Move Over, Cleopatra

When planning my trip to Egypt, spending the night on a felucca was the excursion I most looked forward to, yet was most apprehensive about. Feluccas, sailing boats used on the Nile, haven't changed much since Cleopatra's day. Gold, silk and Lapis Lazuli have been replaced by steel, cotton and plastic flowers, but the basic form is the same--generally a cushioned seating area around the sides and a table in the middle. There's not a keel as much as a keel board that can be raised when the water gets shallow. The captains steer them with their legs and sometimes, it seems, their whole bodies.

While I was eager to experience life on the Nile, I wasn't so sure about sleeping onboard with eleven other travelers and was actively concerned abut there being no restrooms on board. We reached Aswan by overnight train and spent a day there before our felucca ride to Luxor. After a quiet morning, we arrived at the boat around 11:00 a.m. Our felucca didn't have seats around the sides and a table in the middle, it had mattresses lined up side by side in two rows and covered with a jaunty colorful cloth. It was a floating slumber party!

Our backpacks and suitcases went under the boards near the front of the boat and the twelve of us travelers and our guide selected our spots. Each mattress was defined but there was plenty of room, and it didn't feel as though we had to stay within the lines. Mezo, the captain, and Yasine, his crew and chef, swung around getting the felucca ready to sail. We hadn't even left Aswan before were settled into the sailing life. It was a perfect day for sailing, cooler than any day we'd encountered in our week in Egypt. The Nile was a smooth deep blue, and the wind was brisk. We propped ourselves up to read or just lay flat out and slept. While we read, slept and chatted, Yasine was down in the galley at the back of the boat in a space about the size of a poster board, using his two burner hot plate to whip up lunch. And what a feast it was: baba ganoush - we begged for the recipe- along with mashed potatoes, falafel, a fresh cucumber and tomato salad, bread and a tomato stew.

After lunch we napped, read or hung out. Restfulness filled the felucca as wind filled the sails sending us tacking upriver. We had a tea break late afternon and a couple of bathroom breaks that proved to be ample. We pulled onto a flat, rather bare island with goats being herded and crops being tended by local farmers. Some of us left the boat and walked over to a group of women and children living there. The conversation went amazingly well considering the very real language barrier, and the sense of connection bouyed those who went out. A delicious dinner materialized from Yasine's tiny space, and we ate under a full moon made brighter by its reflection on the Nile.

After dinner, we played a raucous game called BS or Cheat and chatted. It really did feel like a slumber party or the first night in a freshman dorm.My concerns abut the felucca included a fear that someone in that relatively small space would snore. That turned out not to be a problem, and not because no one snored. Just after sundown we settled in for the night. Sundown is when the last prayers of the Muslim day are said. Just as our heads hit the pillows, the call to prayer began. It's a beautiful thing to hear, haunting and sonorous, when one or two mosques are nearby and the differences in cadences and inflection are obvious. Prayers being said over microphones by 17 or 18 imams and bounced back across the water, create a cacophony that can drown out very loud snorers.

About the time the call to prayers ended a wedding started up with lots of laughter and loud pop tunes. It sounded fun, festive and very loud. Earplugs would have helped. After the wedding, quiet came over the boat, if there was snoring, it was quiet enough in comparison to what had come before that no one mentioned it next morning. And next morning came early with the call to prayer at 4:30.

It may not make sense, but all I really wanted was another day or two on the felucca--just sailing quietly and relaxing--catching up on my missed sleep and enjoying the peace of the river. It was a glorious day. I'm trying to figure out how I can talk some friends and relatives into hiring a felucca for a week, sailing from Aswan to Luxor, stopping for sightseeing along the way.