Falluca trip!

Sorry, in advance, for the fact that most of my posts about Egypt will probably involve more exclamation points than is necessarily conscionable.

So, I took a Falluca tour "from" Aswan to Luxor. A Falluca, as far as I can tell, is a beamy, tiller-steered river boat, used primarily in Egypt, with a single inverse gaff-rigged sail. The boat itself is a fairly interesting design, clearly suited to the river which brought about its design.
The wide beam lets it be stable, and easily beachable. It uses a retractable centerboard for better tracking upwind. The rudder is almost comically large, maybe to let it effectively use the river current as well as the boat's headway to change direction?
The sail is a complex rig, with a long, relatively flexible upper boom, and a lower gaff that acts mostly to stabilize and shape the sail. The upper boom sits on a short mast, with the boom itself giving the sail its height.
This is a useful, flexible solution to the problem of bridges overhead.

Now, to put the trip in more human terms: I was taken down the river (literally and figuratively, though more the latter) by a trio of 'captains' (I use the term very loosely, and beg the Admiralty not to take offense)

Having spent some time considering what went 'wrong,' I think the main problem is that you're supposed to go from Luxor to Aswan (up-river but down-wind), rather than vice-versa.

To make matters worse, I had signed up for 2 nights. After the first night, I was the Only. Person. On the boat.

Thus making any effective bargaining or pressure for more sailing time, direction, etc.
hopeless.

So, I gave in, and relaxed into the acceptance that this was going to be a pair of days where I did very litle than sit on a boat in the Nile.

And considering how incredible it was simply to be floating along on a river with such a rich history, it's hard to complain.

During the course of the trip, by either one of the captains or one of their hash-sucking buddies, I was offered, and turned down:
Pot
Hashish (at least twice)
Prostitutes
a conversion to Islam (I think.)

On the upside, just so you all don't think I had a horrid time (I really didn't. It was incredible, quite utterly incredible)
I also:
swam in the Nile (no deathitis yet!)
had fresh tea
got 3 square meals for the two days on the boat.
WAS ON THE NILE. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?!??!??

And, rather than visit a few temple-sites by Falluca, as had been my impression from the travel agent in Cairo, the Falluca couldn't have gone more than a few miles downriver from Aswan.
On the morning of the 3rd day, a small van picked me up on the side of the road, near some tiny village.
The Falluca folks received, from yours truly, far more tip than they deserved.
And I was off, to see a few temples along the Nile, and then to Luxor.

Luxor was amazing. Along with a small group, I got a tour of Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. There were many, many pictures taken, and both were incredible experiences.
That evening, I wandered Luxor for a bit, poked around the Souk and got gifts for a few people (and scored some cheap blank papyrus, which I'm excited to use someday for an art project or letters-to-people or something!)

Then got on a flight back to Cairo.

After the bootleginess of Cairo and the sketchiness of the Falluca 'captains,' I was really expecting, perhaps even hoping, that the flight would be some guy and his Cessna or something similarly sketchy. Really, I was expecting an airborne version of a Cairo taxi-ride back from Luxor.

Alas, it was a proper EgyptAir jet. I got back late-late-late, and went to bed. By this point, it was the 4th of July.