decided to wait with me.
Alleys have been covered over with bits of cloth to form pseudo-indoor malls, overflowing in the evenings with wares of every kind. Walking through during the day is easy enough, but at night it’s very crowded with people and the occasional motorcycle.
Make a few turns down side alleys and you can find even more shops, hawking wares of questionable quality.
This alley market is where Dave and I have been getting our food. There aren’t any restaurants nearby, and the only shops open during the day just sell potato chips (crisps), candy bars and soda. But there are a few stalls selling fruit and Arabic bread, so we didn’t starve.
You probably all know I’m a devoted carnivore, but not this week. We found very, very little cooked meat for sale, only a few butchers in the Alley of Random Shops.
So what did we eat all week? Mostly, water, some fruit, and bread with falafel and chips (crisps) or fries (chips).
One day after breakfast, we set out again to explore our adopted “home”. Yes, in the blazing heat, when all the sane Egyptians are indoors.
First stop? The Unfinished Obelisk.
You see these obelisks standing everywhere there’s an ancient monument in Egypt. How did they carve, move, and erect them? We have a pretty good idea now for the carving part, thanks to a really really big one that was abandoned halfway through the process.
This obelisk was apparently over twice as big as any attempted in this part of Egypt. Tragically, towards the end of carving out the tip, it cracked.
But that didn’t stop them. Those ancient Egyptians got right back up and built some amazing temples… which nearly drowned when the Egyptians dammed the Nile upstream of Aswan. This dam generates power and keeps the level pretty consistent downstream. It also created Lake Nasser, which would have left the Kalabsha and Philae monuments completely under water.
Germans to the rescue!
Yep, the Germans heard the call and dismantled the monument at Kalabsha brick-by-brick. They moved it miles to high ground before the valley was flooded and rebuilt it at the top of a hill, which became a tidy little island when the lake formed.
Well, mostly. Some of the bits didn’t fully get put back together so they left them out. Why didn’t they just wedge them in wherever they could fit?
But the carved murals are really detailed and still in great condition, considering their age.
Those helpful Germans even filled in the little holes where the poison darts shoot out in the Tetris Room of Trials.
Almost every wall was covered in hieroglyphs and other early Egyptian symbols.
… but that didn’t stop the Christians from making their mark a few centuries later.
I guess that made it OK for any Tom, Dick and Harry just passing through on an expedition or conquest to make their mark.
Next time: our plans go to ruin!
P.S. Dave says: “I like mango.” I am certain this is code.