Bumps in the road, but hopefully smoothing out

We finally hit a snag today when it turned out there were no train tickets available for Friday or Saturday, no matter what time of day or class of train car (it's the end of the summer holidays and right before Ramadan, with many people moving around because of these). After much calling, negotiating, and drinking of tea in Mme. Amira's office, it was finally settled someone will drive us and our luggage to Abydos. All three of us are happy to have that settled now, after a long day of worrying.

Jane and Melinda slept much better last night now that they have working a/c unit in their room.

The weather was decent today, in the 90s again. However, the pollution is worse than I remember it having been 3 years ago, but this impression is probably because it's a lot hotter this time than last. We are looking forward to the clear air at Abydos and hope that it will not be too hot (the two closest major cities, Sohag and Luxor, have been about 95F and 105F, respectively; we're hoping for Sohag's weather!

Sept 5 Weather

The weather was remarkably pleasant (comparatively, at least) today, with a high of only 95 degrees (Fahrenheit; 35c). A very hazy morning turned into a sunny and mostly pleasant day, and we were very happy that it was not as hot as yesterday.

Arrived in Cairo

We arrived in Cairo as a rather sleepy group, but got through customs with only minor hassle over our survey equipment. Moving on to our hotel, we discovered that Jane and Melinda's room had a broken air conditioner, while Antonio was sitting pretty in a cool room all to himself.

The evening was spent wandering around downtown Cairo, jet-lagged and doe-eyed, in search of an old favorite restaurant, which we could not find. Eventually, we settled on Pizza Hut and took our pizzas back to Antonio's cooled room.

Jane and Melinda discovered that a shower without sufficient hot water isn't so bad when you don't have a/c, but ended up spending an uncomfortable night, sleeping only a few hours from a combination of the time difference, heat, and traffic noise. However, upon getting to the ARCE offices in the morning, we were happy to discover that the rest of our second day ran remarkably smoothly, with our permissions for work at El Amra now in-hand.

All-in-all, we are very pleased with our progress in Cairo so far and expect to depart for Abydos on Friday.

Last-minute prep.

This is my first post ever to this blog, but it must be brief, as I am still running around like crazy trying to get everything packed! We leave tomorrow afternoon. It's amazing how much stuff you discover you want to have with you for two months. More later...