Betrayal

You are still in Aswan. You have been here for two days, but you already feel you should leave or switch hotels. Shortly after you wake up, you are greeted by waves of cool air. One of your Japanese roommates paid extra to have air-conditioning for one day. You decide to stay inside today- at least until it cools down outside. After that, your task is to locate the recommended captain of a felucca boat.

A felucca trip is an essential experience if traveling in Egypt. The felucca itself is a small sail boat. One can take it on a one-hour trip around Elephantine Island or Philae, or down-river from Aswan to Kom Ombo on a two-day cruise. The latter is the trip for which you are searching, but you must first find the hotel.

You are unable to locate the hotel with the suggested captain, so you decide to ask another hotel nearby if they know him. They say yes but he is not in business anymore, and they would be more than happy to offer you the felucca package available from their hotel. You decline after the quoted price is more than the one from your own hotel. So you decide to return and inquire from there.

Back in your hotel, you foolishly make it known that you sought help from another place. Suddenly, the receptionist, who was so nice to you in the beginning, has turned sour. Nevertheless, he says he will look into a felucca trip for you. You retire back to your room for some air-con relaxation, only to discover that the electricity doesn’t work- again. You spend a few hours watching a movie in the lounge area outside of your room. Later, you are approached by your two Japanese roommates and engage in a conversation which results in the decision to go out for pizza. Upon returning to the hotel, the light still does not work. The three of you ask the receptionist to fix it.

The receptionist waddles up the stairs,
“Oh, by the way, Sara, I checked for you about the felucca trip.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. They are all full.”
I see.

Apparently, your welcoming receptionist feels you have betrayed him. He has turned against you. You no longer feel you can ask him for or about anything. Suddenly you feel extremely uncomfortable here. You decide not to take a felucca. You also feel you should switch hotels. You start looking into other options, but none sound promising.

In the meantime, you still have some sight-seeing to do here, so the next morning, you wake up, pack a day-bag, and cross to the West Bank, via public ferry, to visit the Tombs of the Nobles. Here there are tombs of revered men from ancient Elephantine. Surprisingly, there are few visitors today. You are able to roam around relatively hassle-free. There are six tombs which have been preserved and labeled, but there are numerous other nooks and crannies available to explore- so, you do.

If someone had taken the time, thought, and dedication to properly preserve and excavate these tombs, the West Bank could be a series of easily-navigable, vast, underground channels, which could take years to fully search through. In reality, however, the only dedication made has been marked in the sand by human-produced liquid and the only time taken has been that to fill the emptied tombs with layers of rubbish. You carefully choose the ones you enter. You find piles of bones, bats and their droppings, trash, and creepy, dark spaces. One tomb that you enter stretches further than your flashlight can see. Inside, a cold feeling crawls over your skin. It says you should leave. Physically, you could have gone further, but you get scared about what you might find- or what might find you.

The last sections you visit are joined tombs of a father and son, each with a long flight of stairs leading up to the entrance. Instead of returning the same way you came, passing by key-jingling guards, you decide to descend one set of these stairs. You do not believe anyone uses these steps today, as they have deteriorated over time, but you imagine that someone devotedly walked up and down them, every day, in order to visit a loved one. Your visit ends with a peaceful stroll along the bank of the Nile. A cool breeze sweeps the surface and accompanies your slow ride back to the East Bank.

Upon returning from your four-hour excursion on the other side, you drink some fresh fruit juice, take a nap and a shower, and find some food. You come back to your room, and the light does not work. This time the receptionist’s solution is for you to switch to a room with a working light. For this room, there is one lock with two keys. After you have set up your new space, you receive a phone call convincing you to take a felucca trip- no matter what. You are given new information about the location of the hotel you could not find. You plan to stay here until you achieve this goal.

Later on, you go out for another pizza with your roommate. You each take a key, and when you return,

“Sara! Why did you take the other key? This man has been sleeping on this couch for an hour! Do you think that is fair?”
“Maybe you should make another key.”

Need a plan. Need a change. Need to leave. Need escape.

Need to be continued...