Last year, just about on this day, JeanPaul and I rode a rickety golf cart through the desert towards the Valley of the Kings.  I had asked him what he wanted for his 50th birthday.  He said he wanted to go on vacation – somewhere on a boat.  He didn’t care where so I picked the destination.  We needed a plane to get from the boat in Alexandria to the desert west of Luxor but that was a minor detail.

In my head the desert is filled with sand but here, in Egypt, it was gravelly, rocky.  Oh, and HOT.  110 degrees by 9:30 in the morning.  Before entering the Valley, we had to unpack our pockets, leave cameras behind and enter the ancient Necropolis with just the clothes we came with.  Sort of like the way the pharaohs were brought here.

Our guide, Bahgat, wasn’t allowed to enter the tombs with us but he gave us as much information about what we would see as he could.  As we entered each tomb, a turbaned Egyptian stamped our ticket, flipped on the lights and escorted us into the depths.  He pointed his flashlight here and there, mumbled a few unrelated English words and waited.  Then he put his hand out.

After the 2nd tomb, we figured it out – flash money if you want to see THE REST of the tomb.  We did and … we did.  He took us down into Ramses VI tomb beyond the locked gates and into the burial chamber.  He walked us around pointing out details with his slowly fading flashlight and told us where to touch the sarcophagus of the great ruler.  He said it would bring us long, fruitful life.  Ramses had 250 children so I guess he’d be an expert in fruitfulness.  That said, no one seems to know how many wives he had. I’m guessing more than a few.

By the time we emerged into the hot sun, it was nearing noon and the Valley was empty.  Workers were settling under shadowed rocky overhangs to eat lunch and take their nap.  Bahgat was waiting, urging us towards the carts – our group was waiting for us.  It went on that way for the rest of our visit to Egypt – we flashed a few Egyptian pounds and got a private tour of some special place.  And, we were always running to catch up with the group.

It seems when we are all on vacation, we take hundreds of pictures as a way of remembering our out-of-the-ordinary experience.  In Egypt, we had so many of these experiences but so few photos because we weren’t allowed to take our cameras pretty much everywhere we went.  Without all those digital reminders,  I have to rely on the depth of the experience, how much time I spent being there, rather than recording being there.    I wish I were a better writer so I could share my experience of this place with you.  “Amazing” doesn’t come close.   Is there a place that touched you?