We had just one group to visit on Monday, but I was really looking forward to seeing where those wonderfully soft Egyptian cotton scarves and shawls are made.

The Nagada weavers were about an hour’s drive from Luxor and we hired a van to take us there. While Luxor is filled with tourists, they don’t go where we were headed We knew there would be checkpoints and though security keeps track of foreign travelers for our own safety, sometimes their good intentions keep you from going where you need to go! Sure enough, the driver and Amr had to do a lot of persuading to get permission for us to pass. We got to the village and made the requisite number of phone calls and inquiries for directions and finally saw Mariam waving to us from the street. We followed her to her family home where we met the people behind my favorite Egyptian craft—Mariam, her sister, and their elderly parents, all weavers. There were two looms in a back room, low to the ground, and when I looked at the women weaving I realized they were sitting in holes in the floor so they could operate them. Mariam demonstrated how the cotton threads are spun onto bobbins. She told us that she buys the different colors in Cairo and decides what stripes and checks will sell. She is a very smart business woman and it is a testament to her father and the rest of the family that she is given this responsibility for their business. They hire others from the village as weavers, finishers (tying fringe), and ironers. They pay good wages and charge fair trade prices for the products so they can continue to do that.

The parlor table was loaded with samples of scarves and shawls in every imaginable color and stripe. We all purchased some and I bought a nice variety to show shop owners back home.

When we got back to Luxor we were hungry and looking across the street from our hotel I saw the Oasis Café—where I had eaten on my one previous visit to Luxor.Ilooked on down to the corner and there was the Presbyterian church. Suddenly I felt like a Luxor veteran! Denise and I walked down the corniche and back after lunch. It was hot but we just strolled. Fending off the offers of taxi and horse drawn carriage rides (all the drivers baffled when we turned down offers to get out of the heat!) we made our way back to the hotel where we cooled down and rested.

A really nice day.