here comes the sun

Yeah, I live right off this "Avenue of the Sphinxes". I never really get used to it. I mean its several miles of Sphinxes just sitting out there, crumbling, being climbed on, shat on. I'm going to try and upload more video so people can really get a sense of what this place is like. Owen has a little Canon point and shoot, so this comes in handy.

As you can see, it's getting hotter, but things are really going much better. We really only had one week of total hot spell that was unbearable when I wrote that last entry and then it cooled off and I even got to take a 3 day weekend at a resort in Safaga on the Red Sea, where we did a great deal of snorkeling (amazing coral reef), played random word and hand-slapping games with our Parisian friends, including Asshole, and even a lifesize game of chess. I even got to play the new and improved version of Super Mario Brothers on the car trip back. It was dope. Now we are working 6 day weeks but we work 6.30 - 12 on site so while we do have to get up at like 5.30am we can come home as soon as the heat starts to get to us instead of boiling in it and feeling like we might just faint before making it back to the van. So things are good. Only 2 months to go before the project is over and we can come back to swine-flu infested America.

I can't wait. I have some buddies on the West Cost I'm really looking forward to catching up with and a whole lot of family on the East Coast to catch up with, including the newest member of the family - miss Evelyn Karr, born while I was here. My priority beyond visiting friends is to run a river - either in Canada or the States. Originally I heard about the McKenzie River - which takes a whole month to run, and I said - "that's it - let's go". But apparently the pre-planning is just too extensive to make it happen in our appreviated summer. But there are other good river trips to choose from. And if all goes as planned me and Owen will get back to Egypt early so we can do another feluca boat trip with our Nubian friend Khalid. 4 days just wasn't enough. A 2-week trip would be just right. Only problem is that approaching Luxor and anywhere north of it, you can't get in the water without getting skin disease and what not, so the plan to just skip buying a connecting flight and sail from Cairo to Luxor on the way back isn't so appealing to me. Seems a bit like torture to be on a boat for two weeks getting all warmed up by the desert sun but be forbidden to get in the water. So we'll see. There's still time to work it out.

Do you have specific summer plans I should know about ? I wanna know.

Fleur