the nile river

September 1, 2008

Have you ever thought about the Nile? If so...what do you picture when you think of it? Do you picture it from Biblical times or in modern days? Dirty or clean? What color is the water? What do the banks look like? Are there boats on it? If so, what kind?

I'm not sure if I pictured the Nile before I saw it. What took me by surprise was that it, for the most part, looked exactly as I thought it should look like. I didn't have a reaction of, "I've pictured this in my mind and it looks just like I've pictured it." It was more like, "From what I've read in the Bible, this is what it should look like--just a little more modern. Wow."

KO and I rode along the Corniche (a road that usually goes along beaches, and in Cairo, goes along the Nile), on our way to meet up with friends. It was really my first real view of Cairo. But because we were riding alongside the Nile, I looked at it instead of the city. I was surprised to see the most modern buildings in Cairo, as well as skyscrapers were built right alongside the river. That I was not expecting.

But the lush green reeds along its banks...just as it should be.
The neighborhoods on both sides of it filled with green trees and foliage, despite Cairo being on the edge of the desert...just as it should be.
Quiet old boats with large sails drifting down the water at sunset...just as it should be.

We met up with our friends and all 12 of us boarded a boat called a felucca--a traditional Egyptian wooden sailboat. We had arrived right at dusk, and got to watch the sunset behind the buildings that line the Nile as we drifted along quietly on the water. For two hours, we just sailed along, barely noticing that we were moving, all of us having different conversations in small little pairs.

KO, who'd ridden a felucca many times during her life in Cairo, was sitting with me at one point. I looked out at the reeds that seemed to wave across the water to me. I imagined Moses' little basket stuck there, and him crying for someone to come get him out. KO and I leaned over and looked down at the water that was hitting the boat. "Can you imagine THIS turned completely to blood? (Exodus 7:14-21) Or filled with frogs? (Exodus 8)" I asked her. My imagination was swirling. It was my first time to be in a place from Scripture where God had done such miracles.

It was a wonderful, quiet night. So relaxing. So wonderful. If I lived in Cairo, I think riding in a felucca would be one of my happy places.

Interesting that the most peaceful two hours of my entire time in Egypt should be directly followed by the most terrifying hour. Maybe it was just a reflection of the Nile: green life-giving river that flows alongside the dry death-sands of the desert.

Click HERE for photos.