Eastern Mediterranean Tour - Egypt part 2

Eastern Mediterranean Tour - Egypt part 2

Day 7: Tuesday 18^th December 2012 Aswan (Alex)

So it’s my turn again to write. . . . well . . . today, since we decided not to go to Abu Simbel, which would have been nice to do, we could have a lie in. Well lie in is a bit of an overstatement since we had to have had breakfast by 10 o’clock, this meant that we had to wake up at 9 o’clock, I personally don’t call that a lie in. Then after a shower and groaning for having been waken slightly more early than stated, we went to breakfast. It consisted of falafels, bread rolls, egg and a variety of different toppings. Still I find it a bit weird having falafels for breakfast.
We had until 12 o’clock to do what we pleased, my father and sister went into town to find an ATM machine and my mother and I stayed in the Hotel to finish the Diary and post it on the blog, the wifi was free, straight forward and worked, something revolutionary and fantastic for this journey.

Christof: Beatrice and me intend to take the scheduled courtesy shuttle minibus down to the town centre (quite a few kms away) at 10:00. We, plus 2 others, are sitting in the sun on the stairs, waiting, but as no minibus is arriving, we ask at the reception. They say, oh, you want a minibus, we’ll order you one. Downtown our first task is to draw money on the credit card from an ATM which, after the previous abortive experience has left me a bit apprehensive, but it spews out the demanded amount without blinking an eyelid.

Then we walk along the waterfront boulevard, all the luxury cruisers lying idle. A local man asks me whether Beatrice is my daughter, which I affirm, upon which he asks me how many camels I would need to get from him to have him marry her. I say one million, and he jokingly responds that he is willing to pay one and a half million. Beatrice is disgusted. Later we go up some side streets, where we finally see the cheap cafés/restaurants, that I would have liked to have eaten at … but after a rich breakfast?

With teutonic precision we are back at the appointed pick-up place at 11:15 (having agreed that with the driver when he dropped us), but we wait and wait for 20 minutes before we decide, together with the other 2, to take a taxi back, which for a total of LE 10 (N$15) divided by 4 is hardly a hurtful expense. We’ve just got 15 minutes left to pack our stuff and be at the lobby at the demanded 12:00 noon.

Back to Alex: Then at 12 o’clock sharp all of us who had not gone to Abu Simbel and stayed at the hotel were assembled, yet since we are still in Africa, Wael and the bus only arrived at 12:30, with Wael commenting that his watch wasn’t working .... sure.

Then all into the bus and off to the high dam. Not a long ride from the hotel, plus we enjoyed a lovely vista from the road over the valley. There are two dams in Aswan: one is an old imperial wall built by the English, the other was built in the 60’s with the aid of the Soviet Union and to commemorate this there is also a huge memorial for the friendship between Egypt and the Soviet Union. The dam wall was huge and the lake it had created even more so, the largest man-made lake on earth: Lake Nasser. The dam is also used to generate electricity, in the 1960’s it generated 50% of the electricity needed in the whole of Egypt now in the year 2012 only about 9%. So we had a little walk along the wall and took a group picture, then off to the Nile to get on the feluccas to take us down the river, so North.

Once at the feluccas we first had to repack and reorganise our rucksacks, because we were to have no access to our large cases while on the boat. once that had been done it was “all aboard” and we set sail. We sailed with the current, but against the wind which meant we had to sail in zigzags as to use the wind, which also meant that we travelled very slowly. Yet we had lunch, consisting of yes you guessed it, falafels and Egyptian flat bread aka Pita bread, you’re just fed it every were you go in Egypt, so make sure you like or can tolerate it if you decide to visit Egypt.

