The highlights of Egypt were not the tombs, the temples or even the pyramids and the Sphinx.  It was the people .  The young men that leave school early to drive the boats, walk the camels and work in the shops in order to help provide for their families.  The young girls in their traditional dress with baseball caps on top of headdresses and the women carrying their produce on their heads.  It was the Yusseff - my landlord and taxi driver who spent days helping me retrieve lost luggage and passport.  His son Abdo - the young man who took me to his home where I was treated to one of the largest and most delicious meals I have ever had cooked by his aunt.  She must have cooked all day and was too shy to have her photo taken until everyone else succombed to the lure of the camera.  It was having the opportunity to help steer a felucca down the Nile and having Yusseff's wife Julie wash my feet in its waters.  If I recall the words, those that wash their feet in the Nile will have their lives altered forever - and such has definitely been the case.  It was a trip across the White Desert by taxi accompnied by Tayeb ad his son Abeelee where I swam in the oasis and slept under the stars covered only with a blanket.  It was the shopkeeper who filled my bag with produce and then - when I couldn't find my money - told me to come back tomorrow and pay him then.  It was spending the day watching young men pour a cement floor on a third story building using ropes and pulleys and the donkey that pulled the antiquated (by western standards) equipment to the work site.  Check out the page on Egypt - soon to come .  There will be pictures and means of contacting some of these people in case you also would like to experience Egypt through the eyes of the people that actually live and work therre rather than in large and luxurious hotels that do NOT reflect the everyday life of the people.