Mimi and Kari's Egyptian Adventure - Day 6 Part 2

Near-Death on the Nile

We wrapped up Mom and Kari's visit with a felucca ride. One of our favorite ways to relax, always a good time, and you get to see a more peaceful side of Cairo. Well, this particular felucca ride was neither relaxing, peaceful, or much of a good time, I'm afraid.

We invited some friends to join us, and Beth and Jen came.

We had just climbed aboard our felucca, when my friend Jen jinxed us by saying, "I can already tell this is going to be the best felucca ride I've ever been on!" She and Beth had both brought snacks - I had forgotten all about snacks because we'd just had Luke's birthday cake. They busted out their delicious goodies and we nibbled on strawberries and chorizo, cheese, and crackers as the felucca man prepared our boat and then sailed us out to the middle of the river. Luke played while we chatted, took pictures, and enjoyed the cool air.



It was a much windier day than usual out on the Nile. I thought this meant we'd be able to sail and sail... We usually sail down the river to the part that looks like it could be where Moses was found in the rushes. I love it there. I was so excited for Mom and Kari to see it. Apparently all that wind meant we would go a hundred yards out into the river and stop. For an hour.


To pass the time, Jen had fun making Luke's little army men dance like Michael Flatley (Lord of the Dance).




We got out into the river and the boat started listing toward the side Jen, Beth and I were sitting on. We almost got dumped in! We ran to the other side of the boat. Not ONE minute after we moved, a 2-foot piece of wood broke off of the mast somewhere and came hurtling down into the felucca, landing right where Beth was standing minutes before. It seriously could have been a devastating turn of events. I think that shook all of us up, and we kept glancing up into the rigging to see if there were any more potential stakes through the heart headed our way.


Here we all are huddled in one corner of the felucca.

The felucca man tried to get us turned back toward shore, but after another twenty minutes of just sitting there, another felucca captain pulled his boat up next to ours and towed us in.

Not quite the experience I was hoping for for their last night here, but one Mom and Kari will never forget.

Plus Beth got her new nickname: Near-Death Beth!