Changes afoot

Greetings from Cairo! I am leaving today with the group to fly to Luxor and begin the now familiar pattern of touring the tombs of the Valley of the Kings then getting on a cruise boat for four nights on the Nile. Not that I am bored with it or anything though I do spend far too much time in tour buses and fancy hotels on these trips. I look forward to my time on the boat, a floating fancy hotel, for those parts of it where I just get to be on the water, out in the relatively fresh air, watching herons and farmers and fishers along the banks of the river.

Yesterday, a storm blew through Cairo, kicking up the water on the Nile into little waves and filling the air with very fine sand. It was dramatic and refreshing in a city that lives so much under the sun. The Egyptians considered it quite chilly and were walking around the streets with heavy coats all day. The sand made for some dramatic lighting effects, especially early in the morning from my 21st floor room.

It's fun to hang out with my Egyptian colleagues here who are becoming friends over the course of repeated visits. And here's something different: I have never heard the Egyptians talk so much about politics, specifically the hopes they have for the Obama administration and changes in foreign policy. We had a guest lecturer yesterday, an eminent Egyptologist, who finished his talk with a long monologue about how bad Bush was and how glad he is that he's gone. I guess the Barack phenomenon is world wide. Yesterday, the most famous Egyptian opponent to Mubarak, Ayman Nour, was suddenly released from jail. They just let him go and drove him home. Changes are afoot even in these dictatorships that seem to be our allies.

So, I'll send a report from Upper Egypt. I hope you're well and enjoying the end of winter whether you're in the cold or not so cold.

Love, Andy/Lev