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Diary This is Jan's diary. If you want to receive this diary by mail, write your mail on the contact form.
‹ Previous (12/12/2007) MONTH Next (2008-02-10)› ‹ Previous (2007-11-09 - Kenya) COUNTRY Next (2008-01-14 - Sudan)› Ethiopia Sudan border (see on map) 11/01/2008:
At last we are about to go out from Ethiopia, and I do not write "at last" because it has been difficult for us to obtain the visa of Sudan, and also because the road of Gonder towards the border was not in such a good state, I write "at last" because finally we will stop seeing Ethiopians. We are all tired of that, in general, the Ethiopians greet us with a "give" or directly "money" (money), instead of "good day" or "how are you". We are also tired that a great majority do not greet us moving the hand, and simply extend it with the palm for asking. We are also tired that they try to trick us for being whites (although that passes in many other African countries) or even to steal (the stole Stephanies shoes from the camper in the same place with the soup event). And it is a pity that we are so gotten tired of the inhabitants of Ethiopia, because the country is very pretty. Perhaps it would have been better that they had been colonised a longer period or that they had not received so much help during the famines, but definitely, the best that could happen to them would be to stop receiving rich tourists that it is important not to give money to the children because they leave schools in flocks just to be able to ask on the streets. Sudan Khartum (see on map) 14/01/2008:
If to obtain the visa for Sudan was a whole odyssey, to manage to register in the office of immigration of Sudan, was also a whole adventure. We all wondered why we had to register ourselves in the office of immigration if we were not immigrants, not even tourists, simply we had a transit visa to arrive to Egypt. In any case, if we did not register ourselves we could have had real problems and so the first thing we did as we arrived to Khartoum was to go to the office of aliens (the other name of the office of immigration). We made different queues to obtain the forms, and after completing them we made some more queues to present them, but when it arrived our turn they informed us that they could not accept the forms for us because we needed the garanty of some Sudanese. Michael had some good friends in Khartoum that he had made when he arrived from Egypt and phoned them. First Shazeli, who delivered a photocopy of his passport as guaranty to us, but when arriving again our turn after more queues they informed us again that they did not accept passports as guaranty. After little Yossef, the brother of Shazeli arrived, we made photocopies of his identity card and of his card of worker for the United Nations, but again they denied us the guaranty explaining to us that we needed a card of international identity, a document that very few Sudanese possess. At night, while we dined a delicious food that the woman of Yossef cooked, he started to phone friends and relatives asking who could guarantee us. But today in the morning we still found in the same situation: we wanted to go out from Sudan, but it would be impossible for us if we did not find somebody who guaranteed our stay. In the face of the severe issue, we have returned to the office of registration of aliens (what a name! As if we were extraterrestrial) to ask among the people from the queues if somebody could guarantee us in exchange for paying some dollars (is incredible, the United States are the main enemy of Sudan but the country only accepts dollars and very difficult euros). We have asked and been asked but nobody could guarantee us, a German in a situation similar to ours has suggested us to go to a hotel where they could guarantee us. We have gone to a next hotel insinuating that later we would lodge ourselves and surprisingly they have done the necessary paper without any type of problem. Afterwards we have returned to the office that was closed for lunchtime, but have entered through a lateral door and fortunately they have sealed us in an instant the passports different times, after paying about 40 $ for person. On the border we could also have registered, but we discarded it because they wanted to charge us 65 $. I had saved 50 $ between both and it had probably been worth to lose a day and a half, but has been exhausting. After the formalities we have taken a small bus from the modern centre of Khartoum to the neighbourhood of Yossef, the friend of Michael at the house of whom we had parked the autocaravans. We have crossed the White nile, very near to the union with the Blue Nile, and we have been circulating some kilometres up to a market, where all the people come out of the bus. The area was not known to us, but asking and walking more than two hours we have arrived to the house of Yossef. During the path we have stopped some times to take tea, prepared with leaves of tea triturated on which very hot water is poured, instantaneously a tasty tea of dark colour is made in which they add a lot of sugar. If the centre of Khartoum is modern, with big buildings, the large neighbourhoods on the outskirts are traditional, with low houses and streets of dust, although crossed by big avenues. When arriving mid-afternoon to the house of Yossef, they waited for us with a new feast. Michael and Stephania had met Yossef when they were in Sudan crossing towards Ethiopia. In Khartoum they were passing the night parked in a gasstation, but Yossef offered them to parking in front of his house, treating them as the most appreciated guests. When returning to Khartoum, Yossef and his family also received me and Alexandra with the arms opened, offering us friendship, food and all the help that was necessary for us. different to Ethiopia, here there is real hospitality, and they take offence really if you suggest them to collaborate economically with the purchase of the shared foods. 17/01/2008:
