Before I get into the shower story, some of you have asked where am I and when am I coming home. I'm currently in Aswan and just found out that my plane to Abu Simbel for tomorrow has been cancelled so I may stay here another day. Then on to Luxor, potentially stopping along the way, but I doubt it. Then either out to Sinai or just back in Cairo for a few days before returning home sometime between 12/20 and 12/25.

Sayid heats some water on the stove for me. I'm surprised but thankful that he doesn't have his wife get out of bed to do it. He mixes the water into a big metal pot that is in the bathroom next to the bath tub. A small plastic handled cup is there too and I'm told to use it to scoop out the hot water. I crouch in the bathtub and pour a glass of water over my head. It feels good after the desert dust but I'm immediately cold again. Each cup of water feels precious to me and I savor it. I pour a few cups over my head to wet my hair and carefully shampoo it. I'm cold without the water, but I'm afraid to pour too much over myself and use it up before I'm clean. There is a showerhead here but presumably it would be a very cold shower. I wet the rest of my body and luxuriate in each cup that I pour onto myself, shivering a bit in between. I slowly wash off the desert dust and grime. Cup by cup, I rinse off and then wrap myself in a thin towel, towel my hair , and oil my body. I feel surprisingly clean and refreshed.

Life is good. I appreciate such tiny things here. Things I would never give a half thought to at home -- a piece of bread, a slice of cucumber....everything seems amplified and perhaps more precious. But I'm out of time for now. Maybe I will write about getting lost here tomorrow.

Kayla (who is now known "gypsy" here in Aswan (due to my tendancy to wander off in the souq) but will probably be back to Layla in Cairo again. ;->