Saqqara and more

Yesterday was a busy day. We left very early for our excursion to Saqqara. We'll have a lot early morning departures on this trip because of the heat. Yesterday we left at 7:00. Tomorrow morning it will be 6:30!

We went to the funerary site of Saqqara yesterday morning and had an excellent tour with Yasser and Mina before having our only meeting with Samuel on the Cairo portion of the trip. We knew there would be no shade at Saqqara and that it would be very hot--we were mostly right about that. We did manage to place Samuel up against one of the walls so that he was mostly shaded. I spent the second half of our 1-hour (more or less) holding an umbrella to provide him with shade. Everyone else was in the sun and there was no complaining--we have such a great group! We were also so very blessed to have a wonderful breeze the entire time there--thanks weather fairies! :-)

In the meeting Samuel spoke to us about the importance of preparing ourselves for the work ahead--Activating the Nile Dragon. In order to do that he said we needed to release anything holding us back. He said that we've all done a lot of releasing the past 2 years and he asked for examples from people as to what they've released. He spoke to us about the importance of walking the site with "open feet" in order to open ourselves up to the energy of the place and to focus on releasing that which we need to let go of in preparation for the work ahead. He spoke to us about sound and gave us an exercise to do at the entrance of the complex in which we toned the pitches "D" and "B-flat." We were to face one of the niches in the wall of the entrance (see photo below for a view of the wall) and as we toned we were to connect with Shining Energy. At least this is my memory of it. I wasn't able to take notes, so I don't have them to refer back to and yesterday seems like a long time ago--but in a good way, though! :-)



Before we left Lexington, Matthew gave us part of one of his belly dancing belts and a small statue of Bastet (the Egyptian cat goddess) that Lea, Frank and I had gifted him with years ago to bring with us. He has always had a strong affinity to anything Egyptian. It didn't seem right to us that he not be here with us on this trip--though we understand completely why he couldn't join us being that the trip fell at the beginning of his junior year of college (we're sure getting older!)--and we guess it didn't feel right to him either, so he gave us these objects to bring with us to represent him. I brought his belly dancing belt with me to Saqqara and sat it in the sand at Samuel's feet during our meeting yesterday. At one point, Samuel picked it up and mentioned how strong Matthew's connection is to Egypt and that he had been a part of the seeding. Wow! Way to go Matt! We plan to bring his objects to all the sites so they soak up the energy of these places that he helped create millennia ago.

We then went to a very well preserved tomb of a nobleman near the Saqqara complex and some went into Titi's pyramid, which was adjacent to the tomb. Since this is the tomb of a nobleman and not a king, the scenes on the wall of the tomb pertain to his life and all the things that he wanted to carry with him into the afterlife. The scenes were carved in plaster and very well preserved. It is thought that some of the details in the scenes were made from molds. Either way, the fact that these have surived 4,500 years is amazing. Regardless of their age, they are beautiful from an artistic point of view. Add to that how old they are and that they are from a nobleman's tomb, not a king or queen, and you have a real treasure. I think the group really appreciated seeing it. I thoroughly enjoyed Yasser's explanation of the scenes and even though I had been there before, I found the tour very engaging and, well, entertaining! Personally, I'd put the carvings at this tomb in nearly the same category in terms of craftsmanship and artistry as the ones in Abydos. The major difference being that these are secular and Abydos' are not.

Well, as you can tell, a lot has happened in the last 24-hours.

