Sand on the Beach

The last time that I wrote you I was in the very hot and dusty city of Luxor, a couple hundred miles south of Cairo. I got a haircut right after and was shocked that the barber employed a method using fingers and string to pull all the hair out of my ears. I never thought I had an ear hair problem so maybe he was punishing me for something. In retrospect, I thought that Luxor was pretty sweet... cheap hostels, cheap food, and lots of side trips to choose from. I could have done a boat trip still but the raging heat drove me away to Cairo on the night train. I splurged for the sleeper cabin and arrived in Cairo rested and ready to tour with determination.

The first stop was at the Australian Hostel that I had stayed at before and would leave my bags with them. I recognized Mustafa at the front desk and after he joked about selling my bags (all the hostel operators make this tasteless joke) I set off for the Pyramids of Giza, the most famous landmark in Egypt and the only survivor of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. That's what I read at least, but isn't the Great Wall one of them? Whatever. I met several people along the way there since I took public transit and one of them,a high school teacher named Ackmed, followed me all the way there since his school was a few blocks away.

I'd heard good reviews of the camel tours of the Pyramids and determined that while it's sure to be expensive, it would probably enhance the experience and I was right on both accounts. The camel merchant that I was recommended to wanted $200 for a 3 hour tour and I got him down to $65 for a 2 hour tour. I feel like I might have been able to fight about it longer, but I wanted to catch the afternoon bus out of Cairo and I was out of time so I surrendered my wallet, chose a camel, and got my hump on ;) It came with a guide of course and he took me not only around the pyramids but also to a few scenic view points and knew where to take all the campy tourist photos for best effect. I knew the Pyramids were going to be large, but I was still blown away by the scale of them. Truly humbling. I saw the Sphinx too and it was pretty diminutive by comparison.

After the pyramids I raced back to the hostel to get my bags so I could catch the afternoon bus out of town but Cairo has horrific traffic and we were too slow. It's just as well, there was more to do in Cairo. I met an older man at the hostel that I knew from last week. Last week, he was suffering from Dysentery and could not go on any tours. It turns out that he spent the whole week holed up in the Hostel and saw nothing more than the Pyramids. That sucks for him, but a few days ago I picked up medication for Dysentery (Cipro) and I'm determined that if I get sick I'll be prepared, and until then I'll continue on eating and drinking all the local weirdness without fear. I also met Minna at the hostel and we set off to walk around 'Islamic Cairo' to see the market and mosques.

We sampled several drink stands on the walk to our destination and most of them were very nasty. The first tasted like muddy wheat grass and was poured from a large glass carafe strapped to a man's chest. The second drink was brown, cold, and very sweet... like a brown sugar smoothie. Not too bad but who knows what any of this stuff is called ;) Finally we got where we were headed and the mosques were great indeed. They were all free to enter and we ignored the guards asking for baksheesk (tips). The nearby market was overflowing with tourists and I was dragged towards several shops by aggressive touts. It's all part of the experience I suppose. Afterwards we ate and I got back to the hostel to retire early for my 7 AM bus ride.

The bus from Cairo to Dahab takes 9 hours, stopped only once for a bathroom break, and crossed some of the most inhospitable terrain I have ever seen. We basically followed the coast around the Sinai peninsula and had water on one side and craggy cliffs on the other. The mountains of Sinai are where Moses received the 10 commandments and are home to Bedouin nomads and not much else. As far as I could tell, not a tree or blade of grass has ever lived there and it made the deserts of Southern California look positively hospitable. I really thought it looked like the mountains on mars. Eventually we got to the fabled beach town of Dahab at 4 in the afternoon and I went to the Bishi Bishi Village hostel that Jowen was staying at. The rest of the crew got held up in a different town when all the ferries for the week were canceled for high winds. Anyways, Jowen, a new girl named Brandy, and I ate a fantastic seafood dinner that we had to persistently guard from a dozen very aggressive cats (one dinner guest's face was brutally attacked by several cats in front of us) and we drank the night away. Now it's the next morning and it looks like we're going to lounge by the beach, I'll work on a new song, and we'll find some way to spend the night. Next time I'll describe the town in more detail. Until then, stay safe from cats!