Our last day in Egypt

“What a wonderful day!” was the repeated comment in the air as we disembarked our water taxi this afternoon. The weather has been warm and sunny with a pleasant breeze here in Egypt and has contributed to our contentment. For those of us from the cold and snowy Midwest, it has been like a dream.
We enjoyed a more leisurely morning then headed off the cruise boat to Elephantine Island. There are a a few theories as to why this island was named as such: the shape of the island, the elephant ivory that was brought here, or the fact that war elephants may have been trained on the island. The temple here was dedicated to Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts of the Nile. This was the southern border of Egypt and Nubia. It was a defensive site and a natural cargo transfer point. The Elephantine papyri are legal documents and letters which speak of a Jewish community on the island, perhaps mercenaries, who had their own temple to Yaweh. We were able to see a small portion of ruins of this synagogue, as well as other sculptures and hieroglyphs of interest. The river taxis took us farther south to an island restaurant for chicken, rice, salads and pita bread. The sun felt intense as we were reminded that we were only 300 miles or so from the equator.

After lunch we went further still to visit a Nubian village (supposedly the Nubian people are descendants of the offspring of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba). There we walked through a bustling main street lined with market shops offering clothing, bags, rugs, jewelry and carvings of many kinds. The fragrance of burning frankincense wafted through the air as well as mint, cumin and various spices. We entered a Nubian school and took a lesson in counting in their language as well as Arabic. Then we received refreshment at a local tea house where they served hibiscus or peppermint tea. In the large cage was their adult crocodile! Some of us had to chance to hold a baby one.

Jonathan and Jennifer shared some valuable information this afternoon both on the sun deck as well as in the lounge. Psalm 119 reminds us that the law of God is really instruction, instruction that we should meditate upon, follow and long for. “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long … How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! … Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

It is sad to leave our new Egyptian friends in the morning, but we look forward to crossing over into Jordan and seeing what the next country holds! Now if we can only get all of our souvenirs into our luggage…