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‹ Previous (26/12/2007) MONTH Next (2008-02-24)› ‹ Previous (2008-01-14 - Sudan) COUNTRY Next (2008-02-23 - Jordan)› 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. Cairo (see on map) 13/02/2008:
Today in the morning, Michael, Stephania and the nice small Maria have said goodbye definitely to us. We had shared almost two months with them and they had converted in some real colleagues of the journey, helping each other mutually when it was necessary, maintaining interesting conversations, knowing together countries and inhabitants... It is a pity that we will not establish in Europe until after we travell through all Asia and America and that will not be able to visit them until then. We will miss them. Michael and Stephania had arrived to Cairo two days ago after the road of the White desert . In the morning they got in touch with me and I gave them the GPS coordinates of the home of Tarek, the Egyptian who had lodged me the first time in Cairo and who offered us his enormous hospitality again. Anyway, they did not arrive until the night due to problems to unify the nomenclature of the coordinates. They were tired of the journey and of the search and remained completely disconcerted when Tarek offered them the same hospitality as to us, offering us a delicious dinner in his home. When returning to the autocaravans, Michael asked me with interest: - How does Couchsurfing work? I answered him that in couchsurfing not all the world was as hospitable as Tarek and that that rather depended on the Egyptian or Arab culture, but that in any case, it was very interesting to join and to know people and other travellers. In fact, throughout our journey, very few people have appeared as hospitable with us as Tarek and his second wife Asser. We had found families who in spite of absolute poverty offered us all what they had. But Tarek enjoys a very good economic situation and I find paradoxically his hospitality still more surprising, because until now I had not found "rich" people that through couchsurfing lodged so many travellers in their home and insisted of always paying any drinks or foods that they consumed in his home. Really, after four days of enjoying his hospitality I felt that we were abusing, but when we talked with him, he thanked us for our presence and that he wants us to feel part of his most appreciated friends and that would feel defrauded if we did not accept all what he can offer us. An example of the magnificent hospitality of Tarek we find from the first night we arrived in Cairo. That night, Egypt played the end of the African soccer cup, against Cameroon, and together with two other couples of Americans that Tarek was also lodging hr invited us to a café to see the match. Secretly, I cheered up Cameroon, for Etoo plays for Barça, the team that I like, even then it was a great luck that Egypt gained, for afterwards the party was magnificent. Tarek loaded the boys in his car and Asser the girls in her car and immediately after we added ourselves to the parade of hundreds of cars that went towards the town centre to celebrate the victory. The drivers made sound the horns (more that never), there were crazy boys that threw blazes using sprays, there were also girls singing rhymes, some motorcyclists that showed their skills, and all this show without drinking almost anything of alcohol. Anyway, Tarek broke the rules and he bought us some beers and to finish rounding it off he invited us to dine some delights of the Egyptian cuisine. The truth is that we will miss Tarek and Asser when we say goodbye to them, as to Michael, stephanie and Maria, and in the same way that I will miss Alexandra, because this night, finally she has decided to buy a plane ticket to Italy and Romania to visit her family. I will wait for her in Turkey, with desires of being together again, for even if sometimes her nervous attacks take me out of hinge, Alexandra is lately much more soothed. Alexandra had always said that she did not like Africa and maybe from now on she will show more interest in the countries that we will visit and the people that we will know. In any case, taking advantage her leaving soon and tomorrow being Valentínes day, I have put on tonight the ring of gold that Alexandra had given me and that i had taken off during her last nervous brake down from the end of year in Addis Ababa. Specifically, in Cairo, Alexandra has been shown interested of visiting together the commercial neighbourhood of downtown, the Islamic neighbourhood and the touristic market of Khan Al-Khalili, and the Coptic neighbourhood, where they are raised different, churches that date from the beginnings of Christianity, one of which, it is said that it is built on the crypt where it was given refuge to Maria, to Joséf and to the Child Jesus running away from the killing of babies that was ordered to the king Herodes. Visiting the churches it has surprised me to observe the numerous inscriptions in Greek, but it has still surprised me more afterwards to observe Christian inscriptions in Arab on crosses in the cemetery. And there, while Alexandra made the photo of a tomb I have exclaimed with naturalness: - Alex, watch with the dead! she was about to faint for fright, and it is because the Romanians are incredibly superstitious. 16/02/2008:
The day before yesterday, the wind had cleaned the pollution of Cairo and from the neighbourhood where Tarek lives,we could observe thrilled the enormous pyramids that got up at the other tip of the large city, on the stony set of Giza. And at last, after a couple of days in which I have been a little with fever, today we have gone to visit. When approaching, the greatness of the pyramids appearing arrogant among the buildings of the neighbourhood of Giza surprised us again . And, the difficulty of its construction, which in the case of the pyramid of Cheops (the biggest) piling up blocks of stone of about 2,5 tons for a height of 146 meters, has continued surprising me once in the enclosure. One may not miss that there are people that believe that the pyramids were built by extraterrestrial, angels or, even demons. In any case the current height of the pyramid of Cheops is 9 meters less, due to the utilisation of some stones for building parts of Cairo. After visiting the Sphinx outside a fence, which has disappointed me a little, perhaps because i imagined it bigger, we have kept walking for the sand of the desert, observing as the pyramids remained behind us, cutting the enormous metropolis of Cairo, while in front of us, near the horizon, other pyramids were distinguished old of about 4 or 5 millennia, but more small and not so visited. 19/02/2008:
