ON DONKEYBACK TO THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS, LUXOR, EGYPT, 1964

I sit at my computer today, thankful that I am alive to tell the tale. My journal from 1964 continues thusly . . .

I woke up feeling ill, because the air-conditioner [yes, there was one on this train from Alexandria to Luxor in 1964] was bringing in stale air, or some such thing. (Gail got sick in the middle of the night and took 2 penicilin.) Big breakfast of omelet and rolls (we couldn't have been that sick)! By this time we had arrived in Luxor -- the Ammun Travel Agency man was ushered to us ceremoniously, but he went off without us -- where, we don't know. So we got John (one of the conductors) to take us in a carriage to a good but inexpensive hotel--"Hotel de Famille", which certainly sounded respectable enough. [But the reality?] Flies, dirt, and lizards crawling up the walls. But cheap and a cheap tour arranged. [The lizards were there to catch the flies, I suppose -- reminds me of that Pete Seeger song: I know an old woman who swallowed a fly -- I don't know why she swallowed the fly; I guess she'll die. Funny Pete Seeger never mentioned lizards in that song!] We discovered that we could have had a free tour and a half price railroad ticket if we had known enough to tell the travel agency that that's what we wanted, or if they were good enough to offer us the option.

We were given a guide (a skinny old man in a long white gown) with whom we headed off for the boat to take us across the [Nile] river to go to the Valley of the Kings. Flies on all of the donkeys and the people, walking across the open eyes of children, open sores, in open mouths, on lips, etc. Reminiscent of what on would expect to find in India along the Ganges. Flies and heat.

Vintage postcard circa 1910 of saddled donkey (NOT the one we rented, although perhaps it was the same one we rented, just 54 years after the photo was taken).

We rented donkeys on the other side of the [Nile] river, and went jogging (on the donkeys) along a desert road to the Valley of the Kings -- no green in sight -- about 110 degrees, and we had no hats, no water. We were very thirsty. We went past villages, cliffs . . . drier and hotter as we got farther from the Nile. not many live here. Only tourists and tombs. At least an hour on the donkeys -- no full skirts blowing in the wind, for although we were wearing full skirts, there was no wind! We arrived at the Vally of the Kings, too hot and thirsty to want to go any further, but we decided to postpone drink and rest time until after the momentary visit to the underworld. Lots of steps down to the tomb which was, in despite the open doorway, nearly suffocating. When we finished our visit to the tomb (which, by the way, was thoroughly unappreciated by Gail and me), we went seeking a glass of water to the shiny new concession-restaurant. There was no water to be had, no matter how much one was willing to pay for it. We settled for a Coke (exorbitantly priced) and dawdled over it, not wanting to move from the slight relief offered by the overhead shleter. We contemplated buying another Coke, for our thirst was at that point unquenchable, but our guide assured us that his friend on the other side of the mountain -- in the Valley of the Queens, sold Coca Cola for much less money, and anyway, we would be really thirsty by the time we got there, and would appreciate the drink more. So off we went, up the steep mountain trail (we got off the donkeys and led them up -- the sand mountain was covered with small pebbles which slipped underfoot and started miniature landslides at every step). At the top of the mountain our guide told us it was now safe to mount the donkeys, as we went for a way along the ridge. I felt very unstable atop the donkey atop the mountain, but my guide assured me all was safe, and when I continued expressing my fears, the dirty old man held me on the donkey. That was enough to convince me that I was safer in my precarious position atop the donkey than I was anchored on the donkey with the aid of the old man. As we started down the mountain, however, the saddle slipped to the side of the donkey, I fell off (nearly into the Valley of the tombs of the dead Queens) and the donkey fell on top of me.