Monday morning we embarked from Ciaro to Marsa Matruh, a small town 6 hours away on the Mediterranean. Three hours of beautiful napping later, I awoke to the nauseatingly strong aroma of gasoline. Apparently, the gas filter was broken. Thankfully, this occurred pretty much as we were passing through El-Alamein, so while the bus was fixed we stopped to check out the World War II Museum there. On the way out of El-Alamein, we also had the opportunity to visit the cemetary of soldiers from the allied nations. This was a very emotional experience for a lot of the group, as it was history that we’ve all studied and were able to understand on a deeper level. The many graves spread out among the sand, with some cacti and a few purple flowering trees between them, made a strong impression on me. I thought about how different the soil in this, their final resting place, must have been from the lands from which the soldiers originally came. It was shocking to realized how young the soldiers were; many of them were only 22 or 24. I’m that age, and I know I’m not ready to go yet. Although, as one epitaph read, “Not in vain”. My thoughts then immediately went to the Americans today dying on another foreign sandy soil. Would they and their families say the same thing?
Marsa Matruh was extremely relaxing. As I said, it was a small town, and although I was curious about it, I spent pretty much all of my time there lying on the beach and relaxing for a change. It’s soon time to return to my hectic American lifestyle, so it felt good to take some time out for myself.
The next morning, we headed south for three hours toward the Siwa Oasis. Well…it would have been three hours if the bus didn’t break down in the middle of the desert. We spent two hours stuck somewhere between Marsa and Siwa, mainly looking and mirages and trying to stay cool. I’d never known before that you can see mirages without being dehydrated and hallucinating. As I learned, mirages have more to do with heat waves and their reflection than too much time spent in the desert. Just for fun, though, Mary and I decided to walk towards a mirage just to make sure that it wasn’t water. Since it kept disappearing and reappearing without ever looking much closer, we’re pretty sure it wasn’t water. This, at least, kept us occupied for some of the time, and believe it or not, it was cooler standing under the hot sun in the desert than being on the bus, mostly because inside the bus the air carried a great deal more humidity.
So we finally arrived in Siwa and promptly dove into our pool, which was in reality a natural spring. The water was wonderfully cool and not salty, a refreshing change compared to the high salinity of the Mediterranean. After a shower and dinner, we took a brief walk around the town.
Siwa is an area of Egypt which bears little resemblance to Cairo. It is much more conservative, and Siwans have more in common with the desert Bedouins than residents of the capital city. The language and food are also different in this area of Egypt. Being there, we saw very few women at all, and the few we did see were completely covered. Furthermore, we noticed that their style of covering themselves was different from that which we’d seen in Cairo, as you’ll note in the picture (speaking of the pictures, credits for the Siwa shots to Pat…his camera was broken so I lent him mine, affording me the chance to really look around with my eyes and not be stuck behind a lens the entire time). Although I really enjoyed our time in Siwa, I felt that it would have been difficult to stay there much longer, since as an American woman who doesn’t speak the local language, fitting it was not an easy matter.
The next morning, we woke up and visited the Mountain of Death (to hell with Mount Washington). We were able to see several tombs that dated back to the pharaonic times and were well-preserved. Following that, a few members of the group took a dip in Cleopatra’s (algae-covered) Well. Then we visited the ruins of two temples, which was interesting but pale in comparison to all we’d seen in Aswan and Luxor.
After an afternoon spent relaxing, we headed out on what was definitely one of the collest experiences I’ve ever had. We went on a 5-hour
desert trek, beginning with some crazy jeep rides over enormous sand dunes; these pictures just don’t do justice (as usual). The experience was a bit like a rollercoaster…minus the safety features.
After stopping at a few picturesque areas, we arrived at an oasis in the middle of nowhere. We were legit miles away from th
e nearest town. And in the middle of nothing but sand, green stalks were rising up from a blissful blue-green pool. Although the water was calm (as it was an oasis), while swimming it was possible to feel the currents, indicating the water source of the oasis.
From there, we went briefly to a hot spring, aka nature’s hot tub, and soaked our feet while inhaling the pungent aroma of sulfur. Some more dune running brought us to our final stop of the day: a huge dune for sandboarding (Sara, you would have LOVED this!). It didn’t go so well for me, as the picture demonstrates, because I mostly went down the hill backwards on my rear. 
I ended up with about a pound of sand in my pants. And walking up the dune again was maybe the most exertion I’ve ever had in my life; when I reached the top I was breathing like I’d run a marathon. All in all, one of the coolest things I’ve tried in a long time!
From this location, we also watched the sunset over the desert. This was beautiful and intense because we were the only people around for miles. The isolation and sense of smallness felt was very powerful.
Thursday we trekked back to Marsa Matruh, where I again fully enjoyed the pleasures of the beach. Late at night, after dinner, a few of us took another swim in the Mediterranean, which felt even warmer at night than during the day. We swam out to a raft to sit and enjoy a brief astronomy lesson from Oscar. We saw so many more stars than we’d seen in Cairo, but I bet it would have been even better in the desert.
