16 November 2024

Slower day yesterday but as enjoyable as ever. The highlight was the visit to a rural Egyptian village on Fares Island. We met a local craftsman and his family there. His main source of income is the daily production of baskets for the transportation of mangoes, but he also makes chairs, tables, and touristy items like the Egyptian life symbols. All of his products are made from palm branches, which he cuts to size as he goes along. They are damp to start with, so that he can bend them into various necessary shapes, after which they dry out and the product becomes very firm and strong.  From the meager proceeds of this industry he supports a family of eight. After he demonstrated his craft, which he plied with great speed, he let two of the women in our group make a basket with him. 

After lunch we toured the Greco-Roman Temple of Kom Ombo, said to be the only Egyptian temple dedicated to two gods--Horus and the crocodile god, both of whom are seen as protectors. Much of the temple remains in ruins, partly because the Christians wreaked havoc on it when the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, and the original colors are almost completely gone now. 

In the evening, after dinner, Hend and the pilot of our boat gave us a little lesson in Hieroglyphics and the Egyptian version of Arabic. Very interesting. Hieroglhphics are to be read either from right to left or from left to right, depending on which way the illustrations are pointing. If they point left, you read from left to right. You always read from the top down. With a key to the hieroglyphic alphabet, we translated a page-long statement about our cruise.