The plus side of the cruise was that the drinks were cheap, the beer cold and the view and atmosphere brilliant, we are 9 tourists 2 captains and our tour guide called Peter on the boat. The best thing though about our felucca is the rudder: it basically was a shrine to Bob Marley, with rastafari colours, with Bob Marley flags, the horns of a cow, a plastic sword and a plastic crocodile, absolutely brilliant. We sailed until about 3:30pm then stopped to have a swim for those who wanted, which meant that I was the first one in and the last one out. The Nile wasn’t too cold, about 22°C, which meant that my mother already shrieked when putting her toes in. Beatrice still joined me and 4 others too. Then a quick dry off and  we sailed until it was dark which wasn’t long. We then all joined in with card games, well except my parents, and played a game similar to UNO and then a game called change and each time you lost you received a letter from the word D-O-N-K-E-Y, when the game ended most were at the D-O-N stage but I  didn’t have one letter, pretty good if you would ask me. At about 6pm we landed and had dinner on the boat, which to my surprise didn’t consist of falafels, but rather of noodles, vegetable broth, kofta ( a sausage kind of thing, but more crispy) and of course more flat bread. Then all were obliged to go ashore along a plank they had put out for us and then we all crowded around the fire. It was just like being in a story such as Aladdin or alike: a fire going, stars in the clear sky, the shisha burning, the desert on one side a river on the other and men all dressed up in traditional Arab clothing singing and drumming weird songs you don’t understand. Although after saying that it was very fun when after a traditional song, they would slip into song such as : ”she’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes”, though with an Egyptian twist: “she’ll be swimming down the Nile or smoking hubbly-bubbly or dancing like a Nubian when she comes”. All really fun and exciting. The rest of the evening went on like this, from time to time one of us going back to the boat to either sleep or get more beer and then give a loud exclamation that the walk plank to get back onto the ship was  more and more submerged. Yes, south of the dam wall the Nile has tides, at night high tide and in the day low tide, can you think why? Well I did mention that the dam was used to generate electricity didn’t I, so at night time more 

electricity is needed and more water has to go through the turbines and thus the Nile rises. When then we few, the last still going, wanted to go to bed, we basically had to wade up until our knees to get to the boat and on top of that the night was really cold. The open sides of the boat had been closed with cloth as to give the boat a kind of tent feel and to keep the cool air/ breeze away. 

When I finally went to bed it was about quarter to 12 and it was cold and I had been eaten by mosquitoes, but I had had a wonderful day.

Day 8: Wednesday 19^th December 2012 Luxor (Christof)

Quite a chilly night … in the middle of the night I had to ask for my warm fleece jacket back from Alex, which he had used as a softener to the brick-hard standard issue pillow. After that I was fine. The weight on the thin mattress also compelled me to turn from one side to the other from time to time … all in all quite tolerable. Very glad to find out that Cathy had been sleeping well too! As soon as one stands in the early morning sun one gets pleasantly warm, in spite of the chilly moderate breeze.

Ablutions behind any chosen bush on land, then a quick wash on the beach. The crew have readied the breakfast on the felucca in the meantime: pita bread, a boiled egg, a wedge of processed cheese, a factory packed chocolate wafer (Beatrice has mine too!), butter, jam, coffee and tea. Then it’s off to the minibus, which has now arrived at the road some 100 m away  up a sandy slope. The wheels on the heavy suitcases don’t help here! Alex kindly carries Cathy’s suitcase, which the crew have given up on.

Then it’s a quick half hour down river (north!) to the first site of the day: Kom Ombo. Here is the famous Temple of Sobek and Horus, symbolising the 2 elements of good and bad in all of us. Sobek = crocodile = god of bad, while Horus = falcon = god of good, rather than a single deity.  It was built during the Ptolemaic era, after Alexander the Great and before the Romans, with other words between about 350 BC to 100 BC. It is the standard heavy-set construction method of straight chubby granite lintels and of fat pillars, hardly leaving any room to walk in between. Of interest further is the still functioning nileometer for measuring the level of the river, even though it is quite far from the river, as well as the eerie mausoleum of mummified crocodiles (god symbols!).

 

Then we are whisked of a further 60 km downstream to Edfu, where the huge, well preserved Ptolemaic cult Temple of Horus is. Here and there one finds remnants of the original colourful decoration, but Napoleonic soldiers have the dubious fame of having camped in the temple and their fires irredeemably blackened the ceilings. Also, somebody took great trouble to chisel out the faces and hands of all the carved images of the gods (it is a taboo to represent the face and hands of God in monotheistic religions), but the sheer number of them must have overwhelmed these villains and they gave up half-way. What a glorious view this must have been in its original form!