Today in the morning, while I and Michael expected with Yossef to fill me my gas cylinders, Yossef has bought a Sudanese traditional hat, and a dress for Alexandra and another for Stephania. Afterwards, we have been awarded again with the Sudanese hospitality, for we have been invited to the celebration of the birth of the son of a neighbour. While the women were brought together in the house singing, dancing, chatting and cooking, the men relaxed outside expecting the food to arrive. Yossef has explained to us that the births in Sudan are very expensive, because many people have to be invited to eat and optionally organise a party with music. The weddings are also very expensive, costing up to 5000 $ including the dresses for the woman, the gold, furniture for the home, the holiday... The cost of the wedding is always payed by the family of the husband, that's why Yossef is happy, because for the moment he only has daughters. Finally the food has arrived - delicious! - in a big tray in which there were ten traditional sudanese dishes, including the popular ful (a dish of tasty beans covered in oil). Afterwards (if we finished a dish they brought us more, and like this until bursting) we have relaxed again, this time with the full stomack. Some men have started to take Tombac (or Sou), the only drug or legal stimulant in Sudan (the alcohol is prohibited), made of some leaves of tree crumbled and fermented that have to be situated some minutes between the inferior lip and the teeth. I have put the paste under the lip and almost to the instant I have felt that the mind was clarified and i felt like sleeping or fainting. Michael, was used to the drugs,he has not felt anything and he observed me very amused while i was recovering and was capable of talking again. I wonder why all the cultures have found and had used elements to stimulate or to modify the mind and the sensations, even the Islamic culture in which the alcohol is prohibited. The previous two days we were also benefiting from marvelous Sudanese hospitality. First, Shazeli, the brother of Yossef, helped Michael receive money with Western Union (the foreigners can not receive money in Sudan, nor they can obtain it with credit cards) while I was connected on Internet from a small office. The following day, Yossef accompanied Michael to buy spare wheels and to help me fix the air-conditioning of the car, to repair the escape from the radiator and buying gas and the necessary tools (in Etiopia they asked me 100 $ to fix the air-conditioning and with Yossef it only cost me 42,5 $, including the manometer and connections that I gave to Yossef). Meanwhile, Alexandra with her innocence captivated the women of the family of Yossef and of the neighbourhood, who invited her to take the tea and filled her with gifts. Even a woman tried to convince her to remain in Sudan and to be converted to the Islam, but Alexandra refused in a very educated way answering that it is very difficult to change the religion under which they have educated you when small. Although I tried it, I did not manage to talk too much on the situation of the country with Yossef, however, one of these days that we returned from the centre with Michael, we met a taxi driver that commented: - In the middle of this year the government will stop supplying LPG (gas for the cars) and will have to sell myself the taxi or to modify the engine. - Why will it stop supplying LPG? - I asked. - In Sudan you can ever not ask "why", because you can have many problems. Then he started to explain that he had been working a time in Darfur, in the South of Sudan, where the people are killed without anybody knowing why. During the nineties, the religious leader and politician Al-Turabi called out that the Sudanese that went in the South of the country to kill would have reassured the entry to heaven. The taxi driver said that Al-Turabi was removed from power, even so, in Dafur the people continue dying at the hands of different guerrillas of which the links and financing are not known. Apart from that, the taxi driver kept explaining that in Sudan there is not freedom of the press nor of expression, and i also realised it because after accepting being interviewed "to take the pulse to the world", he begged me to erase his name from the recording because he feared for his life and that of his family. The only comment that Yossef carried out against the government, went when, after trying to convince us that we stayed more days in his home, he understood at last that we had to leave only because we had obtained just a transit of 15 days and that it would be very difficult to renew it. Then he expressed with sorrow: - The government of Sudan is robbing me of my best friends. --- In the interview, the taxi driver from Khartoum (despite wanting to erase his name, the interview did not contain too many critics about the government) gave an opinion that the main problem of the world are the wars that destroy the future of the people. The taxi driver was pessimistic and did not think that the wars could end, because the governments do not want. If he could, he would take all the weapons of the world. Even the problem of the Darfur, is being fixed in Sudan. The taxi driver was very happy because Sudan is a pretty country, although he would be happier with the permanent peace. The secret of happiness is peace. Wadi Halfa (see on map) 21/01/2008:
Khartoum is a city of about 4 million inhabitants (or 10 million according to Yossef), in the middle of a big almost uninhabited plain. Before arriving to Khartoum the landscape had passed from the mountains of Ethiopia to a plain with the majority of the land full of high and dried grass without being cultivated not even grazed, although in some areas there were great extensions of worked fields and also big flocks. When going out of Khartoum, the landscap returned sterile and desértic, in spite of everything, when the road went near the Nile, the houses and small villages did not stop following one another between palm trees and fields of an intense green. Throughout all the tour through Sudan - and it will probably happen the same in the next Islamic countries through which we will pass - we have not observed too many women in the street or in the fields, and if they are, they are always covered up with a veil covering the hair. In other African countries the women were always working out of the house while the men rested but in Sudan the women seem confined at home while the men work. The seclusion at home is probably better than the extenuatoryy work, but the worst thing of both cases is that the women do not have right to choosing in which system of life to live. We knew that in the North of Sudan we would find the last road with no asphalt in Africa (and maybe one of the last ones of our tour through the world), anyway, the problems that we thought that the car would suffer appeared little after going out of Khartoum, circulating on a perfect road of asphalt: the light of the battery went on. I made lights to Michael that circulated in front so that he stopped. We analysed the problem and we very soon deduced from the alternator was not loading the battery and we were not able to solve the problem on our own. In the following hundred kilometres we did not find any town, going across endless dunes of sand, but fortunately, in the first village after the dunes there was an electrician. The electrician took the alternator and after about four hours he found three problems (one that was from the begining, one caused by himself and another that I suspect also caused by him) and tried to solve them. I paid 15 $ for his work and we follow still through the asphaltic road towards north. The following day (yesterday) we started to go on the track that was not asphalted, when