We swam back in to find Lily and Katharine on the beach with a new friend, who was the son of the hotel owner. We were told by him that swimming at night is actually prohibited, apparently because drug running by sea is a problem on the coast. According to him, although swimmers are just yelled at to return to shore, those who take boats out at night might be shot at by law enforcement. Good to know…
Friday, after our bus ride back to Cairo and a few hours of resting, Katharine, Lily, and I met up with our boys Karim and Mostafa. First, we went to a famous koshary place downtown called Abu Tarek. Then we went to a concert on the Nile by a group called Wist El-Balad. Literally, this name means “the center of the country”, but in common parlance it is taken to mean downtown Cairo. Anyway, the group is very popular and we were lucky to get tickets to the show. It was a great way to spend our last night in Cairo.
Marsa Matruh was extremely relaxing. As I said, it was a small town, and although I was curious about it, I spent pretty much all of my time there lying on the beach and relaxing for a change. It’s soon time to return to my hectic American lifestyle, so it felt good to take some time out for myself.
The next morning, we headed south for three hours toward the Siwa Oasis. Well…it would have been three hours if the bus didn’t break down in the middle of the desert. We spent two hours stuck somewhere between Marsa and Siwa, mainly looking and mirages and trying to stay cool. I’d never known before that you can see mirages without being dehydrated and hallucinating. As I learned, mirages have more to do with heat waves and their reflection than too much time spent in the desert. Just for fun, though, Mary and I decided to walk towards a mirage just to make sure that it wasn’t water. Since it kept disappearing and reappearing without ever looking much closer, we’re pretty sure it wasn’t water. This, at least, kept us occupied for some of the time, and believe it or not, it was cooler standing under the hot sun in the desert than being on the bus, mostly because inside the bus the air carried a great deal more humidity.So we finally arrived in Siwa and promptly dove into our pool, which was in reality a natural spring. The water was wonderfully cool and not salty, a refreshing change compared to the high salinity of the Mediterranean. After a shower and dinner, we took a brief walk around the town.
Siwa is an area of Egypt which bears little resemblance to Cairo. It is much more conservative, and Siwans have more in common with the desert Bedouins than residents of the capital city. The language and food are also different in this area of Egypt. Being there, we saw very few women at all, and the few we did see were completely covered. Furthermore, we noticed that their style of covering themselves was different from that which we’d seen in Cairo, as you’ll note in the picture (speaking of the pictures, credits for the Siwa shots to Pat…his camera was broken so I lent him mine, affording me the chance to really look around with my eyes and not be stuck behind a lens the entire time). Although I really enjoyed our time in Siwa, I felt that it would have been difficult to stay there much longer, since as an American woman who doesn’t speak the local language, fitting it was not an easy matter.
The next morning, we woke up and visited the Mountain of Death (to hell with Mount Washington). We were able to see several tombs that dated back to the pharaonic times and were well-preserved. Following that, a few members of the group took a dip in Cleopatra’s (algae-covered) Well. Then we visited the ruins of two temples, which was interesting but pale in comparison to all we’d seen in Aswan and Luxor.
After an afternoon spent relaxing, we headed out on what was definitely one of the collest experiences I’ve ever had. We went on a 5-hour
desert trek, beginning with some crazy jeep rides over enormous sand dunes; these pictures just don’t do justice (as usual). The experience was a bit like a rollercoaster…minus the safety features.After stopping at a few picturesque areas, we arrived at an oasis in the middle of nowhere. We were legit miles away from th
e nearest town. And in the middle of nothing but sand, green stalks were rising up from a blissful blue-green pool. Although the water was calm (as it was an oasis), while swimming it was possible to feel the currents, indicating the water source of the oasis.
From there, we went briefly to a hot spring, aka nature’s hot tub, and soaked our feet while inhaling the pungent aroma of sulfur. Some more dune running brought us to our final stop of the day: a huge dune for sandboarding (Sara, you would have LOVED this!). It didn’t go so well for me, as the picture demonstrates, because I mostly went down the hill backwards on my rear. 
I ended up with about a pound of sand in my pants. And walking up the dune again was maybe the most exertion I’ve ever had in my life; when I reached the top I was breathing like I’d run a marathon. All in all, one of the coolest things I’ve tried in a long time!From this location, we also watched the sunset over the desert. This was beautiful and intense because we were the only people around for miles. The isolation and sense of smallness felt was very powerful.
Thursday we trekked back to Marsa Matruh, where I again fully enjoyed the pleasures of the beach. Late at night, after dinner, a few of us took another swim in the Mediterranean, which felt even warmer at night than during the day. We swam out to a raft to sit and enjoy a brief astronomy lesson from Oscar. We saw so many more stars than we’d seen in Cairo, but I bet it would have been even better in the desert.
We swam back in to find Lily and Katharine on the beach with a new friend, who was the son of the hotel owner. We were told by him that swimming at night is actually prohibited, apparently because drug running by sea is a problem on the coast. According to him, although swimmers are just yelled at to return to shore, those who take boats out at night might be shot at by law enforcement. Good to know…
Friday, after our bus ride back to Cairo and a few hours of resting, Katharine, Lily, and I met up with our boys Karim and Mostafa. First, we went to a famous koshary place downtown called Abu Tarek. Then we went to a concert on the Nile by a group called Wist El-Balad. Literally, this name means “the center of the country”, but in common parlance it is taken to mean downtown Cairo. Anyway, the group is very popular and we were lucky to get tickets to the show. It was a great way to spend our last night in Cairo.
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