I have an Internet cafe in my hotel and since Aswan is a bit of a sleepy town, i actually have some time to write.

Since i arrived in Aswan, i have been bothered by seeing so many starving and sick horses. last night, i just lost it when a carriage driver was trying to get us to go for a ride. His horse was in horrible condition....its pin bones (above the rump) were clearly visible and you could barely see any flesh over his ribs. The horse also had open sores on his body. I yelled at the guy to feed his horse and said some other things about his horse being ill and starving. Bad move. Next thing I know the guy is following me down the street screaming at me that his horse isn't starving. I ducked into a shop, but he continued to harangue the people i was with, who ended up pissed off at me because the guy managed to thoroughly embarrass them.

Anne-Marie (an Australian) pointed out (rightly so) that: 1) it isn't my business; 2) it's another country and things are different here; 3) I did the horse no good at all; 4) it's just the way it is.

But i find myself today still bothered by all of the sick and starving horses that are just everywhere. Most of the tourists here don't seem to know what a hungry horse looks like and they find it fun to make the driver make the horse gallop. Today I talked about it with a guy here at the hotel. He says that in 2001 there will be some laws regulating the carriage drivers here. If they mistreat or starve their animal, they will take the animal away. Given how everything else works here, I'm not sure how much of that will actually happen....but its good to know the government is aware that there is a problem and is at least thinking about addressing it.

The discussion meandered from there to talking about how hard life is here. Many people survive on about 150LE/month (around $50) which I can't even begin to imagine. He says there are a lot of orphans here, but the government is trying to build places to house and take care of them. I'm now wondering whether some of the street kids i see have any home at all.

In other news, I'm staying at a lovely hotel for 30LE/night (about $8 or so) that serves up a nice breakfast with two kinds of local cheese, tea, bread, jam and butter included in the price. i have my own bathroom and it actually has TOILET PAPER included. Woo! But still no towels. Ohwell.

Ma-salaam
Kayla