the light of the battery suddenly went on again. The previous day we had found out that the car did not consume too much energy while we circulated and calculated that we would have sufficient battery to arrive the day after to Wadi Halfa, our destination. Unfortunately, the dynamo was not the only problem that the car suffered during this path. As we advanced on the track, crossing complicated segments of sand and crossing mountains of rocks, the fridge was broken again, we destroyed the support of the spare wheel and the starter seemed to worsen. If we had to mark the road we did towards Wadi Halfa for its difficulty and for the number of breakdowns, me and Alexandra would compare it with the track of Gabon, the fourth most complicated of Africa. Anyway, the spectacularity of the landscape, the beauty of the people and the kindness of the people (which invited us to tea or to food if we stopped)made us to decide of classifying the track of Wadi Halfa only as the fifth worst of Africa. In spite of everything, I also have to write that not all the world was nice with us, there were also some children that threw us a stone (without touching the car). Anyway, I stopped twice in dry and caught the child that had thrown the stone to tell him never to do it again, while he cried terrified. For sure that these children will not throw any stone anymore and perhaps it would be good if other travellers did the same, instead of throwing pens or other gifts if they are seen threatened. 23/01/2008:
In Wadi Halfa, a town without any type of appeal on the edge of lake Nasser, we had to wait for the boat that had to take us up to Aswan, Egypt. Different travellers had warned us on the excessive and anarchic prices of this stretch, anyway we had the advantage of knowing what Michael had payd when coming dowm from Egypt to Sudan (450€ and that Michael also knew the people with whom we had to negotiate. The first day we already initiated the contacts with the agency that had to sell us the thickets, but announced us that the ferry had not arrived yet and that the price of transporting the car was not fixed and that depended on the captain. The following day (yesterday), I spent almost all the day fixing the support of the spare wheel, helping me of levers and hydraulic jacks, and I practically turned it over to its original state. In the night we talked again with the euphoric boy of the agency that confirmed us that the boat had arrived and that perhaps would maintain us the price of 450 € for car. But today, when we have gone to pay, they have informed us that the price would be about 600 € for car. Michael has been complaining vigorously asking why its this difference of price between the first stretch and the second, but they have shown us what seemed an official list of prices and interpreting the Arab numbers I have deduced that the prices were correct. Then I have started to play my paper commenting that with Visa i could not redraw money with the card and i did not have sufficient money with me (it was true) and that i could not pay the total quantity up to Egypt. That has seemed to touch them and a while after talking among them they have reduced the price for me with about 200 euro. When seeing that they did this discount, Michael still continued protesting with more energy, but observing that they could back out with the offer,i suggested to Michael of sharing the discount and paying about 500 € each, trusting that Michael would also have made the same for me. We payed and we next went to look for the cars, but my stárter did not want to start the engine and Michael had to pull me to be able to turn it on. And finally, after a lot of bureaucracy we loaded the cars in a platform with the promise that the day after it would leave and we got up on the boat for passengers that set off little afterwards. For the ticket of the boat we had paid about 80 €, included in the total price, which in no way was justified, for the correct price on the emaciated boat corresponded more with 20% of what we had paid. In any case, the day after in the morning we arrived to Aswan without too many incidents, after having passed a night piled up in a small room for only two people. Egypt Aswan (see on map) 27/01/2008:
Michael and the Stephania had told us that the Egyptians were not the friendliest inhabitants of the planet, but we did not think that we would get tired so soon of them. We have probably initiated the itinerary through these old lands in a too touristic city, Aswan, where any salesman seems used to obtain the maximum possible money from the tourists. Every day in Aswan means a constant fight at the time of paying a tea, some oranges,food, transport... For example, we are walking on the street and some waiter offers us to take a tea, we ask for the price and starts with 3 pounds (8 pound = 1euro =1.5 $), we keep walking and he follows us offering 2, 1.5 pounds up to 1, and despite knowing that the locals pay less than 0.75 pounds for a tea, for sure no foreigner will obtain this price. Another example: after spending some days in Aswan Alexandra asks about the price of a coca cola in a small trade away from the centre: - 5 pounds - he answers her. - 5 pounds, is the price for the tourists, I want the price of the Egyptians - answers Alexandra angry. - ¿4 pounds? - tries the shop assistant. - No - 3.5? - Ok - accepts Alexandra despite suspecting that the locals still pay less. But the worst thing case is to observe restaurants with prices for the same products written in Arabic at half of the cost (I have learned to read the numbers in Arabic)of those written in English on the other side. Today at night i was in an internet cafee and has entered a foreigner asking: - How much is Internet? - 10 pounds/hour. The foreigner has left dissaproving, then I have asked the salesman that was on my side: - Why do you always charge the foreigners more? – i was paying 5 pounds/hour after negotiating a good while and for being a constant customer. The salesman seemed a little annoyed by the question, but immediately said: - Because the tourists in general have a bigger purchasing power than the Egyptians and can pay these prices. It is a concept that does not enter in my head, I understand that the rich ones pay more than the poor ones, but to pay more for the products of the street? And how do they differentiate between a rich tourist and a poor tourist? Well, maybe yes they do make the difference, after five days waiting for our car, without spare clothes, and dirty as we go dressed, the shop assistants start to offer more economic prices to us. In Sudan they had confirmed us that the platform with our cars would go the day after we left, but today we have gone to the office responsible for the transport and they have told us that the platform had not come out of Wadi Halfa yet. They have argued with us that there was a strike, but for sure they