Field Report 4:
Cairo, Egypt - June 6, 1998

From the Nile Hilton Cyber Cafe, midnight

By Chris Kostman

 
Hello friends!

I'm here, in Egypt, "land of the pharoahs." After making a connection in NY enroute, I slept most of the way here. When I finally opened my window shade, I looked out upon the Greek island of Crete. The last time I was there was in early 1981, after visiting Egypt for the first time as part of a 13 month, 25,000 mile road trip with my parents and brother. Anyway, less than an hour after seeing Crete today, the window view contained the great pyramids of Giza, just on the outskirts of Cairo. Then it was down to the airport at Heliopolis and into town after being met by Dr. Cheryl Ward, the Archaeological Director of the Sadana Island Shipwreck Project and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology–Egypt. Cheryl just accepted a tenure-track position as professor of nautical archaeology at Texas A&M-Galveston which begins this Fall. It was Cheryl who invited me to work on this exciting project here in Egypt.

Of course, as usually happens, our project permits are being held up, so the team is cooling its collective heels either here in Cairo or up in Alexandria for a few days. Seven of us are staying at a small motel in Garden City, a stone's throw from downtown's Tahrir Square, the Nile Hilton (where I am now in a Cyber Cafe), and the fabled Egyptian Museum. From my room's balcony is a view the Nile, nearing the end of its long run from deep, dark Africa to the Mediterranean. I might mention that my room costs 56 Egyptian Pounds with breakfast and dinner, which at the current exchange rate of 3.41 makes about 16 bucks a night.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we'll do a little tour of Cairo's medieval city (a mere 1,000 years old or so, give or take a century) and world famous Khan al-Khalili Bazaar, then on Monday we'll hire a taxi for the day to visit some out of town pyramid sites such as Dahshur (home of the Bent Pyramid) and Saqqara (home of the prototypical Step Pyramid). Tuesday, if all goes as planned, about 17 of us will caravan in two Land Rovers, a truck, and a minivan to the site.

Where's that? Well, if I told you, I'd have to kill you, but I can say that we drive east, then south along Egypt's East Coast along the Red Sea to the general vicinity of Hurghada and Safaga. There we will stay in a local hotel while our work permits, hopefully, clear. We'll pass the time with some recreational diving. I know, life's rough. Once the permits clear, we'll set up our large tents and equipment on the beach, some 5 miles from the nearest road. T'wil be rustic!

It remains to be seen how and when I'll be posting email updates to all of you and to the website, but I'm sure I'll figure something out. Until then, know that I'm happy to be here and very appreciative of the support you've all shown me.

Warm regards,
Chris Kostman
 

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