We're now in Luxor and I have an internet connection that seems to be working! Yay! Sorry for the drought of messages, but we've been traveling through Middle Egypt, from Cairo south to Luxor, by car. This is NOT a tourist area and there's really no infrastructure to support tourists. We stayed two nights in Minya and one night in Asyut--both are University towns. People in Minya were really surprised, and delighted (in a curious way) to see us. We really turned a lot of heads as a lot of them, our guide explained, had probably never seen a Westerner except on TV. Even on the hotel grounds, which were lovely, there was only "local" people as overnight guests and they were all very interested in watching us. It was a little unnerving but we knew they meant no harm and weren't trying to be rude. The night we were there was the Coptic Christmas (January 7) and our hotel and other nearby hotels and wedding reception facilities were having Coptic Christmas entertainment--not religious in the slightest, but the holiday is celebrated by the local Christians and so these establishments try to offer them something fun to do. They had live music in the streets in front of the venues with shows to help attract customers. Our guide had said that we shouldn't walk around outside the hotel without him since we would attract a lot of attention. When I heard the music, I thought it might be a parade or street party. Our guide, Amhed, and I went outside to see what was going on and it was a group of performers in front of the hotel next door. When they saw I had my video camera, some of them came over and hammed it up for me. Of course, they wanted a tip in return. It was a lot of fun! I can't upload the video since I don't have permission to use their images, but I'd really like to post it for you. Too bad. :-(