were expecting some cars to arrive to Wadi Halfa to make use of the journey. They have promised us that they would as soon as possible fix the problem and we have returned to the hotel, where to finish spoiling the day I have installed a new programme to the computer that has deconfigured completely my Windows, for the second time since Ethiopia. luckyly, in the Internet cafee where I was going they have been able to reconfigure it after 4 working hours and paying an Egyptian price. On the other hand, Aswan in itself, is not a city as bad as it seems describing its vendors. Aswan is found on the edge of the Nile, in a point where this branches off among different islands, that are surrounded at all times by felucas (small vessels) transporting groups of tourists and couples on honeymoon. The biggest island, named Elephantine, contains two interesting nubias villages, with narrow alleys and houses painted in different colours. In front of the Elephantine island, throughout the Corniche, there are anchored different big floating hotels of luxury that periodically sail from Luxor to Aswan. Aswan is visited for the different old monuments and museums, although the main reason is more in the south, Abu Simbel and Philae, some temples that we will visit tomorrow. But Aswan is also a calm city, with many gardens to rest and a touristic central alley full of small traditional trades and of suvenirs, with the vendors trying to guess your nationality at first sight for afterwards to exclaim in a periodic and oppressive way, using some close language: - Here we do not hassle! Looking is free! Abu Simbel (see on map) 28/01/2008:
Abu Simbel is surprising. It is surprising that the majority of organised journeys from Aswan start at three a.m in order to be able to observe the temples with the light of the rising sun. It is surprising that the road towards Abu Simbel is strongly guarded by militarily for fear of terrorist attacks, but it also surprises that there is not any speed control and the buses full of tourists do circulate with the lights turned off and are undertaking other cars unwisely. It surprised the number of buses that already were parked when we arrived but still more when we go out: about 40 big buses and 10 minibuses. But, naturally, the most surprising thing is the greatness of the temple Ramses II, accompanied by the more modest temple dedicated to his wife Nefertari, although I have also listened to some comment of some tourist who imagined that she was bigger. Anyway, the greatness of Abu Simbel still surprises more as the two temples were separated from the mountain in parts to reconstruct them 60 meters higher, avoiding from being submerged by the waters of the lake Naser that was formed with the construction of the Big Dam. It also surprises that such temple had been forgotten and almost completely buried under the sand until 1813when they were discovered by chance and completely emptied of sand towards 1817. And coinciding with these dates, it has surprised me unpleasantly to observe numerous names and dates from the nineteenth century recorded on the statues on the exterior and the reliefs in the interior. Looking at the 3 colossal statues that guard the entry the temple of Ramses II (a fourth statue has lost most of the torso) has surprised the expression of relaxed smiles on the faces . Anyway, the greatness of the exterior remains also in the interior of the temple with the exquisite work of two ranks of big statues with indications of having been painted; the image of men fighting or hunting, represented always the profile of ramses, but with a great dynamism, freezing the action; the image of the pharaoh is adored and he dominates the enemies; there is also the image of the pharaoh with an erect phallus and a woman with long clothes; the representation of the battle of Kadesh (1274BC), during which, Ramses II knew how to inspire with his courage his army surrounded by the Hittite troops, turning the battle over to his favour; the claustrophobic rooms profusely decorated by artists are less impressive than the main room. And finally it has surprised me the precise alignment of the temple so that every 22 of February (anniversary of the pharaoh) and every 22 of October (day of his coronation) the lightnings of the rising sun penetrate up to the last room of the temple, the most sacred, where 4 statues rest. It is also surprising that the precise alignment of the temple could not be copied with modern techniques used in the reconstruction and the light of the sun at present only illuminates perpendicularly the 21st instead of the 22nd. Later after the visit of Abu Simbel (we had 2 hours exactly) we have gone back to the Big Dam, that was not spectacular, since was done the old way, accumulating great quantities of earth and rock in the face of the course of the river. However if something surprises then thats some of its data: lake Nàsser is the biggest artificial lake of the world (or it was for a lot of time). Also: the cultivable earth in Egypt after the construction of the dam increased by 30%, although this was converted in less fertile due to the nonexistence of clays in the Nile. Finally we have visited the temple of Philae, dedicated to the Isis, which was also moved to a higher island, due to the construction of the next and smaller dam of Aswan. There it has surprised me the greatness and refinement of the temple, which was a centre of peregrination during many centuries, even posterior to the expansion of the Christianity, is for this motif that during the Roman empire, the Christians eliminated some of its pagan believers, the same as the fanatical talibans that years ago dynamited some former Buddhist temples. In any case, the temple still preserves its splendour with its arrogant walls and columns and its magnificent engravings, some of which - surprisingly were not eliminated - they represent some sensual and naked feminine figures. Aswan (see on map) 31/01/2008: The day after the visit to Abu Simbel, the four of us went to the office where it was found the person in charge with the transport through lake Nasser and they told us that our cars had not arrived yet. Alexandra became furious, and while I took her out of the office to try to report the problem with our cars to the tourist police, Michael and Stephania tried to find a solution with the famous Mister Sala (all the travellers towards Sudan have to see him). Finally Michael commented innocently: - It seems to me that the only solution will be to phone the free lawyer of my insurance company - he did in fact not have any insurance. Then Mister Sala has risen as a lightning and started to make calles and finally informed Michael that the platform with our cars had gone out on the previous day from Wadi Halfa and that would arrive the day after in the morning. And in fact it was like this, although afterwards we discovered that