Egypt Exodus

I interrupt the chronological order of our blog to report on our time in Egypt.  Interesting to say the least..

Well, we landed in Egypt on the worst possible day – January 27.  The demonstrations against the ruling president – Hosni Mubarak (who had been in power for 30 years) started to escalate.  I guess Egypt Air’s mandatory shrink wrapping of our luggage before boarding in South Africa should have been our first clue.

Since we arrived early in the morning, we slept most of the first day and went on a Nile dinner cruise the first evening. The next morning our guide, nicknamed “Sheco”, an Egyptologist  now working on his masters degree in Egyptian Mythology and the driver Mohammad, picked us up at the hotel.  We were fortunately able to go to the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx, Sakkara, the Papyrus museum and the perfume factory.  The kids also got another camel ride at a place they called the “panoramic” which was a fabulous view of the three pyramids in Giza.  At this point we knew the cell phones were not working and that this would be a big day for demonstrations as it was Friday – which is considered their holy day and part of the weekend.  I found it completely bizarre that everyone would participate in the noon prayers and then turn around start fighting. On the drive back to the hotel, Sheco told us that the Egyptian museum was closed today in anticipation of what might happen. We did have to go through several police blockades during the day, but it did not seem that out of the ordinary and they let us through without a problem. 

When we returned to our hotel at 5:30pm, that is when we knew things had gotten worse.  The one thing I will say about Egyptians is that they are a very nice and friendly people.  They bend over backward for their tourists (40% of Egypt’s income) and want to make sure you have been satisfied with everything.  On the other hand they do not want to tell you bad news.  This was the only time I felt at a disadvantage for not speaking Arabic.  We could see that every TV in the city was on and people gathered around to watch the news.  They told us there was a curfew starting at 6:00pm and that the country’s internet had been cut off by the government, along with the cell phones.  There was only about five minutes until curfew, so they moved us to a new hotel nearby (we were supposed to be on an overnight train to Aswan) and told us the train station was closed.  The hotel was about a block away from our other hotel, but it was safer as our first hotel was on a major road and was under construction so really had no doors.  The hotel staff were extraordinarily  accommodating, considering that they themselves were not able to travel home to their families and their country was in such turmoil.  Our guide for the transfer to Aswan (also named Mohammad) stayed at the hotel overnight and while he was not updating us as frequently as we might have liked (presumably as the news was bad) he and the operator of the tour guide company, Samuel, did work hard behind the scenes to make sure we had a plan.

Fortunately we were able to get CNN and BBC in our hotel room, so we were up to date on what was going on. That first night that we were stuck in our room the violence started to escalate, but we felt safe and not at all worried even though we could hear the tear gas going off.

The next morning after waiting to be contacted by the tour company, they were only able to tell us that the airport and train stations were still closed and that they would contact us again at 5:00pm.  However, around noon, we got another call.  We were told that the best thing to do was to get out of Egypt.   We were trying to decide where to go, but the tour company arranged for us to go to Dahab, which we were told is a resort city about an hour and a half farther than Sharm el Sheikh (which is where we were planning on going) in Sinai.  They arranged for us to take an 8 hour bus ride tomorrow (Sun Jan 30) at noon.  The plan (“God willing” as the Muslims say) is that the riots will be over before we fly to Israel on Feb. 7.  I do remember my friend Carol telling me that she went from Sinai to Israel and walked over the border, so presumably that is a viable option if things do not calm down in Cairo.

We managed to get out at lunch to go to a nearby restaurant.  There were groups of people (generally four to eight people) congregating on every corner.  We could see stores preparing against looters by building brick walls in front of their shops.  We saw people hording food which reminded me of preparing for hurricanes in Bermuda. The grocery store near our hotel was full of people and trying to close, but people were still just pushing in past the poor guy that was trying to tell people they were closed.  The ATM machines were out of order and we learned later that the banks had closed.

