A month into Egypt, like almost everyone, I got sick. Only my story involves a bit of performance. The morning after arriving in Luxor I woke up feeling queazy and was soon was clearly sick. However, I foolishly decided to go ahead and move forward with the planned visit to the Karnak temple. The temple is huge and overwhelming. It did not help that the sun was beating down and I was very dehydrated after my episode of “sickness” in the morning. By the time we reached the great hypostyle hall I also felt claustrophobic. Before I knew it, my vision was fading, everything became very loud and fuzzy, and I passed out. Luckily my Aunt Mirabell was with me, an ambulance arrived, and I was taken to the hospital. I probably could have walked out of the temple, but the paramedics took me through on a stretcher like some sort of sacrificial object. I actually was laughing while this was happening even though I felt horrible. I stayed there overnight and was hooked up to an IV. They think it was something I ate because my white blood cells were up and apparently I also have kidney stones from eating too many small tomatoes?! There were a few things lost in translation from arabic to english… but the most important thing is that I am feeling a lot better and almost every foreigner gets sick at some point during an extended stay in Egypt. I was just sad that it meant I missed all the great sights in Luxor. I do not want to imagine what this experience would have been like solo, so I am very thankful I had my aunt with me. I am going to start drafting the plans to build her a temple in the Valley of the Queens.