The SLOW Ferry

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Sunday July 30, 2006 - Woke up around 7am this morning to make sure I could get everything done that I needed to and be ready to leave for the bus to the ferry to Jordan at 10am. I finished packing, no small feat, and walked over to the bank. They were still closed but I went to the ATM and withdrew some money so I could change it for American dollars to pay for the ferry and also some Jordan dinar, so I would already have some upon entering Jordan. Went back to the hotel and paid up for the week and then walked back to the bank to change the money. Turns out they don't change Egyptian punds into anything - just anything into Egyptian pounds. So I went back to the hotel and he arranged for about $66 worth of changing to occur. Meanwhile, I met Maurits, a Dutch traveler I had met briefly my first night in Dahab, as he was checking into the hotel upon arriving from Israel. I hadn't seen him once that entire week after that, but we were both leaving for Jordan on the same bus/boat so we started chatting. He was lounging about having a relaxing breakfast, and I was running around in high speed mode, locking myself out of my room and buying a peach iced tea in case they didn't sell them in Jordan. I'm sure he thought I was a freak at best.

At 10am we loaded up in the minivan and we told that the "others" didn't show up so we could either pay more money for the private ride or they would take us to the public bus. I couldn't pay more so I was ready to go to the bus, but my new Dutch friend forked over the rest and away we went. Spent the next hour chatting it up, talking over the roar of the wind through the minibus. We finally arrived at the port and got dumped off without knowing where to go. We walked in the direction of the boat and got to a guy who wanted to see our tickets and passports. We didn't have tickets so he sent us packing over to the ticket office far far away. It was hot and sunny, like every other day in Egypt, so far away mattered.

We finally found the ticket office and got in line and waited until someone finished his tea and was ready to work again. In this time, the line ahead of grew longer somehow, as it always does in Egypt. Maurits had no dollars so I paid for him with the understanding that he would pay me back in dinar when we arrived in Jordan. Somewhat risky but he seemed nice. In line we decided we would take the slow ferry instead of the more expensive fast boat, since I had heard that they arrive at the same time anyway. When it was actually our turn, I handed over our passports and money and we got our tickets in triplicate. Walked back towards the boats and started to walk towards them when someone asked me if we had gotten our exit stamps yet. We said no and had to get in line for this as well. A really long line. That didn't move. Some other foreigners got in line behind us, and the Koreans who were behind us for tickets were also there. After waiting for 45 minutes or so, some random guy gathered up all the tourists and we cut in front of all the Arabs and got our passports stamped. I'm not sure why, but at least it got us out of line. Then we just had to sit anyway. By this time it was about 1pm and we waited until 2pm or so to get on the boat. There were people splayed out everywhere, on benches, on the floor. It was a madhouse. All the other tourists were on the fast boat, and said we should have been too. Well, too late now. We then had to board a bus to get to the boat that was within walking distance. Silly.

Maurits and I got on the boat and walked up to the shady deck and sat down. We expected the boat to leave soon, but no. We watched peole get on and cars and trucks load on for hours. We finally left around 4:45pm, just as a white tip reef shark was swimming next to the boat. We spent the rest of the day sweating our butts off, drinking water and some sodas, eating cookies, chips, and chocolate. It was hot and sweaty and uncomfortable, but I was glad to have someone nice to talk to the whole time.

The boat finally docked sometime after sunset, maybe 9pm. But could we get off? NO. Ridiculous amounts of waiting time after that, followed by someone telling us we were supposed to get our passports stamped on the boat, which we didn't know, so now we would have to wait until everyone was off the boat before the official would take us to get the stamp on shore. Unbelievable. So we played chess for a while and eventually left the ship anyway. But we were duly stopped upon exiting, as were the only two other tourists, and had to wait until everyone else really was off. Then we had to wait some more while they stamped us into Jordan. While we waited, we saw whole families walked by with the biggest luggage I have ever seen. It was amazing. Afterwards we had to bargain with a taxi to bring us to town, which took forever. We finally checked into a dirty hotel in a dorm room with the other two tourists, one from Poland and one from Japan. Both nice guys. At midnight we check in and went for some dinner. Ended up at a juice shop where I had a mixed juice and then we got schwarma sandwiches. Went back to our hotel and showered and then tried to get some sleep. It was uncomfortably hot in the room and when I opened a window, a cat jumped in. I put it out and it came back and then tried to bite me. So I opened the door and let it out into the hotel. Maurits and I laughed about it and tried to get some more sleep.

Longest day ever.

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