Later, as we sat in our hotel (in Giza which we didn’t realize was so close to the action) we were able to hear more frequent and louder gunfire as well as occasionally hearing the chanting and cheering of protestors. We were able to get a glimpse of military vehicles from our hotel room.  The kids were very good about being stuck in a hotel room for so long.  About every 30 minutes or so we would hear a loud noise and someone would yell “tank” and we would all run to the window to try and see it. We were not at all concerned about the protesters as we understand their frustration with their government, but we were concerned about other armed looters and criminals that this kind of unrest brings.  We have heard on CNN that 1000 inmates from a Cairo prison have escaped.  So we sit in our hotel room watching the news, listening to the gunfire and hoping the death toll does not rise any higher.  Sadly, we see on TV that some antiquities have been disturbed, but they did manage to get the military to guard the museums. The kids are very disappointed to leave Egypt as this was the favorite destination, but they do not understand the gravity of the situation.  We are looking forward to leaving tomorrow and will post this and write again when we get there….

We woke on Sunday around 7:00am to the sound of a large angry group of people that we could not see but we knew were nearby.  We could see a few individuals with sticks walking around. About a block away was the intersection of two major streets so we guessed that is where they were gathering. But by 7:15 we could not hear anything. We are still hoping to leave in at 9:00am today.  We saw on CNN last night that there are 1500 tourists stuck at the airport with no flights leaving.  Jackson is sitting on the bed playing his DS and Savannah is still sleeping.  I am glad they seem to be mostly oblivious to the situation and do not appear to be worried despite us having CNN or BBC on 24/7.

9:30 am Sunday Jan 30 – oops.  We are not able to leave as they are not allowing tourists to leave the area as they say it is too dangerous.  Plus we have to drive through Suez which is dangerous and the Suez tunnel is apparently closed.  We are to wait in our hotel room until they come up with a plan B. (bummer as the first night we drank them out of Stella and the second night we drank them out of Heineken – admittedly this is not hard to do in a mostly Muslim country)

9:45am Sunday Jan 30 – oops.  Looks like our driver may get here at 11:00.  They are going to drive another route so as not to go through Suez.  Who know how long the bus ride will be now.  We are also trying to look into going to Israel now (8 days early) but there is conflicting information as to whether or not the international flights are running.  Everyone seems sure that Egypt Air has shut down but that is not how we are flying to Israel.  For now we wait in the hotel lobby to see what is next. 

As we are sitting in the hotel lobby, I had an interesting conversation with Savannah.  We have seen Hilary Clinton on TV both on US, British and Arabic TV.  Savannah and Jackson had heard of her and I explained what she did as Secretary of State.  Savannah asked me what Hillary Clinton’s husband does, with her tone suggesting that he might be like the Queen of England’s husband, Prince Phillip.  When I told her she said, “BILL CLINTON WAS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES??? – REALLY????”  I guess if we ever get to Dahab, I may have to consider adding American history to the very little amount of home schooling I have been doing on our trip.  And this now replaced my most depressing  “you might be old if…”  which formally was my Duke TIP teenage students being too young to remember 9/11.

11:15 Sunday.  A driver shows up. We assume he is taking us to the bus, so we cram our suitcases in his tiny little car and put the last suitcase across me and the kids in the back seat.  Eventually we figure out that our driver (who is named Mohammad  Ali) is taking us all the way to Dahab.  So eight hours and many police/military blockades later we arrive in Dahab.  The Suez tunnel was not closed and that is the route we took.  It was quite cool to see the Suez Canal.  The policy/military personnel at the blockades seemed sympathetic to our plight and many of them gave us a nice wave to say hello.

Monday morning January 31, 2011 – We all got a good night sleep listening to the sound of the waves of the Red Sea / Gulf of Aqaba crashing against the breakers rather than gunfire and protestor chants.  It is actually a beautiful beach  resort area, but mainly for divers as there is not much sand on the beaches.  We can see Saudi Arabia from the porch of our hotel rooms.  No CNN or BBC in our hotel, but we can see from the Arabic channel coverage that it looks much more peaceful today than it has the last few days (of course if you ask anyone here they tell you “everything very fine – no problem”).  We were told the internet is to be restored today, so we’ll see.  We are happy to stay here an entire week or go back when we can.  We are very close to Mt. Sinai and St Catherine Monastery, which coincidentally were the last two items to be struck of our list of places we wanted to visit.  If we don’t go directly to Jerusalem from here, I am hoping we will be able to go back to Cairo by Feb. 6 as there is pretty much no chance of me seeing the Packers win the Superbowl in Dahab. 

