Advertisement
Published: January 9th 2006
This entry wraps up my time in the Sinai, with the exception of the ride back to Cairo, which probably deserves its own special entry. But I'm getting ahead of myself....
Sunrise in the Sinai
The Dutch guy and I awoke at 3am to watch the sunrise from a nearby mountain (actually, he awoke; I hadn't slept a wink the entire night). We walked through the silent village with planets and stars shining brightly overhead, and climbed one of Mt. Sinai's subpeaks to avoid the hordes of tourists. As expected, we had the peak to ourselves, with the exception of a deserted Coptic Christian chapel standing silent guard at the top. In the valley I could see Bedouin campfires burning, and the moonlight cast an ethereal glow over everything. Shooting stars streaked across the sky. It was, in a word, amazing.
Gradually the eastern horizon brightened, and the moonlight lost its influence to the approaching sun. For a half hour or so the sky brightened more and more, teasing us, until finally the sun came up above the horizon and threw a deep orange tint on everything. It reminded me of sunrises in the Australian Outback.
I was completely exhausted by this point and resolved to spend the rest of the day lounging in camp and trying to get some sleep.
Egyptian efficiency
In the evening I went back to the bank in town to try and get some cash. Yesterday I had arrived at 4pm, and the guard said "It's closed, come back at 6". So I did, whereupon the clerk inside said without explanation "No credit card advances today. Come back tomorrow right at 6pm."
So I dutifully showed up the next day at the bank at 6pm sharp, and the guard said "It's closed, come back at 6:30." I asked how long it would be open for; he shrugged his shoulders. I had to laugh; this was approaching Russian/Soviet-esque customer service levels.
I came back at 7pm, and lo and behold, the clerk took a credit card reader machine from a drawer, hooked it up to the phone line, and I got my cash advance. Why he couldn't do this the day before, I had no idea, and didn't feel like asking.
Such experiences are common here. Places close, places open, who knows when, and it may take you a day or two to do a simple task that you take completely for granted back home.
Tea time
Part of the ritual in our camp involved ingesting vast quantities of high-octane tea with the Bedouin, lazing away the evening hours (the caffeine probably didn't help my insomnia). My last night there we had an interesting discussion over tea; the actors were a Hungarian, the Dutch guy, two Bedouin, and myself. Topics of conversation ranged all over, but eventually (and inevitably) came to terrorism (in the Sinai), Israel, and September 11... touchy topics among some, but in the collegial atmosphere of the tea room, no voices were raised and no shouting occurred.
One Bedouin was completely easygoing, and proposed setting up a country with no passports, no police, and practically no government. He was a "can't we all just get along" kind of person. The other Bedouin, a Sheikh as it turned out, was intensely interested in me, the American. He peppered me with questions about the U.S., and when talk turned to September 11, he put forth the usual conspiracy theories: the Israelis did it ("no Jews were killed that day" he said), and so on. He then asked me all kinds of questions about the Mossad (Israeli intelligence); I think he was convinced I was an Israeli agent (after all, what American speaks Arabic?). It probably didn't help that the other (easygoing) Bedouin said "You look like you have some Israeli blood. Your eyes are too strong for an American's". Resembling an Israeli is not something I particularly aspire to here in the Middle East...
The other thing that struck me from this conversation was how the Bedouin do not call or consider themselves "Egyptian" -- they draw a clear distinction between themselves and "Egyptians". For example, we tried to pay after our first night there, and the easygoing Bedouin said "Ah, don't worry about it. I trust you. Now if you were Egyptians, I would make you pay beforehand every night." I think I could spend a lifetime here and not learn all of the intricacies and divisions between the different groups.
This wraps up my time in the Sinai, with the exception of my attempts to leave it and return to Cairo. Stay tuned...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.13s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0426s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Skiff
non-member comment
Interesting
Interesting stuff. Since you never take any pictures, it's good to hear what kind of stuff you're experiencing. I always knew you were an agent of some kind, but I guess I didn't peg you for Mossad.