they had sent our cars because a lorry had arrived in Aswan and was going towards Sudan. The trick of Michael with Mister Sala was not the only one that we used with the Egyptians who have kept trying these days to trick us. The day before yesterday we were walking through the main commercial street and a salesman called us: - A T-shirt 5 pounds (equals 1 $). - Egyptian ¿5 pounds? - I asked, then after getting your attention, sometimes they try to convince you that they were reffering to English pounds. - Yes, 5 Egyptian pounds. We went to look the T-shirts and Alexandra chose one that she liked, but at the time of paying to the salesman he did not accept me the 5 pounds explaining that only the T-shirts for children cost 5 pounds and that the rest cost me 25.i Become annoyed remembering all the cheating from the previous days, I caught the T-shirt, threw the 5 ounds note at his feet and left with the salesman behind who also became very annoyed. But I came out with mine, and all the world to who I have gone explaining the anecdote (tourists or Egyptians) they have ended up commenting that I done it very well. In the same day, we had to use another trick in the afternoon so that they did not trick us. Alexandra had gone to buy in the morning some cakes that she likes a lot (bahlava). She made queue in a shop and observed that the man in front paid 10 pounds (about 2 $) for a kilo of bahlava, but when arriving her turn, the salesman said that the cakes cost 20 pounds the kilo. Alexandra explained that she had seen what had paid the previous man and that in the price list in Arab there was no price superior to 15 pounds. But the salesman preferred to sell the correct price only to egyptian so he lost a client just because he wanted more and Alexandra left well annoyed. When explaining the story we invented a plan: we asked at the reception of the hotel to write bahlava for us in Arab, we went afterwards at the shop and we looked for the word in the price list, at the same time we became friends with a boy in the area, and obliged salesman for his unhappiness to sell us 500 g of bahlava for 5 pounds. Anyway, the following morning, yesterday, as I and Michael went towards the port to look for our cars, we had opportunity to see the real character of the Egyptians. Out of the touristic area that payed frequent 50 $ or 100 $ for night, the women and the men looked cheerful, really thanked that we were visiting their country and traveling with their means of transport, and even, near the port we payed for the first time the Egyptian price for a tea: 0,75 pounds. In the port, the policemen and the customs officer also seemed nice (not so much), but to complete in the middle the paperwork that we knew that would last a day or two, the officer of customs asked the two of us to take the cars out of the platform. Unfortunately, the platform was very badly situated, forming a high step between the platform and the narrow port, on the other hand, had the cars parked of bottom, and finally my autocaravan did not start, because the problem of the stárter had not been solved. Michael started to drag me with its car, but I faced the exit very badly and finally remained blocked between the step of the platform of the port, without possibility to go infront nor behind. Different workers of the port, some of which tried to fix the stárter with knocks of hammer came but as it was not fixed ten people pushed the autocaravan upward the platform and keeping pushing we managed to start off the engine using the 10 meters of the platform. With the engine started off the exit was easier, even then, there were minor damages: the stairs more twisted, the support of the spare wheel another time broken, a cracked light... The exit of the autocaravan from the platform lasted about two or three hours, and when we returned to the customs to continue the paperwork, the officer had already left. So we have had to return today early. As we arrived at the officer, we have sat to fill paperwork, the agent opened the carnet de passage (a sort of passport for cars) of Michael and when checking the name of the owner of the car has exclaimed: - Very well, you are the owner of the car. Now I have started to fear, for the autocaravan is on the name of my company Servicios of Internet Javajan, which i directed. Anyway, I have extracted a document signed by my friend and current administrator of the company authorising me to drive the car in any country (for the first time in all the African continent). But when the officer has taken my carnet de passage and saw the attached document, his smile has faded away quickly and immediately he has exclaimed with gravity: - I can not let your vehicle go out. You will have to go to Cairo, to the Club of Motoring, so that they put the carnet de passage on your name. The rotundity and gravity of his voice was so dry that I have not remained more time in front of his desk discussing or offering money. I have returned to Aswan, directly to the train station where I have done 2 hours of queue to buy a train thicket, and afterwards have directed myself to the hotel, where Alexandra waited, first sceptical, afterwards furious and finally sad. And at 6 in the afternoon I have gone with the train towards Cairo and I have left Alexandra in the company of two Spanish and of Michael and Stephania, which had not managed to complete all the formalities and did have to stay until Sunday, because Fridays and Saturdays are sacred for the Muslims and the traffic police are in hollyday in Egypt. Cairo (see on map) 02/02/2008:
When arriving in Cairo very early in the morning, I kept walking towards the Spanish embassy, but this was closed until Sunday, Muslim holiday. However, the Club of Motoring where I went afterwards, was closed on Friday but opened Saturday. So I decided to make use of the free extra time and visit the Egyptian Museum. The Egyptian Museum surprised me in different ways, and not only for the disorder of which i was already informed in my guide (in the 2009 the opening of a new museum is planned). It surprised me the cover of a sarcophagus with the sculpture of the pharaoh on the top and the relief of a feminine figure in the interior, as if the pharaoh had dreamed to eternally sleep with attractive woman. It has also surprised me to observe numerous sarcophags broken on the outside, the only way of taking the priceless treasures of the interior, for the covers were weighing too much to be lifted by the theafs. It has surprised me the realism of some statues that prove that the former Egyptian artists not only knew how to make stylised figures. And observing these statues it has surprised me that the canons of beauty 5000 years ago were very similar to the current ones (I wonder: the idea about beauty is genetic or cultural?). Observing the statue of a mother kissing her child of about ten years on the mouth, it also made me