 

Then it’s off in the minibus to Luxor, a further 110 km downstream. Every square meter along the Nile is under irrigated cultivation: mainly sugar cane (we drove past the huge processing plant) and lucerne (there is no grazing, let alone communal grazing) but also quite a bit of cabbage as well as mango groves. Like in Noordoewer or Aussenkehr along the Orange river in southern Namibia, the second the irrigation stops, usually because the mountains start, it is pure desert.

The very frequent mean ‘sleeping policemen’, aka speed humps or traffic calmers, slow down the trip considerably. By the time we are at the swanky new Hotel Lotus and have showered etc (no showers this morning!) there is only about an hour of daylight left, but we want to use the opportunity to savour the town a bit. Just outside the hotel we are accosted by one of the very many horse cart operators. As he is offering to show us around town for about an hour for only LE 10 (N$15) we jump at the opportunity without hesitation.

This trip proves to be the highlight of the day. We soon realise that on foot we would not have been able to reach the market within the deadline of having to be back in the hotel at 18:00 for the briefing regarding tomorrow. We are being driven through the market lanes barely wider than the horse cart itself, and without being hassled! Our driver is a nice young chap called Ali and, of course, he is taking us to a very large art/craft shop (maybe he is getting percentages there?). We are treated to the ubiquitous hibiscus tea … without obligation to buy, of course. And of course, because tourism business is bad, there is a 50% discount today … just for you my friend. But in the end Cathy finds her coveted Christmas present: the Ankh the sign for eternal life as a pendant in good silver. We also manage to get some roasted chickpeas (as a snack) and a half kg of local excellent strawberries for a pittance. On the way back it is getting dark and the Temple of Luxor, along which we ride,  is lit very attractively. After a last spurt galloping we reach the hotel at exactly 18:00, Alex is relieved! He can’t help having inherited his paternal grandfather’s genes in this respect! We give Ali 3x what he had asked us.

After the (delayed) briefing the tour guide manages to lure us into going to a restaurant around the corner (where he no doubts eats for free for bringing clients). It is ok.

Back at the hotel I’ve got enough time to write the diary. Late I’m satisfied that I’m up to date and switch the computer off, but alas, when it comes to the question: do you wish to save? for some idiotic reason I press NO and my labour is gone in one fell swoop! I’m furious with myself, but it is irreversible. It will be tedious to have to rewrite it all …

Day 9: Thursday 20^th December 2012 Luxor to Hurghada (Beatrice)

Brace yourself, I certainly am, we did a lot today and so this might be a long diary entry, but I’ll try and keep it short.

We woke up at 6.40 and got up shortly before 7am. Shortly afterwards a hotel worker knocked at the door to inform us via sign language (since it became obvious I had no idea what he was trying to tell me in ‘English’) that we ought to have breakfast now or we would not be finished in time for the bus. So following his advice we had breakfast (with omelettes made for us in front of our eyes and coco pops!) and then proceeded to check out, store our luggage in the luggage room and wait for the bus, as we have now been accustomed to do.
But we still left on time which is the most important part and headed out to sight 1 out of 5!
Valley of the Kings was pretty amazing. Instead of building pyramids the more (if one can even say that) ‘modern’ pharaohs build underground tombs, because the robbers had already cottoned on to the pyramids having pots of gold, so now they had to hide the tombs under piles of stone and sand. These tombs were found way later that the pyramids (obviously) but had also been robbed, not by the pyramid robbers but by the artists, for they got very little pay.
In total we were each only allowed to visit 3 of the many tombs, but since Daddy had already been here, he had kindly given his 3^rd to Mummy. The first and best tomb we went into was Ramases IV, where the colour was mostly intact. Every single wall was covered with hieroglyphs and paintings in yellow, red and blue. We had to almost drag Mummy out.