The same Saturday returning from the visit of the pyramids I observed with despair that the light of the battery went on again. The alternator had stopped working another time. This time, I myself dismantled it with the intention of fixing it. But the problem was more severe than the previous time and I saw myself obliged to taking it to a specialist. But in Egypt, the mechanics do holiday on Sunday instead of Fridays, and even if I and the driver of Tarek looked through all Cairo for some open service, we had to wait for Monday. But on Monday in the morning, Alexandra had the flight towards Italy, so, instead of taking her towards the airport, it was Tareks driver who took her. Anyway, while we went towards the airport, we received a call informing us about the flight being delayed two days because of some heavy snowstorms in Greece (where the flight did scale). So, we both keep enjoying the hospitality of Tarek, retained two more days in Cairo, for in my case, until Monday I did not have the alternator with a new part at night fixed and as Tuesday got it on today in the morning the engine has not wanted to start. I have waited all the day to which it arrived for a mechanic, that in a moment it has discovered that a cable behind the engine had been disconnected. Apart from trying to solve the mechanical problems, these days we have continued closed at the house of Tarek, without too many desires of keeping discovering the interesting city, and simply leaving to pass connected to Internet (sometimes working), playing on-line to the poker with Asser, or playing the Xbox with Tarek, especially to some games of careers of cars, which are very real, for Tarek has pedals and steering wheel. Anyway, for the nights we also keep having while to converse with Tarek or Asser, which were very open Muslims, even if Asser tried multiple times of convincing indirectly Alexandra to be converted. On the other hand, Tarek had passed all the previous weekend with its first woman, with whom it also has children (Asser has two daughters). As he turned Monday over, Tarek told me that its two women do not behave very well, but that they have of accepting the situation because the legislation and the Muslim religion allow its double marriage. Anyway, he passes more time with its second woman, mainly for he being almost always lodging people of couchsurfing and being more open to receive them. --- Today to the night I have interviewed to Tarek that Jacket that is causing a very negative impact in the world opined that the main problem of the world is the current policy. Waiting that to the next choices the gain the democrats, although it should change the society to change the policies deeply. Tarek tries to help favour this change lodging people of different cultures and exchanging realities. The main challenge of Egypt will be the withdrawal of the current president that has been to the power the last 24 years and the changes that it will entail. The solution would be the democracy, perhaps although the country is not prepared for this. Tarek tries to collaborate individually the Egyptian economics helping do to grow. Tarek is considered happy because it is found with people of all the world and for the family that it has. It would be happier losing 10 kg and being healthier. The secret of the happiness is the connection with God. Dahab (see on map) 22/02/2008:
After leaving Alexandra in the airport, I started to drive towards the Suez channel, with the intention of making the utmost use of the last available days of visa going to Sinaí, for i felt that i had not enjoyed Egypt enough, with too many bureaucratic and mechanical problems. I felt like seeing the Suez, but when arriving i got disappointed, for there was tens of military quartering that protected the accesses to the channel, besides, the channel was crossed through a tunnel instead of a bridge. Even then, after looking a while through the edge for this, I finally found a small road that went to the channel and then started to enjoy the show, observing tens of boats of great tonnage that seemed to sail through the middle of the desert. When arriving to the edge of the channel I surprised myself of the great width, in spite of that probably not enough so that two boats could circulate, because at all times the boats circulated in a single direction (from North to South). After the visit to the channel, I started to border the gulf of Suez (in the Red Sea) with intention of arriving to the monastery of Saint Catherina and perhaps rising in the dawn to the mount Sinai. But sleep came to me, due to the so many nights conversing (or playing the Xbox) with Tarek and his other guests, and at eight I already went to bed not to wake up until the following day after eleven hours. The monastery of Saint Catherina, at the foot of the Mount Sinai, has been a place of pilgrimage since the 4th century, when a Roman empress built a chapel next to a burned bush which they thought was the bush through which God had talked to Moses. The mount Sinai is worshiped also so much by Jews, Christians as Muslims, because the tradition says that Moses received the boards with the ten Rules in the highness of the mountain. Linking the monastery of Saint Catherina with the top of the Mount Sinai, there are the 3750 steps of the stairs of the regret, cut into the rock by a monk as form of penitence. the monk had to have done a very great sin (nobody knows which), in any case for sure that God forgave him. Although i did not have intention of going up to the mount Sinaí, because on two days the visa of Egypt expired and i wanted to reach early Dahab to change money, I started to go up the stairs of the regret, from which a magnificent show was enjoyed, with the monastery at the bottom of the valley surrounded by stony