Turn Left at the Camel...Rides Again!: Camels and Campari

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving Everyone!! I hope yours was full of family, friends and wonderful food… and maybe some football : ) Never fear I did get to celebrate Thanksgiving in Luxor and even had a turkey dinner that I think you will agree looks very similar to what we would eat back in the US of A… OK maybe minus the kebab. Our Egyptian colleagues were very upset however that this was not like a typical Egyptian feast/major party, i.e. there was no music and belly dancers after dinner. Maybe this could be a new tradition??

The great part about this Thanksgiving is that I got to celebrate it with Drew and our colleagues at Chicago House. What is a Chicago House you ask? It's the mission dig house for the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute. They've had a continual presence here in Luxor recording the sites since the 1920s. I'm sure Howard Carter had lunch at Chicago House at some point in his career, as did MANY other famous Egyptologists. It really is like stepping back into colonial Egypt. There's a beautiful open courtyard where we had appetizers and cocktails, then dinner in an enormous dining room… wing would be a better way to describe it…. and then pie and coffee in front of their massive fireplace. I understand it hasn't been lit in quite some time, but I did manage to snag it as the backdrop for an ARCE staff photo. (This is only a few of us btw.)

From L to R: Drew, me, our boss, John; our lead conservator, Khadiga; 3 of our archaeologists: Saad, Sayed and Mohamed Hatem; and the ARCE office manager, Adel

There is no such thing as Black Friday shopping in Egypt, so Drew and I opted to have a very lazy day recovering from the week and preparing for a big Saturday adventure… my first camel trek!! Before I bombard you with pictures, I have to admit prior to coming to Luxor and meeting the lovely people who took us on the camel trek, I did not like camels… I did not like them at all… I did not like them Sam I Am. The only camels I had experience with were at the pyramids and they were the dirtiest, smelliest, meanest looking things you'd ever want to come across. I am now proud to say that I have been reformed and am no longer a member of the camel haters club. This is all in thanks to Klaus and Claudia, our lovely hosts on our adventure. Klaus has loved camels since he was a little boy and living in Egypt on and off for the past 30 years has afforded him the opportunity to collect his own gaggle of camels. He is really something like a 'camel whisperer' and you can tell that the camels wouldn't have any other owner.

In any event, my camel for the day's expedition was Krum, while Drew got to ride the gigantic, stallion who Klaus refers to as "Big White".

Krum is very good at posing for pictures I found out

Big White getting ready for the journey

After loading up the camels with snacks, drinks and blankets, we headed out into the desert for a nice walk. It was only about half an hour out but that was more than enough for someone was not used to sitting on a camel! We rode out to one of Klaus and Claudia's favorite spots to watch the sunset and started setting up camp. Now for those of you who are not familiar with camels (and Drew and I certainly are not) we were in for quite a surprise once we unloaded everything off our four-legged friends backs. Turns out that camels LOVE to roll around in the sand of the desert… at times it looked like they were trying to make sand angels. There's no way I could very well describe what it looks like to watch a camel kicking its spindly legs all over the place as it plays in the desert, but hopefully the pictures will give you a better visual…

Camel play time!

When they're all done rolling around to their heart's content, they end up looking like this…

Since the camels were enjoying themselves so much, it seemed only fair that the adults should have some fun. So we set out a picnic of chips and Campari and then discovered that Klaus had brought along a boule (bocce) set! For the record, playing bocce in the desert is exactly what you would expect it to be… insane!