Wider Image: The Hot Sand Baths of Siwa
A worker helps a patient covered with a blanket to go to a sauna-like tent after he was removed from the hot sands where he was buried in Siwa, Egypt, August 12, 2015. In the searing heat of summer in western Egypt, at the hottest time of the day, sufferers of rheumatism, joint pain, infertility or impotence lie buried neck-deep in the sand of Siwa near Dakrour Mountain. Locals say taking a sand bath is a natural therapy with powers to cure many medical conditions. Patients relax in the shade before treatment, which includes massages by the feet of health workers after they submerge their patients up to their neck in the desert. Patients drink mint tea in tents following the treatment. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih PICTURE 15 OF 24 FOR WIDER IMAGE STORY "THE HOT SAND BATHS OF SIWA". SEARCH "ASMAA SIWA" FOR ALL IMAGES