5 to 1?

If the current exchange rate is 5.5 Egyptian Pounds to the dollar, does that mean the 10 pounds I’ve gained is really only about 1.8? Anyone?

Thursday our group had a 5:30 wake up call at our hotel in Sharm El Sheikh so we could make an 8:00 flight from Sharm to Luxor. For some reason Egypt Air wants passengers at the airport a couple hours before domestic flights. Two rounds of security and a walk to the airplane before Scott could catch up on some sleep.

Our group has a VERY busy schedule but there is so much to see and do that it really is necessary to run fast. We can sleep when we get home.

As soon as we hit the ground we made a B-line for the Karnak Temple, a 64-acre complex that has only been half uncovered. The magnitude of the ruins blows your mind. How did they do that? How did they get straight edges? How did they keep things level? How did they live in this heat? What a wondrous opportunity to share this as a family!

You’ll never guess what they have in Luxor. We had a ‘McArabian’, pita bread with two pressed patties of chicken with tomatoes, lettuce and sauce. That and the green apple cheesecake sundae are only available here. That’s enough alone to make the trip. Say what you will about eating at McDonalds whilst halfway around the world but there is safety in universal standards.

We checked into the Sheraton Luxor and were pleasantly greeted with the view from our balcony. (No worries about West Nile Virus; we are on the east side of the river.) And it was even more awe-inspiring when the sunset.

We decided to sit by the pool or take a nap until about 6:00 when we met for a lecture about what we were going to be seeing in Egypt and had some very interesting things taught us about Ahman-Ra the greatest Egyptian god. A nice poolside dinner and at about 8:30 PM it had cooled to 101 degrees so we could be stupefied by the Luxor Temple. You really have to see it to believe it.

Since we were already out and sweaty, we took a walk down Sallah street, the local ‘market’ where you can be pestered, I mean approached by people with all kinds of things to sell. If you think car salesmen are pushy - you ain’t seen nothin. To make our way back to the hotel, we took a carriage ride through the town as we shared the road with buses, cars, pedestrians, donkeys and motorcycles.