question if the way in which the human beings show affection is genetic or cultural. In another point the irony of Cheops, the builder of the biggest pyramid, of which its face is only known by a small figure of 8 cm. has surprised me In any case, the most surprising thing of the museum is the exhibition of the magnificent treasures found in a tomb that was hidden and intact under the looted tomb of Ramses VI, a tomb belonging to a pharaoh that only governed for 9 years: Tutankamon. From all the exposed treasures, it surprises that the momified body of the pharaoh was introduced in a very beautifull bust of masive gold with precios rocks,and in the same time the body being introduced in a fascinating sarcofag also made of masive gold ( 110 kg), and this sarcofag introduced inside 2 other icrusted sarcofags made of gold, which also were introduced in 4 big golden, one inside the other (like the famous russian dolls), and finally all these were hidden inside the death chamber in wich were found many other golden objects that could have been usefull to the faraoh in the life after death. I have gone out of the museum astonished by the wealth of this first and old civilisation that began more than 5 thousand years ago, thanks to the excess of food that the fertile lands of the Nile,producing an excess of food that through the collection of taxes allowed to feed thousands of craftsmen, civil servants, soldiers and priests that were in the service of the pharaoh. When going out of the museum, I tried to get in touch with a boy from couchsurfing that could lodge me, but his telephone was off and I started to get impatient. I phoned other boys from couchsurfing in Cairo (there are no girls) and nobody could lodge me, except a man who had to confirm it to me. Meanwhile I walked a Little more through the commercial neighbourhood called Downtown and looked for a hotel just in case. I found a room for 1,5 €, but luckyly, Tarek, the man that had gotten in touch through couchsurfing confirmed me that he could lodge me and he came to pick me up later that evening. Tarek also had a couple from North American, but he and his second wife received me with open arms. Tarek explained to me that he was 3 days per week with the other wife, he however explained to me that he had a graphic company and he also worked as a consultant for a great investing firm. he had quite a lot of money, but curiously would prefer to be in my place, doing my journey. Today in the morning I have gone early to the Club of Motoring, fearing that i could have problems to put the carnet de passages on my name. the director of the company took my documents with interest and has started to be read, but i have not been able to relax until he has commented that i should pay about 26 € for the process. I have not protested at all for the excessive price, nor I have complained when after all the paperwork he has delivered a receipt of only 20 €. I was happy to have the carnet de passages on my name and as son as posible to be able to circulate with my car again. In the afternoon, after buying a train thicket towards Aswan and of leaving my backpack in the ticket window of the station, I have started to walk towards the Islamic neighbourhood, stopping from time to time to eat in popular shutdowns and to take teas of 1 pound (I always avoid the moderately touristic bars where, despite having written 3 pounds in the listings in Arab, they nail you 10 pounds for a tea, according to them due to the rates and to the service). In the Islamic neighbourhood I have walked through the calm alleys with nice people and afterwards through the other ones crowded with tourists and aggressive vendors. I have visited some precious mosques and finally removed the shoes to relax in the big mosque Al-Azhar. There a boy has approached me and he has invited me to read and to take different books on the introduction to the Islam. And a little later he has approached me again and has started to give me conversation, remembering that Spain was 8 centuries dominated by the Arabs (more centuries that under Christian influence) and asking me if for this motive, the Spanish had more visión about the extends of Islam. - Not - I have claimed -, in Spain no one wants to remember that we were under Muslims ocupacion during so many centuries,we are reminded about this only in the Arab countries where we go. Next he has explained me that the Islam is a religion of peace, and that for example, the Muslims were many centuries living together in peace with the Jews of Spain, however, the latter were expelled by the Christians after the reconquest. Afterwards he has tried me to convince of reading the Koran, explaining that this contained the instructions of functioning written by the master to the servant (God - man). I have commented him that i had already read it and have made use to ask him about some doubts that i had, as for example why Mahoma had been married to 12 women (9 of them at the same time), when he preached that the maximum that Allah allowed were 4. he has explained me the motives under the Islamic optics, anyway they have not quite convinced me. when turning back to the train station, I have stopped again to eat something, to take some tea, to play 3 chess games (I have gained 2 and lost 1) in a bar where they have invited me to another tea me and finally I have been running about 30 minutes, some of which walking to recover the breath, because when I have arrived to the station I have realised that i had forgotten the bag with the travel guide and the Little books on the introduction to the Islam in the chess bar. Aswan (see on map) 05/02/2008: When I arrived Aswan, at noon, I ran to greet Alexandra and immediately after went towards the port, to initiate the formalities to take the car. The policemen of the entry were for a good while refusing to let me enter and afterwards it was difficult to find the officer of customs, but finally I located him and made the papers (paying about 70 euros) to continue the formalities with the traffic police the following day. I have spent the afternoon with Alexandra, Michael, Stephania, small Maria, and David and Maria, two Spanish that were traveling doing hitchhiking going by public transportation to Sudan. 