Currently in a hostel in Aswan, the Keylaney. Highly recommended. Aswan far South, up the Nile toward Sudan. Surrounded by harsh, unforgiving desert, it´s a shocking blaze of green along one of the cleaner parts of the Nile river. No crocodiles though, thanks to Nasser´s dam.

Got here by overnight train. Didn´t manage to make it out to the tomb of Ramses II, which would´ve been cool, but requires one to book ahead a few days and get up at a ridiculous hour to avoid baking in the desert heat. Never mind, another time.

Floated up and down the Nile on a falluccia yesterday, seeing some of the islands here (this is site of ancient ivory trading station, many old tombs). People here very friendly, especially compared to Cairo folk. Got pulled into a shop run by a guy calling himself Antonio Banderas, just to talk. He didn´t even try to sell us anything. Smart, smart kid.

Many stories to tell, not enough time to tell them (yet). Off on falluccia cruise up the Nile to Kobumbo (sp?) in half an hour, will take 48 hours. Should be beautiful! Then 1-2 days to see Valley of the Kings before we have to return to Europe (life is so hard for me).

:)

(On this keyboard, that smiley face was a hell of an effort!)