I'm sorry for the stream-of-consciousness style here, but going back to dinner at the Khan al Khalili market, I wanted to say how touched Manal and Basem were with our group's welcoming them to dinner. A few of the people on the Cairo trip were here with us in 1998 and they, of course, re-introduced themselves to Manal and Basem. Many who were not on the trip in '98 introduced themselves to them and thanked them for all they've done to make this such an incredible trip. Folks told them how often they've heard people from that trip back in 1998 speak so highly of them and how grateful they were to be able to finally meet them. Lea, Frank and I were able to sit back and watch these exchanges. I think we were as touched Manal and Basem were by how loving it was. At one point, Manal turned to the three of us and said, "I love your groups!" We dittoed that! :-)

Because of the heat, I was very tired and headachy when we returned to the hotel after our Saqqara excursion. As of yesterday, Lea, Frank and I had been at the hotel for 6 days and we had really nested. In addition to completely repacking, we had try to find room for the things we bought while in Cairo. Unfortunately, some of the food (organic cucumbers, olives) was left behind while the organic dates and all the CDs I bought were able to be crammed into my travel-on and suitcase--afterall, we have to have our priorities! The dates are yummy and the CDs are such a treat. Some of them (mainly the newer releases) cost the equivalent of $4 US and they're not bootleg copies! Such a bargain!

Today is the end of Ramadan and everyone seems to be happy and in a festive mood! Ramadan is one of the 5 tenants of Islam, along with: giving alms to the poor; there is one god and Allah is his name; the haag (pilgrimage to mecca); and praying 5-times a day. I remember learning these from Manal on our 1997 Scouting trip and I've always remembered them. She's that good a teacher! :-) One could feel the energy and excitement building as the daylight fasting period was coming to an end. I'm amazed at how much people sacrifice during Ramadan. They can ingest no food and NO WATER from sunrise to sunset. Nothing enters their mouths! And we complain when Samuel asks us to do a three-day broth fast! :-)

We were going to bed early after packing last night (and after I made one last trip to the Virgin Megastore in the City Star Mall to purchase more CDs) when we heard a knock on the door. It was Tamer, who seems to be Gateways To Egypt's go-to-guy for airport transfers and all manner of things. He was stopping by to bring Lea a bouquet of flowers! That was so sweet of him. As I said before, Manal and Basem have some big-hearted people working for them (as we say, "like attracts like"), and Tamer is one of them.

Eid Mubarak, my friends! Today begins the festival of Eid. Eid is the name of one of the festivals associated with the end of Ramadan, and "Mubarak" is Arabic for "blessing." I didn't learn this until today. Travel is so educational! The call to prayer seemed especially longer this morning than on previous mornings (a large mosque was right across the street from our hotel). When Lea looked out the window she saw people running to the mosque, including the hotel's security men, and a police barracade on the street with cars triple parked. She thought something strange had happened, but we found out it was just a longer call to prayer due to the end of Ramadan and the beginning of the festival Eid (the food associated with this festival is cookies!). When I looked, I noticed that the had police had blocked the street next to the mosque because the overflow of worhippers from the mosque poured out into the street. Here's a photo taken from our hotel room window. You can see the men and prayer rugs on the street. I can't imagine how packed (and hot) it must have been inside!



We left the hotel at 8:30 a.m. to catch a 10:45 a.m. flight to Luxor. It was only a 45-minutes, or so, flight on a new Egypt Air jet. We left from Terminal 3, which just opened at the end of 2008. It's a beautiful airport with all the conveniences of a modern airport--very impressive. Again, Yasser and Mina, did an incredible job on this transfer. Group transfers can be very stressful and they handled it all very efficiently and professionally which meant it wasn't a stress for Lea, Frank or me in the slightest! I feel so lucky and so well cared for!

Well, I hear the pool calling me. It was too sunny go out earlier, but it's close to 5:00 and I probably won't be risking a sun burn.

Tomorrow we check out of the hotel with our bags outside our door at 5:45 a.m. and leave the hotel at 6:30. We visit Hatshepsut's Temple and the West Bank's Valley of the Kings, Queens and Artisans. From there we go directly to our cruise ship for check-in and lunch. Once on board, we start our cruise and after lunch our first meeting with Samuel and our work begins! As you can see, tommorow is going to be a really busy day. I'll try to send you a report again sometime soon.

Until next time, thanks and Love,
Stuart