mountains. I kept going up without having taken water nor money, even then, when I half on the path towards the top I thought "what the hell," I have just "gone up"!. But above, apart from a much more spectacular landscape, I found a thirst of a thousand demons, luckily, I found Moses that offered me water. Close to the top there are different stops for tourists, but when asking for water to a salesman, he only wanted to offer a sealed bottle that i could not pay. Annoyed I exclaimed out loud: - Is this the Egyptian hospitality? Then another man (of the shop number 2) appeared and offered me a glass of delicious water from a fountain of the mountain and next a hot tea. While I recovered in his shop, one of the 7 that populate the Sinai, he presented himself with the name of Mussa (Moses in Arab), explaining to me that he was Bedouin, specifically of the family Jabaliyya. Although he also explained that there are 7 more families of Bedouins spilled out in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Having noticed that through the surroundings there were different patches of snow, I asked whether it snowed a lot and he answered me that lately not and that the last great snowstorm had been in the 86, when 1m of snow piled up. Consequently, the mountain has very few reserves of water, insufficient to water the cypresses that are 500 years old and that mark the point where the prophet Elias listened to the voice of God. To finish, he told me that i was lucky to arrive to the top mid-morning, because normally, every night hundreds of tourists meet at the top to see the sunrise. And really it should be like this, because when I arrived in the midday to the new monastery with the intention of visiting it, this (unlike the morning) was completely deserted and a guard informed me that it was already closed. In Dahab, some touristic town on the coast of the gulf of Acaba (also on the Red Sea), the banks were already closed. Even then I went to the centre to do some shopping, but when parking, a boy approached me and commented me well stiff: - Here you cannot park. A new discussion was about to initiate when suddenly, the same boy exclaimed in Spanish: - It’s a joke! It was Antonio and his colleague Ana that had done a tour through Africa very similar to ours with a 4 x 4. In Addis Ababa, a couple of Dutch that we had found in the embassy of Sudan they had spoken them of our journey, commenting "I do not know how they have been able to cross Africa with an autocaravan". They also knew Arancha, another Spanish that we had found in Aswan and that after 9 years travelling returned to stabilise in Spain. In the evening i had dinner with them sharing the adventures of our travels and they also told to me that they had met Tim, the English motorcyclist that we had found in Angola. Today, while Antonio and Ana were going to do diving to discover new coralline treasures that grow about Dahab and in all the North of the Red Sea, I put my duck feet and my glasses and I have submerged on the beach in front of the people, from where a magnificent cliff full of corals, plants of unimaginable forms, fish of multiple colours, octopuses was revealed... It was an incredible show, but for bad luck, the water was very cold and before one hour I have had to go out trembling. At night I have returned to dine with Antonio and Ana, conversing on our adventures and about the difficult economics of the traveller always putting us in limit situations of life: when we do not want to pay to the corrupt police, or we look for free places to sleep, or where to eat... unlike the tourist, that when having the bounded holidays can solve any problem with a few $ or €. Jordan Aqaba (see on map) 23/02/2008: At the time of taking the boat towards Jordan I have lived again another of these limit situations because of the money. In the morning early I have paid 192 $ for the note of the boat of Nuweiba to Aqaba (Jordan), but when I was about to embark, after having passed me 4 hours in the port running to fix paperwork, the controllers have commented me that it had to pay 50 $ extra, because they had sold the note me for small car and mine was big. After discussing a good while, finally they have shown me that others todo-terreno they also paid the amount that me asked for. Anyway, although I did not have the reason, it did not want to pay and I have decided to keep tightening the rope. I have commented them that I had already used up me all the money and that it could not go out of the port to take with the card endorses because it already had the seal of exit of Egypt. That has confused them, but half after an hour of calls, asking them whether he could pay the note in Aqaba, they have finally told me that it could go to draw money out of the port of Nuweiba, escorted by a policeman. Naturally I have had to follow the current and to make see that it took money and pay afterwards the required amount with the money that it already had. With all that, the boat has gone out about fifteen minutes late for fault of mine, but little it has imported, for when reaching Aqaba after about three hours, our having had to be another hour locked up in the boat expecting them to finish televising a match of soccer. Petra (see on map) 24/02/2008: Today it has not been a good day. Yesterday to the night I knew a nice Belgian couple that traveled with a selfcaravan for the Orient Means and they gave me some good recommendations. Also today I have gone towards Petra, through a perfectly asphaltic road of three lanes, accompanied by two youngsters of Australia that he had known yesterday in the boat. Anyway, it has today not been a good day, my computer yesterday then spoiled again and, instead of visiting Petra, I have today had to stay in the car reinstalling all the Windows and losing a lot of work and some important information. For luck, he had made safety copies at home in Tarek in Cairo, and the situation was not so critical either. In any expensive, at night, one once all the programmes reinstalled I have started to write another time, all the lost journals. ‹ Previous (26/12/2007) MONTH Next (2008-02-24)› ‹ Previous (2008-01-14 - Sudan) COUNTRY Next (2008-02-23 - Jordan)› |
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