The next belonged to Meneptah, which went very steeply down and I kept wondering how the one lady in a wheelchair, whom I had seen earlier could see all the tombs. The most special thing about this tomb, apart from the obvious fact that it is ancient and underground, was that it had two sarcophaguses, the first one being a false one (Alex said it might have had poison inside) to trick the robbers who came to steal. In here we also saw the first graffiti, not as we know it but there were names and crosses of the orthodox church on a few walls and they had also damaged the heads of the pictures, for they believed there was only one god and that that was obviously theirs and no one else’s.  This was also really interesting but not as beautiful as the first.
The third belonged to Ramases IX, which still had some paint left on the walls and ceiling. The walls had loads of pictures of the afterlife and what the pharaoh had done when he was alive, in this case conquer a lot of towns and enemies. As with the first tomb as well the ceiling was mostly covered with stars in the sky. There was one odd picture though which I could not at all understand (not that I completely understand any picture) were men walking upside down on what looked like the roof. A guy had told and shown us a few things which were rather interesting yet when we came to the exit he demanded money, which we didn’t have. So with a twinge of guilt we went on. We sat on the steps with the other group members while Mummy dashed off to see the tomb of Ramases III.
I do not know which Ramases it was but there was one that had 54 wives, 196 children of which 88 were boys. He lived up to 97 years old and therefore was worshiped as a god while he was still living, they average age of death being 30-35 years old.

He had built the biggest tomb for him and 55 sons, which would have been amazing to see, but unfortunately it was unsafe to enter.

Then we were off to Al-Deir Al-Bahari Temple aka the Temple of Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was (the first) female pharaoh, who wore a beard and wig so that she would be taken seriously. Her temple is the only Temple that was 3 stories high, since her architect was amazing. In the hills nearby there a small holes to be seen, this is where the builders and. in a more fancy hole, the architect lived. There were loads of columns, hieroglyphs and massive statues. To describe this all would take ages and I did say I would try to keep it short.

So off we went to the next stop: the temple of Amun Hoteph which was being restored and there were only two very large statues to be seen called ‘Memnu’ which means whistle, for there used to be gap just below the head of one sculpture which made a whistling noise if the wind blew through it. The people did not know where the sound really came from and praised the gods. We stepped outside and as usual were bombarded by trinket sellers saying how nice one’s eyes look, even though one was wearing sunglasses and calling one Chakirra for no apparent reason! Someone offered 3 miniature pyramids for 300 Egyptian Pounds. Daddy did not say a word and the seller bargained himself down to 30 Egyptian Pounds. And he was not the only seller who had to stoop so low, it is really sad what the Regime and Government has done to its people, especially in the tourist market. The people are desperate.

The fourth stop was to the Karnak Temple, which is actually a whole series of amazing temples, every generation building onto what was left by their predecessors. It is interesting to walk from the newer generation back to through the old generation to the ancient buildings. Unfortunately the last generation never completed the main entrance, leaving it looking a bit lopsided yet it was still utterly amazing, the highlight of my day. There are 134 columns, which Alex recounted, each with engravings and a phenomenal height! There were lines and lines of sphinxes with a ram’s head and 2 amazing 26m high obelisks! There was one tiny tip of a previously fallen down obelisk which in itself was not tiny at all! It was enormous and that was just the tip! next to it was a statue of the holy beetle (scarab), which if you walked 7x anti clockwise around it brings luck- so me and 3 other girls did it, I mean, who knows if it’s true or not?  

Apart from the amazing architecture there were a lot of other Egyptian tourists, which always pleases Mummy to see, yet there were a few very peculiar ones, that completely inconspicuously (warning; sarcasm) took pictures of us with their cell phones or cameras. Some guy kept asking everyone if he could take a picture of you with his son. At one point the group was being stalked by some small boys, in general we were being quite harassed. On our way out we saw two girls dressed very skimpily and asked ourselves how badly they would be harassed.

