Cairo and the White Desert

We have been in Egypt for an entire week now. But first back to Maroc for a moment. Tangiers gets a bad rap... everyone and the guidebook told us to expect a seedy place with not much to offer except the ferries to Spain. But it was very nice. The beach, the scene, the medina. We were there for the last day of Ramadan and splurged and went to a bar for one very strong Vodka tonic and a beer for Rue. I think you could feel the seediness of the past in the ambience but it only inspires us to be ... hmmm... seedy ourselves. We walked for long times and found the cafe where Paul Bowles wrote one of his novels and we also saw where Tennessee Williams wrote a draft of Cat on A Hot Tin Roof... or so they say... we also spent hours in our tiny room on Rue de la Plage listening to the noise on the street and playing guitar and singing... it was sad to leave Maroc. We took a night train to Casablance the night before our flight to Cairo and before we left the station we discovered we had 2 stowaways under our seats. We decided we would be their accomplices as they were very funny sweet boys... only a quarter of a way into the trip they were discovered and kicked off... we felt bad. The train is separated into small cabins that sit 4 on each side... but we were alone in it so we sprawled and slept. Our bags were on the racks above our heads and I could see them from where we slept and Rue could see them from a mirror... I was awoken by a yell from Rue and I didnt know what was going on... being asleep and confused. Rue said a boy had his bag down from the rack with the door to the cabin open... we were both confused with sleep and did not think he could have possibly taken anything, especially because Rue's bag is tied in various McGyver ways so you cant open it easily, so Rue didnt go after him. It turned out later that he got his hand in and took our head lamps and Rue's slippahs... oh well.

In Cairo, the airport was even exciting. The streets are always busy and full of honking cars. We have been lucky to stay with Zeidan, a young photographer and his sweet sweet Korean friend Meeso. The first night we drove up to a moutain, Moatum, that overlooks Cairo and we smoked sheesha...aka the hookah. Cairo is massive. The second night we took a sunset Falukka ride on the Nile, a falukka is a sailboat and I may not be spelling it correctly. Then we had some dinner at a cool restaurant called Felfela, I had falafel, which was delicious and is not what they call it here... Rue had a bean dish called foul (pronounced fool)... and Stella... Egypts beer that they are very proud of. Then we went to a free show of Sufi dancing and music. The drums were enchanting but moreover the dancers that spin in circles for over and hour straight were hypnotic. They have these very heavy looking quilt skirts on that are very colorful and fly and twirl as they spin... and there are layers... that they take off one at a time to change the color scheme.

Sunday we were off to the Pyramids on our own... we were good at communicating with the taxi driver even though he didnt speak a lick of English and our Arabic is not progressing to rapidly. The fee to get into the pyramids is exhorbitant but we paid. We also got suckered into getting on a camel that Rue took a picture of... this camel was not very happy and was spitting up very nasty stuff... the guy practically kidnapped us and of course expected a hefty payment... I got pissed mostly for show to get the guy to leave us alone and let Rue off the camel... then later we took a nicer ride with another camel driver past the pyramids up the dunes to get a better view. The place is infested with tourists... very disrespectful tourists at that. It really is a shame... FYI... part of the tourist scams are like this... they take you on the camel and quote you a price, while you are on the journey they tell you that they cannot take you back to where you got on because the park has closed (which is true) and they will take you back to the Sphynx instead and then show you the Lotus and Papyrus museums but it will be double the price. Rue and I are no longer shy and know not to back down... by the way the forementioned museums are actually the camel driver's cousin's shops... we paid only the price that was quoted to us BUT we did buy some perfume oils and papyrus as souvenirs... HA! When we discovered that we had no more money to pay, the shop owner drove us pretty out of the way to the ATM... all very interesting but the ride made our taxi ride home shorter.... I think. That night we made sandwiches for everyone and drank beer and sang Karaoke at Zeidan's house.

Monday was pretty uneventful but Zeidan took me to a very cool bookstore and a pub that was also very cute and Tuesday morning, very early we set off for the Bahariya Oasis where we would meet Talat at his Eden Garden Camp... We stayed in a lovely and cute hut with a bed and a fan... there was an outdoor Gazebo-like lounge in the center of the camp that was trimmed with local rugs and pillows and is where we ate HUGE meals and well... lounged. It was not like I expected. I thought we would have to rough it... but that was not the case at all...

The second day there, after breakfast, we set off with our driver Ahmed and cook Aiman, in the land cruiser... into the desert. driving and stopping all day for pictures and lunch... There were massive slopes of sand that we ran on... well I decided against surfing them while Zeidan and Rue returned VERY out of breath. I was amazed that the Land Cruiser drove over the sand with such ease (it did get semi-stuck sometimes) and also at the different colors and landscapes that the Sahara has to offer. We arrived at the White Desert just before sunset and had to do nothing to set up camp... they wouldnt let us help! SO we climbed the huge sculpture like rocks and explored until the most magnifiscent dinner was served... It was so delicious... in the middle of the Sahara desert! Then we sat around the fire and drank beer and tea... there was a cute little fox that came to visit us as well... he got very close.. then we slept under the stars. We awoke early to the blazing sun and again had breakfast in the shade of the roof less tent and the truck and then we headed back... we decided to stay another night at the Eden Garden Camp and relax with Talat and a group of his Bedouin musician friends.... Talat invited Rue and I to come live on the camp for free in exchange for some help around the camp and with the English speaking tourists... we told him we would return again one day soon.

We are back in Cairo now... and tonight we will try to board an overnight train to Aswan.

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