Get it whie it's hot

And hot it is, about 36 degrees celcius with a bright blue sky. I dind't realize how much I miss the sub untill I arrived here. I arrived around 20.00 on wednesday night, and the other 25 people coming from our plain queued up in line for the two travel agencies. I was told to go to the tiny bank office in the corner of the empty marble hall to get my visa from a reluctant Egyptian guy with no sense of humor. When I passed the other six guys who wanted to see my passport fr unknown reasons (why would a guy who oens the door chek my assprt?) I was greeted by Sara's husband, a youngish tiny Egyptian guy who is very polite. He used to be a dj but as moved over to acting recently. He deove me to the hotel, which is Sofitel, located a litte outside Luxor. The streets were less dusty then I remembered and dd speedbumos have appeared all over the place. What hasn't changed is that whole familie ride one motorcyce without helmets or shoes. Inbetween the cars, donkey carts, carriages with horses and people on foot make their way.

I'll post more about the danceclasses later. For now I want to address the shock on how empty Egypt is. We went to the souk on Friday night, and we were the only tourists there. It wad kind of spooky actually, the vendors tried to be polite in that pushy way vendors all over the world share. The peope here are desperate, as tourism is their only income. Next week our hotel will have 18 guests, while they have about 200 rooms. Everything is excellent and the men o out of their way to be polite and not ask for tips. So I decided to not be a tightfisted Dutchy during this holday, and I'm doing my best to stimulate the local economy. Extracurricular activities included a tourist dance sow at the Heisenberger hotel (nearly empty), a visit to the light and sound show in Karnak temple, we're going on a Felluka trip this night and I'm getting up at an ungodly hour toorrow for an early morning balloonride with sunrise ver the Nile. I am getting a massage on Wednesday before I leave and I got me a ghalabaya. I make it a habbit to tip as often as possible.

All that and dancing too! More on the dancing later, I have a great time and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it. The group is very nice, mostly Brittish ladies, and a remarkable amount of foreign Bittish people so we get by with a mix of whatever language we feel like. see you soon! I'll get back on Thursday and need a day to sleep and unpack, and I'll post a write up after that.

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