But no time to do anything about it and so we were off to ‘New Hamees Papyrus’ which is a shop selling, guess what, papyrus. There was nothing at all in there that I would buy and to me it is mostly (not all) kitsch, but I would not stop anyone from buying a bedazzled pharaoh’s head. But as all Egyptian places we were offered a nice welcoming hibiscus ice-tea, this I must say is always a warm welcome and does make one think again about buying something. Also the owner showed us how to make papyrus out of, well obviously, papyrus. Yet the very interesting part was that one does not use any other substance whatsoever to make the paper apart from the actual papyrus plant, which is cut up, soaked, layered and pressed. Another interesting fact was that one can write on it, wash it and use it again. A few of us tried it out but, Murphy’s law, when I wrote the pen punctured the paper leaving a hole. The owner jokingly said I had to pay for it and everyone chuckled but I could have died of embarrassment.
By this time we left it was after lunch time but the only thing near to us was a small store selling crisps, so we all bought some and munched happily onwards, enjoying our highly healthy and vitamin filled lunch.

Afterwards it was off to Luxor temple. Here we went through the first and only metal detector that worked, since all the others weren’t even switched on. Luxor temple has two rather long rows of sphinxes with human heads at the entrance. When you walk through the temple, it is rather awe inspiring until you see the mosque built on top of an ancient building. You might find this disrespectful, but it was not intended to be so, for the entire temple was covered with sand and the Muslims hadn’t dug deep enough to find out the truth.

Yet they were not the only ones who changed the appearance of the temple. No, the Romans as part of a shrine painted (romantic style) an entire scene, of which only fragments are left, on top of the hieroglyphs.
Next to it was a sort of stone graveyard, with odd bits and pieces of the wall and it’s pictures. Apart from just seeing all of this, we learnt a great deal about the history, which however will take far too long to explain.

We were getting rather hungry by now, since it was 5pm and our last meal had been this morning at 7am, yet we did not have time to stop off for a snack (the Americans and Australians asked for McDonalds) since we had a deadline to leave to Hurgada or otherwise we would not get through the vital police checkpoint. As it turned out it was all fine and we were off soon enough.

The way was 4h, not short but not long either, the road reminded us of the road from Usakos to Swakopmund. On the way we stopped for a snack, hunger now quite large amongst the group. Daddy and a few others wanted to eat at the small restaurant, but apparently it was only for truck drivers and nobody else, this left us quite disgruntled. Yet we had to eat something, so we bought a packet of cookies, which mind you were rather expensive.
Finally we arrived at 9.30pm at the ‘Roma hotel’ and after showing our passports we went to our rooms and soaked some clothing in the bathtub. Afterwards we walked down the street and found a nice little fish restaurant. The waiter did not understand or speak very well and so communication was not of the essence. But the food still tasted good!

Hurgada has more Russians than Egyptians, the proof of this is that one could only buy Vodka by the bottle. After someone had offered 1Mil camels and one chicken for me, Daddy and Alex were contemplating of going in on the bargain. This is disgusting.

When we arrived back in the hotel Alex and I finished washing our clothes and saw that it was past midnight. With the thought that the Mayans weren’t quite right, we went to bed.

Day 10: Friday 21^st  December 2012 Hurghada (Cathy)

Well the Mayans definitely were wrong – we are still here and it is well into the evening. The meteor has not hit nor has the tsunami overwhelmed us and we are in the right place for inundation – right next to the sea.

Quite a large part of today was spent on or underwater, much of the rest of the day was spent watching the local wildlife – Russian tourists. The Russians have adopted Hurgada as a holiday home-from-home, most of the shop signs are in Arabic and Russian script, sometimes but not inevitably in English. The Egyptians are pro-Russian anyway because when the West turned its back on Egypt the Russians stepped in to finance their infrastructure, particularly the Aswan dam. The Russians have favoured status here, get good tourist deals and have invested in building up Hurgada as a holiday resort in a big way. Unfortunately this has resulted in a quantity of hotels that have been constructed with a great deal of bravura but dubious workmanship. Our hotel has an imposing granite tiled entrance hall but the glass lift while affording a view of the atrium as we rise moves at a snail’s pace, doors in our rooms do not quite close or do not quite open, hot water is not to be relied on, bedside lamps have to be specially requested and then are probably taken from other rooms. We were touched when we arrived to find that our towels were folded into flower shapes (Alex’s was folded into a boat shape) and that fresh flowers had been laid on them, unfortunately we arrived so late last night that the flowers were all withered and shrivelled but as with much that we have found here, it’s the thought that counts!