9:00pm Jan 31 – well, still no internet.  The kids are kept occupied by the countless cats that are everywhere (they will even sit on your lap in restaurants, most of which are Bedouin Style seating ).  Today they even found a puppy wondering the hotel premises. Dahab is a dead. It is already low season for them, but most tourist coming to this area have cancelled their plans or their plans were cancelled for them due to lack of planes to get here.  I don’t believe any supply or delivery trucks are getting through either.  Today we all went to have a massage, which was a first for Savannah and Jackson.  I can’t say they were too keen. Anyway, I had an interesting conversation with the owner of the “spa” (a term I use loosely).  As a small business man and he says he likes the President and that he is a very good man.  He has kept them out of war and built good relationships with other countries.  He says people’s memories are short.  The people protesting represent only 10% of how the population feels. He says these are people looking for an easy life and they don’t want to work hard.  He said he is educated as an accountant from Alexandria and since he is not currently able to work in his profession, he came to Dahab with nothing and in three years built a nice business for himself.  He says there are opportunities for Egyptians who want to work hard, but that most people do not want to work hard and want to blame the government.  In any case, I found this extremely interesting as this not a perspective that I am seeing reported on CNN or BBC and it appears that half of the story may be missing…

Tuesday, Feb. 1 (Happy Birthday Beena!!) Well, we celebrated our two month anniversary on the road without knowing what is going on.  Still no internet and the banks are still closed.  We were told that the President has agreed to hold elections in 3 months and that everything has quieted down, but it does not appear that the country is getting back to business as usual just yet.  We finally found a working ATM (National Bank of Egypt provided one armed ATM in Dahab – I was told they took the money from the surrounding ATM machines and put it in this one ATM)  We were very glad to get some Egyptian pounds as we were running low and no one was smart enough to agree to accept foreign currency. I only say this because as I mentioned, Dahab is deserted and the few people remaining are hounded to come to the approximately 100 restaurants that remain open.  Everyone has a better deal than the next – free Egyptian salads!  Free dessert for the kids! Half price whatever!

I spoke to the “marketing” person for the spa we went to the other day.  He tells us he is in charge of marketing, but basically he stands outside one of his employer’s three spas and hassles tourists for thirteen hours a day and also takes a cut for himself that his employer does not know about. During the high season he is a masseur.  After we had our massages, he was hassling me the next day to do another and again trying to get himself a cut of the deal.  I told him I was done with the spa and that I met his boss and that he seemed like a nice guy. He said he was not a nice man and he treated the employees like slaves. He said he was paid 25 LE a day (about US$4) with no days off.  While I do feel bad for anyone earning that little bit of money, I could see that it was better than nothing. There was no reason for his employer to keep him on in the low season as they do not have enough business. The one thing I have noticed here is that Egyptians are chronically underemployed. No one has enough to do and the division of labor is strict and unbending.

In the afternoon, we were having a drink at our favorite restaurant/bar called The Jasmine. The kids have their favorite cats there and they have cold beer.  The proprietor was kind enough to turn on CNN and we were able to get an update on the situation.  It appears that the President has now agreed to not run in the next election to be held in six months.  We were told that this has appeased some, but not all of the people, so we are waiting to see what will happen now.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011 – still no internet.  We don’t know any more than last night, but everyone we ask keeps saying “one more day” (until the banks are open and the internet comes up) I do not believe them.  At this point our plan is still to go to Taba and walk across the border to Israel.  Savannah is particularly keen on this option.  It will take about the same amount of time as going back to Cairo and flying to Israel.