9 months ago they left from Cantabria and, apart from our histories, explaining the adventures of many other travellers, remembering mutually that our journeys did not have too much of extraordinary, we were only a few more of the thousands of travellers that go over the world. The day after (yesterday) in the morning I went towards the traffic police where they delivered me some forms and I bought some seals (they made me pay more than the value indicated on them) and after i had to go to look for an engineer that had to check that the number of chassis of my vehicle coincided with the number of the carnet de passages. The engineer was doing revisions for cars in a levelled area, the lights, the brakes, checking that the engine worked correctly... I had feared when going to the port,that the engineer wanted to check the state of my car and could not accept it due to the problem of the stárter and the alternator, since the civil servant of customs had explained to me that if the engineer discovered that my car did not work, he would not make me the papers. Anyway, as he waited and they passed the hours, my fear kept being replaced by a deep bad humour, although I could not become annoyed with anybody, for the engineer was working all the while, revising the endless queues of cars that they did not decrease. I could only become annoyed with the corrupt and bureaucratic Egyptian system. Anyway, in the end, after four hours waiting, the engineer finished the work, caught a taxi towards the port, checked the number of the chassis in a minute and returned to the traffic police. There, despite being near two I continued,left with an egyptian to buy an insurance, carrying out more paperwork until they assigned a registration number to me. I returned to the centre, to the insurance company that there was in front of the hotel, and I asked an insurance for the car, but when they said the price (about 70 euros), my annoyance from the morning increased again, and more when they showed a listing of prices where interpreting the numbers in Arab, I deduced that if i were Egyptian i would pay only about 20 euros for the insurance. well enraged I directed towards the tourist police that there were nearby to denounce the fact, but the police did not pay me too much attention and only they translated me the last description of the listing, that it detailed that the tourists had to pay 70 euros independently of the vehicle that they had. I was annoyed as a gorilla, the foreign travellers drive much better than the Egyptians, but have to pay a much more expensive insurance, was completely unfair. The only justification was that the díesel in Egypt costs only 0,09€/litre, but that did not have anything to do with the insurance. Anyway i could not make anything to change it and I ended up paying the amount that they asked for. In any case, not only I was annoyed with the bureaucracy and Egyptian corruption. At night I talked with a local boy, Amgad, that complained that the government of Hosni Mubarak was dictatorial and mafioso, without democracy nor freedom of speech not even of press, with many journalists and politicians captured for expressing opinions publicly. When asking which government would prefer if there were choices, he answered me that he would want an Islamic government, as a majority of the Egyptians, and this is probably the motif that the United States continue defending a dictator, without imposing its idealised democracy. Today in the morning I have returned to the traffic police with the paper of the insurance, and after paying some other rates and waiting for another hour and a half, finally they have delivered me a sort of drivers licence and a registration with Egyptian numbers (the number 32), with which I have been able to direct myself to the port to release the car that had been kidnapped by the bureaucracy and Egyptian corruption for 13 days (the ransom had costed about 250 €, including the 13 days of hotel and the train thicket). The problem has been that without stárter I have had to ask three policemen to push the autocaravan, but finally I have pulled it and I have gone towards the hotel where Alexandra waited very happy to see her home again, and we have left towards the outskirts of Aswan,a levelled area up on the Nile, where Michael and Stephania waited for us to enjoy a couple of days of absolute rest. 06/02/2008:
Yesterday really it was a day of absolute rest, while Alexandra cleaned the autocaravan, I laid down under a palm tree to dream and to remember that at last we had finished the 13 days of torture without the car. At night, when means was half awake, a cargo ship approached and anchored near the place where we had parked. After presenting each other and conversing for a while, the men invited us to dine a delicious goulash on the boat and so we sat in the oily engine room. Today, I have decided to dismantle the stárter to see whether i managed to fix it. With the help of Michael, I have cleaned it, we have fixed the magnets that danced (using a brilliant idea of Michael) and we have installed it on again. But it kept not working. We have dismantled it and gotten on two or three more times, although with identical result. Finally another cargo ship came, the mechanic has approached, the noise that he heard made him know which the problem of the stárter was, he has cleaned the entry of the stárter with gasoline and he has installed it again. He has asked me to pull the car and surprisingly has worked. It seems that the main problem was the dirt that did not make it go well. In the afternoon I have relaxed talking with Michael and also with Mafi and Omar the captain and the mechanic of the cargo ship that had anchored yesterday in the night. In the end, already by night, talking around a small fire, Mafi has asked whether it would be easy to travel to Europe, and after commenting that he could hardly enter, we have realised that all the difficulties that we had had to enter in Egypt, were in fact few compared with all the difficulties that the Egyptians have to enter Europe. Anyway, Egypt in theory should be interested in receiving tourists and should facilitate more the things; however Europe is not very interested in receiving to more immigrants. 07/02/2008:
The problems of the car have continued. i thought that with the operation of yesterday the stárter would work, but this morning the engine has not wanted to start and Michael has had me to drag us to start it off. So, we have followed the course towards the north, without stárter, without alternator and with the battery unloading. And in the end, after about a hundred kilometres and right in the middle of the town Edfu, my engine has stopped. For luck, Michael still continued with us to help us if it was necessary and has pulled us up to a service on the side of the road. The service did not seem a service, but a very efficient boy has dismantled the stárter, has burst a part with a screwdriver, has dirtied it inside of instead of cleaning it, has welded the burst part, has gotten on the stárter and has asked me to try it. And surprisingly, the engine has been started off. The process for the alternator has been more or less similar. And after about four hours and of about 15 paid euro we have continued the road. At night, it has however arrived the turn of the car of Michael. We have gone out from the main road and parked in a small road to pass the night. But a group of boys and men has informed us about not being able to sleep there, because through the path passed cars. Then