Party, Egyptian Style

The best thing about traveling while you're young is that you'll do insanely risky things that you'd never consider in your later, wiser years. I got chatty with a merchant who owned a souvenir shop across from the Mena House Hotel in Giza. He invited me to a party he was throwing that evening for his wife's sister, who would soon be marrying. He said, "I'll send my brother with the car for you. Bring your camera, there'll be dancing horses." An irresistible invitation!

At the appointed time, the car came for me, and I got into a vintage Chevy with a young man who spoke little English and was taking me to heaven knows where in an unfamiliar city in a foreign country where I couldn't even read a street sign to figure out where I was. It seems totally insane now, more than 20 years later, but at the time I trusted my intuition and everything turned out fine.

There were, indeed, dancing horses. There was also live music, dancing women, and herds of giggling children that followed me everywhere. No one spoke any English, other than the merchant who invited me, but everyone made me feel very welcome.

The festivities took place in two adjacent yards. In the larger yard there were musicians and the dancing horses. The chairs along the walls were filled with men. There were no women in this area, but children wandered around freely. It seemed as if this was where the men were doing their traditional man stuff, not the least of which included the smoking of some extremely fragrant nontobacco product from a large hookah by these guys. You could get a contact high within three yards of them!

In the other yard the women's activities were taking place. The soon-to-be-wedded couple seemed very happy to have a complete stranger attending their party and wanted their picture taken with me. They insisted that I sit in the nicest chair there, which had been decorated and was clearly intended for the bride-to-be. I didn't want to steal the limelight from her, but I was the guest and I did what they asked.

There was a ceremony taking place for the bride-to-be. Each woman of childbearing age would, one by one, stand up and dance for her. Yep, I took my turn, too! The women were delighted. The man dancing with me was the uncle of my merchant friend. Normally the men did not come and dance in the women's area, but this uncle was quite taken with me and followed me all around the party.

I took a lot of photos, and when I got back home I had copies made and mailed them to my merchant friend. Here is one of the engaged couple, my merchant friend and his wife, and a couple of his children.

Crazy or not, this was the most amazing night of my life.

People

I met some interesting people on my trip, and some I captured only in passing. I wondered whether this man grew the garlic he was taking to market or whether he only sold it.

This young girl was very happy and carefree. I wonder what her life is like now.

Going to Egypt without riding a camel was unthinkable. At a rest stop, I got my chance and took a quick turn on a rent-a-camel. The camel guys were happy to pose with me, for a little baksheesh.

I gave them the tour-guide-recommended tip, but they thought they could get more out of me by arguing loudly about the amount. I was a bit overwhelmed because there were three of them (the third guy was taking the picture), all complaining at the same time. One of the men in my tour group saw that I was having trouble extricating myself, and he rescued me. He came over and asked them what they wanted with his "wife", and they backed off immediately. I laugh about that experience every time I think about it.

Learning the secrets of the desert from the camel's mouth.

Temples

I've scanned only a small amount of the temples and ruins. This is a small portion of the Avenue of the Sphinxes at Karnak. At one time the Avenue was over a mile long, lined with ram-headed sphinxes on both sides.





In the temple at Luxor, the hypostyle hall is an area filled with columns. Each column is about 90 feet tall and about 30 feet in diameter. They are completely covered with carvings.












Detail of a lotus capital on a column at the temple of Isis, near Aswan.

Tomb Paintings

In the Valley of the Kings we visited a tomb of an overseer who supervised the workers who built the tombs and pyramids. It was located in the general area of King Tut's tomb. A steep, narrow passage descended into the overseer's tomb, lit by an occasional naked light bulb.

The image above is probably of royals. The smaller figures indicate children and those of lesser rank.

The overseer was important enough to have received a tomb, but because he was not a royal, the inside of his tomb was decorated only in paintings and not with carvings. Our guide said the tomb was probably hastily constructed, and paintings could be done much faster than carvings.

The paintings in the overseer's tomb are my favorites. I like these even more than the ones I saw in King Tut's tomb.

This image shows Anubis, the dog-headed god of the underworld, preparing the dead king for burial.

Because the tomb was completely underground and was not subject to deterioration by weather, the paintings were still very vivid.

There is no way to match the paint colors, so when the tomb began to develop cracks or if portions of the painted scenes crumbled away, the damaged portions, such as that seen here at the top of the image, were only patched with cement. No attempt was made to restore the painting itself.