Friday evening Jen and I flew to Luxor for a short visit before our return home (Hans flew home on Saturday). It was a hectic evening as it was also the evening of the final party of the summer course. As usual we sat down for dinner at 8 and when the turkey (yes turkey!) was finished the festivities began. The plan was for me to say goodbye and for the teachers to make a presentation to Abuna Esshak before our departure but it all became a bit rushed. So I made a very hasty goodbye to my students and then we were off to the airport. I think our driver from the seminary could sense the tension in the car and so to lighten the mood he changed the radio station. For 10 minutes we drove along the freeways of Egypt with an disco-mix of Christmas music (including Felize Navidad) blaring on the car radio and our driver yelling and making gestures out his window at the trucks and cars that raced past us. All you could do was laugh.
We made it though the airport easily and our plane left as scheduled at 11:50 pm. We were scheduled to arrived in Luxor at 12:50 am and we had arranged through a friend for a driver to pick us up at the airport and take us to our hotel. We were to look for a man with a sign. We got our bags and proceeded outside. No man. No sign. We waited. I called. He was on his way. (There had been some confusion about our arrival - mish mushkilla - no problem!)
The Luxor airport isn’t very busy so most everyone cleared out in 20 minutes our so. Jen and I waited – the only women anywhere. We tried to figure out where to sit. A well-lit area next to the driveway looked like a good spot and so we proceeded. To say that we were conspicuous and attracted the attention of everyone in the vicinity is perhaps an understatement. Now to be clear, we were not in danger, no one would have dared approach us. But we were the focus of much attention and conversation. At one point, Jen asked, “How will our driver know how to find us or where to look for us?” My response, “Trust me Jen, everyone at the Luxor airport knows how to find us!”
He came and we made our way to the hotel arriving around 2:30 am. It was a short night as we had made arrangements to leave for the West Bank of Luxor at 7:30, but the adventure had begun!
More stories and pictures to come.
P.S. We're back in Cairo. We'll make a quick return trip to the Egyptian Museum today before heading home tonight.
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