Luxor-Nile River July 2

We started the day with a balloon over the Valley of the Kings and Queens. My only description is that it was a life time experience. Though I was nervous initially, once in the basket with 9 others it was awesome. The ground seemed to just fall away and the view over the temples and tombs was astounding. It was just before dawn when we lifted off. all around us were the dozen or so balloons of every collor fired up against the dark sky. The sun popped up on cue over the Nile. All we could hear besides the roar of the burners was the sound of the white donkeys braying below in the village. The west bank of Luxor is utterly primitive with mud huts and farms going back hundreds to thousands of years. We flew with Mohammed our captain for an hour rising to 2000 feet. We landed softly in a sugar cane field. While waiting for the rescue crew we saw a dozen young kids on donkeys gallopping across the field towards us. Begging , of course, and we resisted on the advice of Mohammed. Now i can't wait to do another ballon ride. After a visit to the Luxor Museum and the fruit market, we boarded our riverboat, the Royal Serenade. She may have seen better days but we are only 20 persons with a crew of 54.
The temp is 115 with no breezes. We glided upstream passing camels, water buffalo, palm trees and occasional mud villages. There is a very thin ribbon of greenery on each bank with the desert right behind where the irrigation stops. We haven't seen a single cloud since we left NY.
Bert has been feeling poorly the past 2 days. Antinal has not worked on him. Other than the Chilean cold last year this is the first time we've gotten ill during our travels. We are enjoying many of our fellow passengers especially life partners Miguel and Richard from Queens , NY. Miguel teached mime and public speaking at CUNY. During a party on the boat he was challenged to do a Charlie Chaplin and Michael Jackson imitation. Hysterical. With his Spanish accent and positive attitude he reminds me of Oswald from Amazing Race. Another couple from the South spend several months a year working with their church group building schools and orphanages in 3rd world countries at their own expense. A widow from California has been spending 3 months a year in Tanzania teaching music and art and helping to found a school there. Interesting and wonderful people to get to know.

Luxor continued

At the valley of the kings we visited 3 tombs- you have a choice of about 10. You walk throgh several hundred yards of passageway lined with brilliant hieroglyphics pertaining to that particular king..It was very crowded and unbearably hot- even at 7 AM. That said i really enjoyed it. Outside the tombs there are large hill of barren rock. Nothing green- hiding untold treasures beneath. nearly all the known tombs had been looted, only Tut's tomb remained intact.
We then visited Hatsheputs temple- not that impressive - followed by the valley of the queens for a tomb similar to those a few hours before. Here is was nearly deserted and we had the place to ourselves. A visit to an alabaster factory, lunch and then, blessedly the pool. This evening we took a short ride in a feluca, a sail boat on the Nile. I think we drank a little too much- the heat you know- and it was little difficult getting off. Later a carriage rise through town in the dark accompanied the ever present sounds of the muezzin- the call to prayer for the moslims. This seems to go on all day starting at 4 AM. I think each mosque has a different time to do the call and since there are so many it seems to be every 5 minutes. The sound is a bit grating not as pretty as the church bells of Europe. It just reinforces the exotic atmosphere. Yes Bonnie I did think of Josh existing in this heat and climate. Bless him, I don't know how he did 15 months in Iraq.

Luxor July 1,2008

We started out at 4:45 this AM after a 4AM wakeup call. We are 2 groups of 10 with 2 leaders and 2 small vans but stay at the same hotels and eat together. Our Isis group has been relatively healthy with only 2 cases of Mummy Tummy. the other Habibi group members are dropping like flies. One lady did not come this AM so that made 1 less. We took a colorful boat across the Nile to watch the sun rise from the West Bank at a farm. There was a woman there baking our breads in anoutdoor oven- they also use the sun to bake breads- that's how hot it is. We sat on carpets at 2 huge round tables outside beside the river and were served a breakfast really not unlike a western bkfst.Halfway through the meal Louis at the other table suddenly became unresponsive. Two of us are nurses- he didn't seem to be having a heart attack- good pulse and color- possibly a stroke or diabetic thing or just the heat. He came around after a few minutes fully alert but we sent him and his wife back on the boat to see a doctor- he seems fine tonight.- anyway 3 down. We then went to the Valley of the Kings- the tombs of the Pharoahs. Thjere the other group leader fainted twice and had to be carried away- 4 down. On top of that 3 of the habibi group have terrible coughs. We combined both groups onto our bus. We think they are cursed!