2010/03/15

Egyptian interruption

I skipped last Monday's essay on Spain because I was on a cruise ship on the Nile, far from Internet connections and with other things on my mind. I'm writing up details of that trip on the Spanish-language blog (link below) that I share with my alter ego, Baltasar Lotroyo.

Our tour started in Aswan, whence some of us took a bus south (upriver) to Abu Simbel and the colossi of Ramses II. We then cruised downriver to Luxor, where we saw more remains of pharaonic, Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. From there we flew to Cairo, where we saw as much as you can see in three days -- we want to go back. More than that, Susana & I plan to study Arabic to get to know not only Egypt but the other countries speaking that language.

But not now. I have to avoid repeating an error that has has caused me great problems in the past: starting a new big project before I've completed the ones I have pending. That's why I took so long to finish my doctoral dissertation and many other things. Right now my biggest pending project is a book on Latin American architecture and urbanism, so if I take up any new language, it will have to be Brazilian Portuguese. Then, Arabic.

Same goes for smaller projects. Since I'm thinking and writing about Egypt this week, I'm suspending writing about Spain for now. I should have something thought-out about Spanish justice, or economy, or culture, to post next Sunday or Monday.

Our traveling companions were all (almost all) Spanish or Latin America. So that they can read my commentaries, I'm posting in Spanish. You can find them at Lecturas y Lectores.

Photo by Gilbert de Jong from Digital Wallpaper.

1 comment:

RD said...

I see you are going to all the places I love.