Things are quiet and calm here, but as I went to the ATM machine this morning (they only let you take out 500 LE at a time about US$80) there was a police patrol going up and down the main street.  Jackson and I had to go to a clinic as we both had an unusual skin condition.  Jackson’s started right after his massage and mine started in Morocco and continued to get worse in Kruger and then unbearable in Dahab.  We waited about 20 minutes to see a doctor. It was immediately apparent that you do not question your doctor in Egypt.  He told me “both you – allergic reaction.  I give you (pointing to me) allergic reaction injection and cream and I give him (pointing to Jackson) allergic reaction syrup and cream.” So I asked him what kind of injection it was and he said with finality “allergic reaction injection”.  I tried to explain what kind of medicine I was already taking and he cut me off saying “no problem”.  When I kept trying to get a better idea of what he was prescribing for us, he said, “you two – you have allergic reaction of the skin, but not of the throat or breathing (which he did check) which is very good (which I already knew) so no problems you take allergic reaction medicine and be OK”.  Well, I am sure my friend Nate will scold me for this, but for the first time in my long history of visiting doctors, I decided that Jackson and I would go with the flow and just take what he was giving us.  So far neither of us have died, so it looks liked the right decision.  Also, I did work out that one of Jackson’s two  “creams” was Calamine lotion.

So another day and another escape from eating at the Funny Mummy Restaurant.  Their  “ marketing guy” has hounded us relentlessly when we have to walk past several times a day.  When we went out for our walk today, Paul and Savannah were far ahead of Jackson and me.  He said when the Funny Mummy guy started at it, he almost told him that he wanted to eat there but his wife wouldn’t let him.  He is damn lucky he did not do that! Jackson and I decided that the “Merry Christmas” sign over the front door was a signal as to how old the food was and the last time the place had been cleaned.

5pm INTERNET BACK!!!  Oops.  Was up for a few minutes, down again – but this is the most hope we have had all week.

6pm trying again….

Now that our ordeal appears to be over,  I can tell you about the time we did spend in Egypt.  We slept the first day and that evening we went on a Nile dinner cruise.  The cruise itself was a bit lame, and for a moment I thought I was back in the U.S. as people crowded the buffet like a herd of cattle that had never seen food before.  The good news is you can always find a greek salad, hummus, baba ganoush and chicken.  The kids were disappointed that the deserts were gone before we even had our salad. Paul was desperate enough to drink a nonalcoholic beer, but I stuck with my lukewarm “coca light”.  The kids had their usual “Fanta orange”

After dinner, the entertainment started – and we were definitely entertained.  First there was a belly dancer.  She was remarkable,  a very good dancer but her excellent form was far surpassed by her amazing endurance.   The live music kept going and going and so did she.   The next entertainer can only be described as a “very short twirler”.  He came out and twirled around in circles, with what must be traditional Egyptian folk attire.  It was a long colorful skirt and what appeared to be bo-peep pants underneath.  The “dress” formed a complete circle and all he did was go in circles.  Another act of pure endurance.  I was dizzy just watching him.  While twirling he took the first layer of his skirt off over his head.  Then layer two.  

Next came twirling man no. 2.  He was of average height and was even a more spectacular twirler (and of course a good spotter).  He twirled nonstop for I would guess 20 minutes – at two times as long as the first man.  In addition to removing his colorful skirts, he did a few other tricks such as twirling while pouring and then drinking a glass of water.  The belly dancer returned for round two and the night was over.

The second day we saw all the Egyptian monuments in Giza. We were very lucky to see them as the Egyptian museum was closed down by then as were most other tourist destinations.  While our time was short in Egypt, it was very enjoyable.  The people were helpful and friendly and prided themselves on pleasing the tourist. (honestly – to the point I feared a breakdown if we told said and unpleasant word) While they were persistent salesmen (emphasis on the “men”) they were not at all as aggressive as we found the salesmen of Morocco.  We all agreed that we enjoyed our time here enough to want to come back and properly see it in a few years.