(Yesterday) Tuesday, 14 December, Pyramisa Hotel in Luxor, Egypt, right on the Nile River.
After I had breakfast, I decided to check the gift shop for a decent Christmas gift for my sister. I walked in and the young salesman greeted me. Forgetting that Egypt doesn’t work on fixed prices, I found myself getting into a bargain when I asked for the price of a mug in US dollars and was invited to sit down for tea. Oh, no…
“Because you have beautiful face, I will offer you discount.” Right…
I guess my first attempt at bargaining wasn’t too shabby since I brought the price down from $15 to $10. Following the transaction I thanked him for the tea and started gathering my belongings.
“Miss, how long you stay here?” I told him until tomorrow. “Oh, oh… May I give you my Hotmail?” Um, sure. We swapped email addresses and then he asked if I have a boyfriend. I told him “Yes,” fearing the next question on his mental flowchart had I responded otherwise.
“Oh, oh… In Egypt, my father show me women and I choose.”
“Yes, I’m familiar. Statistically-speaking, arranged marriages tend to work better than non-arranged,” I said.
“Speaking?”
I said more slowly, “Statistics…say…’arranged’…is…better…than…’not.’”
“What is sticks?”
I said even more slowly, “Sta-ti-stics.”
“Sticks?”
I waved my hand to shoo off the topic, “This was very good tea, thank you.”
“Only for you, Miss, only for you. You know, I be here all the time,” he held up his cell phone. “You may call when have question.”
I politely declined and said I would be gone most of the day. I shook his hand; he then pulled me closer and said, “Ah, your hands are so cold…”
“Yeah, that’s normal.”
“Please don’t be shy if need something.”
“Okay, thank you, okay!” I got my hand back and started for the door.
“Good bye, you have good one!”
I left. A few minutes later I had some buyer’s remorse, realizing the mug wasn’t exactly “drinking material.” Ten bucks…
10:00 AM came around and so did our private tour guide, who looked about 30-years-old and had well-spoken English. On the way to the Valley of the Kings (where all the Ramseseses and the Tut are buried, along with 50-something other pharaohs), the guide told us a bit about Egypt’s history and culture, the Pyramids (the largest contains 100,000,000 stones and took only 20 years of construction--incredible!), etc. When he began speaking about marriage in the Muslim culture, my aunt asked him if he was married to the Muslim woman.
“No, I do not like those women,” (Why not?) “Because after you marry them, they become fat.”
(Reminder: I was told--however it might be true--that because Muslim men and women cannot date, the men sometimes take out their “sexual frustrations” on women outside the Muslim community. So when we arrived at the Valley my aunt whispered to me, “Can you imagine that he’s probably a virgin and hasn’t even exploded?”)
Anyway, my aunt waited while I explored two of the tombs because, after being around the world more times than fingers can count, she's well, seen everything. On the way back to the van my aunt said out loud, “You know what our guide asked me while you were gone? He asked if he can have some alone time with you while we visit the Temple of Hatshepsut!” Clearly, our guide was very embarrassed and shook his head in slight fear.
The Temple of Hatshepsut was also magnificent. (I recommend researching her bio.) Having three levels--one of which was terrorized in '97--it was carved right into a rock hill. The view from the third level shows dry, rocky Luxor in the foreground and vegetation being harvested in the background. I’m pretty sure that image has been permanently nailed to my memory wall.
After my solitary sight-seeing, I met the guide in the café near the Temple's base (Auntie was in the van with “Sa-sa” the driver.) and he immediately offered me a drink. I politely declined.
Walking back to the van again, he asked me, “At what age do Americans date?” I told him at the start of adolescence.
“Hmm, would you ever consider an Egyptian boyfriend?” Ugh.
“Well no, cultural differences might make that challenging.”
“What if he is open-minded?”
“I wouldn't count on it.” I explained that I once dated someone from a Mexican upbringing, which was frustrating because he had possessive tendencies and his mother wanted me to learn to cook. I hate cooking.
After the private tour I told my aunt about this conversation, and boy, was she miffed! Of course, he didn’t want to date me (not with so many years of celibacy pressuring him to pop the lid). The agency where we booked the tour is probably getting a smack down as I type this.
Auntie and I ended the day with a short trip to the Temple of Karnak, which is (probably) one of the most esteemed structures on the planet. It covers so much ground and is/was supported by hieroglyphic-covered columns about half a Sycamore's diameter. There are also a couple of obelisks, whose siblings (if I’m correct) were taken by the Romans (One stands in the middle of Vatican City.) and others. There’s one in New York and another in Paris, but my fuzzy memory isn’t confident.
Today we head back to Cairo and have dinner with the Italians again.
