When the archeological team showed up and spared us a 30-mile desert walk, we thought it'd be easy sailing to Bahariyya, our next oasis. Almost.
Pascal and I drove 10 minutes into the desert with the archeologists, where they pitched their tents and made camp for the night. Meanwhile, one of the cars drove Fathy to the next military checkpoint while Sayeed guarded the Land Rover.
The plan was for us to eat dinner with the archeologists, a team of scientists right out of an Indiana Jones casting call. When the car arrived from Bahariyya for us, Fathy and Sayeed (who stayed at the Land Rover) were to come pick us up.
Dinner was a sumptuous feast as we swapped our desert stories. The scientists all agreed that our guides were most likely insane, and they were very interested to hear from us the exact locations of some mummies we had spotted in several tombs in the desert which they had not been aware of (hey, maybe we led to an archeological discovery!)
But come nightfall, no Fathy.
As everyone bedded down for the night in their respective tents, Pascal and I were left with no real place to sleep.
We both tried the cabin of the two 4x4s, but only Pascal was able to bear it for the entire night. The back seat was already taken on each, so that left only the front bench seat, which was so ridiculously cramped, uncomfortable and requiring of acrobatic contortions in order to fit our six foot plus bodies as to cause permanent insomnia.
The worst offender on these seats, apart from the steering wheel and a stack of cantaloupes in the passenger side foot area, were the seat belt clamps, which jutted out like blunt spikes without any way to bend them down or push them aside.
After half an hour of bizarre contortions worthy of a circus act, I couldn't handle it any more and went outside in search of a place to sleep under the stars. The problem was that this was the windiest night we'd seen yet, blowing sand everywhere, with unusually cool evening temperatures.
To avoid some of the wind's impact, I laid down in the sand next to the 4x4's front left wheel, my feet pointing forward in the same direction as the car and the wind directly behind me.
This was a more rocky area so I had to dig out a little sleeping area with my hands to remove the dozen or so fist-sized rocks. I threw on an extra T-shirt, wrapped yet another one around my head so that only my eyes and nose were visible (I looked like a ragged terrorist, I'm sure) and used my pack as a pillow.
Between the howling wind, the sand that seeped in to every nook and cranny of my clothing and the bone-chilling temperatures, this wasn't the most luxurious evening on record. But it sure beat an 8-hour thirty mile walk!
Fathy and Sayeed did make it to the camp in the early morning (apparently, the replacement car came in at 3:30 AM, and it would have been impossible to find us at night in the desert).
We drove the remaining 120 miles to Bahariyya, and I fired Fathy when we got there at 10:30.
By 1:30, we'd found another guide (Badry) and went off into the Sahara again in the direction of the next oasis, Farafra.
The next three days in the desert were absolutely fantastic. Badry was a superb guide, and in addition to small remote Bedouin villages we saw some of the most spectacular desert scenery to date.
The White Desert north of Farafra has these chalk-white rock formations right out of a fantasy movie, creating surreal windblown shapes (camels, rabbits, chickens, etc.) that were a constant source of surprise and wonderment. As our guidebook stated, in any other country with less natural wonders, these would be an international attraction. You'll have to see the pictures.
We returned to Cairo in the evening and promptly checked out the Pyramids and Sphinx first thing the following day. By camel. (Thank God we didn't do a week on camel back—apart from being painfully slow these creatures are downright uncomfortable.)
Contrary to popular opinion, the Pyramids were not built by slaves. Rather, they were built by skilled laborers from all over Egypt (many of them most likely farmers in their off-season), who took great pride in their work. It's also interesting to note that while the Pyramids now you can see the stair-step construction of the tan stones, these were originally covered from top to base with smooth white polished stone—you could have rolled a quarter from the tip to the base without it jumping once. In fact, some of this stone is still intact on one of the Pyramids.
An overnight 10-hour train ride later, we visited the temples and ancient tombs of Luxor, including those of Ramses, Tutenkhamen (King Tut), Nefertiti and Nefertari. These had absolutely stunning carved and painted hieroglyphics wall-to-wall in the tunnels and chambers that led to their sacred burial places.
Back in Cairo, we made the obligatory visit to the Egyptian Museum (groan). I'm typically not big on museums, but if someone were to twist my arm I'd admit that this museum does include an impressive array of artifacts, from giant stone columns, statues and sarcophagi to tiny pieces of ancient gold jewelry.
Considerably more interesting than the museum (in my humble opinion) is the great market of Cairo, the Khan al-Kalili. Spread over a several “block” radius of ancient stone streets, some barely wide enough to extend your arms in either direction, the thousands of shops that clutter this labyrinth of retail sell everything from fine jewelry to kitsch to exotic spices and belly dancing costumes.
It's a total blast. The crowds. The merchants and touts. The aromas. The narrow winding alleyways. Naturally, I thoroughly indulged in the art of bargaining, perhaps enjoying that even more than the actual products I was buying!
Last night we went to a belly dancing show, and it was simply unbelievable. This woman must've been on drugs to be able to move that fast for that long. It was downright hypnotic—neither Pascal nor I noticed when they brought out our food, even though we hadn't eaten in over 12 hours! So I've come to the conclusion that belly dancing classes should be mandatory for all women from the time they're able to walk (heh, heh) ;-)
While the first half of our vacation was entirely focused on adventure travel, the latter half has focused a lot more on cultural discovery and exploration. Not as many colorful stories to tell, but some great pictures! ;-)
In a few hours we head back home, our Egyptian odyssey safely behind us.
Cheers!
Gabriel
