Donkey Throng

The past two weeks took us all over the entire country of Egypt: from the Siwa Oasis through 4 other oases in the Western Desert of Egypt’s Sahara, down to Luxor in the hot lush Nile River Valley, up along the Red Sea coast to Dahab, and back West to Cairo. All this on a backpack of clothing and gear! Once in the Siwa Oasis, our desert guide convinced Noelle, Tom, Ryan and I to take a 3-night desert crossing in his jeep to meet up with our friends down south in Luxor, about 1,000 kilometers. We had a blast crossing the White and Black Deserts, sleeping under the stars, eating our guide’s spicy campfire cooking, practicing Arabic, and rinsing off in natural springs. The heat of midday was murder on my head and I spent the epic sunset each night fighting off migraines.

Other hiccups in the trip included our flat tire on the first day, when our guide’s jack failed to work and we sat in the sand for an hour and a half hoping he’d figure out how to remove the flat tire without the jeep crashing onto its back left side. Mind you, no cars passed us the whole hour and a half we sat there. Luckily he worked his magic and we took off deeper into the Sahara Desert, full of relief.



Once we reached southern Egypt, I was pleasantly surprised by the city of Luxor. It was certainly filled with pushy “businessmen” I’d been warned about by tourists and Egyptians alike, but all the boat ride offers and “How can I take your money?” shopkeepers weren’t too oppressing. Our group of 6 took an easy first day renewing our visas (6 month resident baby!), touring ancient structures and relaxing at shisha (hookah) cafes. The second day we rose at 5:30 am to ferry across the Nile River and embark on the most hilarious journey ever - each of us atop a bony energetic little donkey, running down the paved road dissecting the unbelievably bright green crops of the river valley, then climbing the dry dirt cliffs overlooking the Valley of the Queens - a site of ancient tombs that is currently closed except to our backdoor-entry throng of donkeys, apparently.

We were in tears for laughing the first solid 20 minutes of our trip. The donkeys had a mind of their own about where to go and when to spontaneously sprint to the front of the group, with complete disregard for whose legs they knocked together as they tore past. As the donkeys cantered and cars sped by, honking furiously, our guide ambled in the back and shouted “left!” or “right!” every once in awhile.. My donkey asserted himself as leader of the pack once we started to ascend the cliffs. One time after a rest Ryan’s donkey took the lead and my donkey dangerously attempted to squeeze to the front, but I prevented the suicide mission by pulling back on the reigns with all my might. Riding steep narrow sandy cliffs atop the knobby knees of a donkey is not a heights-fearing tourist’s idea of fun, but the spectacular view of impossibly lush pastures below and the eerie tombs in the mountainsides below grabbed our full attention.



The next day we left Luxor on the less preferable mode of transportation: an 18-hour bus ride to Dahab on the Red Sea. It was a relief to land at the beach and spend the next 4 days soaking up the sun with a cocktail in hand, snorkeling in the coral reefs, and swimming in the clear, buoyant waters of the Red Sea right outside our hostel. In the reefs we saw all kinds of coral and fish, fluorescent clams, sea cucumbers, pufferfish, and a sea snake basking in the sand - pretty creepy. I reached maximum ecstasy when I noticed an octopus and watched it swim around and feed for about 15 minutes. It changed colors and developed bumps to disguise itself, but it let me dive down close to gawk at all its intricacies.



After 2 weeks of traveling around Egypt, our group of 7 adventurers has deflated to 3: Ryan, Noelle and I are currently looking for apartments and jobs in either Cairo or Dahab. As appealing as Dahab sounds, it’s tiny and touristy so I’m resisting the urge to live there and convincing myself that I’ll hop on the 10-hour bus ride from Cairo for frequent diving vacations. If the chaos and smog of the 20 million person city climaxes to unbearable levels in the summer, maybe I’ll move to Dahab to be a dive guide and English tutor. Cairo’s redeeming quality in the past few days has been its welcoming Egyptian people, especially our classmate who had us over for dinner the other night. Her whole family fed and entertained us in their home until 3 am, when we insisted that we were tired and we would see them again soon. Once again the generous Egyptian nature means a bunch of people are helping us find apartments and jobs in both cities, so I’m not worried.

Missing home and dreaming of reunions…