Day 41 - Aswan Egypt
My camera was confiscated for taking this forbidden picture inside the tomb of Thutmosis IV in the Valley of the Kings. It seems it was not worth the 20 pound "tip" I paid to get my camera back, as this picture in no way captures the eerie grandeur of the tomb or the magnificance of the sarcophagus.
We have spent the last two days arranging to board the ferry from Aswan to Sudan, and we expect to spend all of tomorrow doing the same before the ferry finally leaves sometime in the late afternoon or early evening. Riding around Aswan in the midday heat from one police station to the next to get the required paperwork completed has has been a challenge in itself. We are all finding it difficult to cope with the heat, especially since Luxor. It has been getting progressively hotter the farther south we go. In Luxor, when we were riding back from the Valley of the Kings at about 1PM, the heat from the hot wind off the desert was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It felt like we were riding head first into a forest fire. Certainly, had I been sitting next to a bonfire and felt a similar blast of heat in my face, I would have instinctively jumped back. On a motorcycle there is no escaping the desert's wrath.
The heat is so bad that no matter how much water we try to drink or how much we try to limit our activities during the heat of the day, we have all been experiencing symptoms of heat exhaustion. The heat has been especially tough on Tom, making him physically ill. I have been collapsing from exhaustion and sleeping for hours in the middle of the day in the comfort of our air-conditioned hotel room. What are we going to do when we hit Sudan, which is even hotter, and without air-conditioned hotel rooms (at least until we reach Khartoum)? Our strategy is to start riding at about 5 AM, when the temperature is the coolest of the day at just under 30 degrees Celsius. Who said that the desert gets cold at night? That is complete bollox, especially during the peak of the Saharan summer. From about 1 to 5 PM, we plan to stop riding and find shade for an afternoon nap.
I suppose the fact that it would be hot in Egypt should not have come as a surprise. To be fair, I did know full well that the Sahara would be hot, but I was also fooled by the fact that in absolute terms it is no hotter than Las Vegas in the summer, which I didn't find that bad. However, maybe that was because I spent my days sleeping in cool hotel rooms and my nights playing poker while sipping Coronas and pina coladas...
What you can't see or feel in this picture of Rosa at the Ramesseum in Luxor is the searing heat of the desert or the salty sweat pouring off my forehead and stinging my eyes.
Hey Boys what in the SAM are you CowBoys
doing. Stay out of the HEAT and create a Coolness even if it's in your mind. Pretent your biking thru Manitoba & Saskachewan in January or February. That sure HELP a little. Try it, it works for me.
All Our Luv & Prayers
Tom, Alma & Jason
(The MacK's)
Oh yea, God Bless & Keep You Safe
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