Michael has tried to start off his car but some electrical problem has prevented him from doing it. The boys and men pushed so that we could go out of the path and at the end Michael parked on a levelled area about 50 meters of pushing the car. I have gone to look for a torch from my car to do light through the path, but in returning running on the side of the van of Michael I have fallen in a hole. It seemed that the end of the fall never finished but finally arriving on the ankles i was full of mud and water me. I had fallen in a channel of 3 or 4 meters of depth, with almost vertical walls. For luck, the Egyptians have been able to stretch a hand for me and pulled me out. Then I have returned in front of the car of Michael, illuminating the path up to the levelled area. While Michael discovered where the electrical problem was, I cleaned my legs and changed the trousers. We have dined in his car and next have been invited to take the tea and to eat some biscuits in one of the homes in front the levelled area, proving once again that the Egyptian hospitality does not have at all to do with the vendors of the touristic alleys or with the bureaucracy of the country. Luxor (see on map) 08/02/2008:
Today in the morning we have said goodbye for some days to Michael, Stephanie and small Maria, its been already some weeks that she has learned to say my name and she always calls me when she sees me. They went towards Cairo, circulating on the White desert road and we have arrived up to Luxor, one of the biggest touristic destinations of Egypt, because here it is found the Valley of the Kings (where they had been many of the pharaohs buried) and many temples, among these, the enormous temple of Karnak. We have initiated our tour visiting the colossi of Memnon, some enormous statues of 18 meters of height, but they have been eroded quite a lot. Next we have visited the temple of Deir Al-Medina and the beginning of the stony Valley of the Kings from outside. Mid-morning we have crossed to the East side, where in the middle of the town is found the temple with the same name, with a mosque built inside. And finally, we have bought the ticket at noon and entered the immense complex of temples of Karnak, built throughout a millennium. I should write again how has "surprised" me, especially describing the colossal and numerous columns of the room Hypostyle, although after the visit to Abu Simbel, it seems that nothing can be compared with it any longer. 09/02/2008: Yesterday at dusk we wanted to start to go towards Cairo, but a police control stopped us and reported us that we should wait till the day after in the morning, because we could not pass without escort. Annoyed we returned to the other edge, covering about 20 kilometres, to take the road of the west, but another police control prevented us from crossing. Finally we decided to camp next to the control, although at midnight, an educated officer from the touristic police came to bother informing us that the day after we could add ourselves to the convoy of 8 am on the other side of the town. And like this we have made it. After waiting for some endless twenty minutes, it has arrived a rank of about 30 or 40 buses, mini-buses and taxis with tourists, escorted in front by a pick-up of the police full of armed staff. We have added ourselves in the middle of the parade, but all the Egyptians were driving madly and so they have kept going in front of us, remaining at the end of a total of 200 vehicles forming the convoy. All the cars in contrary direction were stopped by more police officers. in every intersection, there were compatriots armed supervising that no passer-by or car entered the roadway. The fields of sugar cane from which it could go off against the tourists with relative easiness, were planted at distance up to 50 or 100 meters from the road. Naturally we have wondered why so we have been reading that in the nineties disturbances between the police and the radical Islamists who populate the area were going on with the result of different dead tourists, and safety was necessary,. Since then, there have not stopped being the convoys, in spite of the relative calm on the road, although it is also true that the last mortal attack against a touristic facility in Egypt took place only two years ago. In any case, the police seemed to take their work very seriously. After about 70 kilometres advancing very fast, the group has been divided and we have added ourselves to the small group that followed towards the north, but after a hundred kilometres more, the convoy has threaded a secondary road and finally have been in front of a temple that we did not want to visit. We have stayed at the entry informing the policemen that we wanted to go to Cairo, but they have asked us for patience to organise an escort for us alone. But as the time passed and the escort did not arrive we have left with the policemen screaming behind, although to the following police control few kilometres in front we have stopped and finally our escort has arrived. The covered pick-up of the police has gone behind us, making the sirens shout when some lorry did not let us advance with sufficient comfort. But after twenty kilometres we have arrived to a new police control where they have retained us explaining to us that the new escort had not arrived yet. We have explained to them that we wanted to arrive today to Cairo and after few minutes we have left the control again. Anyway, another pick-up of the police has caught us from behind and followed us up to the following police control, where we have initiated a new discussion and again left the control. Finally, the police authorities have understood that we had haste, and to the following control already waited us two limousines of the police, one of which has been situated behind and the other one in front of us doing the sirens all the while to make the way among the traffic of the big city of Asyut (it seems to be, the most dangerous of the Islamic cities). The people looked us amazed, and we felt in a certain way some presidents, in spite of that also a little inconvenienced for this not requested service, a service that for sure was much costlier than the 250 € paid to enter Egypt with car. After about 50 kilometres, with different limousines of the police being inserted,we have been escorted again by the pick-ups, have missed again some police control because the escort did not arrive on time, and finally, at the level of Minya the escorts have disappeared and we have been able to cross the following controls without too many problems. Anyway, it has become dark at about 250 kilometres before arriving to Cairo and we have spent the night in the parking place of a small city. ‹ Previous (12/12/2007) MONTH Next (2008-02-10)› ‹ Previous (2007-11-09 - Kenya) COUNTRY Next (2008-01-14 - Sudan)› |
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