Whenever something fails to work in our hotel room Chris just says “Russians!”

We did not sleep so much last night but we did sleep well, no mosquitos and the bed was warm enough. We did not sleep much because we had to be up early to get onto the bus to the boat. Today was the snorkelling day.

Breakfast was a mélange of Russian and Egyptian, interesting. The Russians tucked into a selection of meats and then moved on to a selection of pastries, in many cases a large selection of both. Fruit and vegetables were shunned. The Russians seem either to be of extremely robust proportions or to be very thin, either way they do not stint at breakfast. The kids and I tried the toast machine but even on the highest setting I gave up after my bread had been five times through the machine and was still only just warm. I joined the Russians at the pastries. At least there was plenty of tea.

After breakfast the hurry-up-and-wait part of the day began. We all arrived in the lobby on time (when will we learn?) and eventually collected swimming towels and got on the bus which took us far to the extremes of  Hurgada, at least we got to see how big the place is. Many of the hotels are unfinished, many are closed. The tourist industry has taken a hit here as much as it has elsewhere but it is more obvious here since Hurgada is only about tourism. It is only eight in the morning so we shouldn’t speak too soon but even later in the afternoon we see that most of the thousands of sun loungers are unoccupied and most of the beach bars are un-patronised.

             We arrive at the Tiger Aqua Centre and thence to the boat the ‘Sea Song’ and we literally walk the gang plank to get on board (narrow and very springy), it is chilly and we all bundle up in jumpers and wind-cheaters and use our swimming towels as added insulation. We sit hunched up in our blue and yellow stripes waiting – waiting – waiting for what? Ah another bunch of tourists – Russians. One looks like a long skinny translation of Putin. One is the classic bleached blond. Do all Russians look like cartoons of themselves?

Finally we get going, it is well past ten. I start to worry about the sea temperature since the air is definitely nippy but under the jetty there was clear blue water and we could spot the flicker of brightly coloured fish so I am optimistic about what we are going to see. We travel towards a group of islands around which are coral reefs and eventually anchor in the sand just next to a reef. On the journey the chief diver explains briefly to the novice divers how to scuba. One of the South Africans on board is scandalised at the brevity of the introduction. Normally you are required to go through a thorough course before you go out into open water. These novices are about to be literally thrown into the deep end.

It is quite clear that the snorkelers are not favoured on this boat. Perhaps we are all regarded as cheapskates? Diving is expensive and in our opinion also needs prior training but the snorkelers, and we make up the majority, are given the feeling that we are the poor relations and given no attention. Chris eventually asks for some guidance about what to look for and where to look and is told more or less to jump off the boat and look for himself. The chief diver says to him that ‘this is a diving boat’ but if that’s true why are we with this boat and not one that is more accommodating of snorkelers? We battle to find fins and masks and snorkels to fit in the baskets on the diving deck. None of the crew offer us assistance. Eventually one of the South Africans locates some fins for me. We edge to the back of the boat avoiding the novice divers, one of whom seems to be in full panic mode, and jump into the sea. Immediately all of the irritations fall away and we enter the separate world of the reef. So beautiful, the fish flitting like birds around the coral, so many colours so many styles what a delight. I take a while to get into snorkelling mode, after all last time was in Mozambique and that’s a while ago but after a couple of panics I calm down and lose myself in this wonderful place. The occasional snorkeler enters my peripheral vision like a big colourful fish on the surface, Alex and Beatrice glide past me like seals, waving, Chris comes to touch me reassuringly from time to time and the novice divers stumble past supported on either side by helpers, I hope they are having fun. The water although a bit of a shock at first is cool but not cold. I seem to have been in only around 15 minutes when I check the surface and find that nearly everyone is on the boat, I have been swimming around for more like 45 minutes. Getting out is quite simple since there is a ladder but Alex has to help me take off a flipper before I can get on board. The waves get in the way! We start off once more towards the island and I have a cup of tea and chat a bit to the divers. They are quite friendly now that I am not wearing incriminating snorkelling gear. Pretty soon we are called from the upper deck to collect our lunch. It’s the usual mix of salad, flat bread, noodles and kofta but it’s very fresh and tasty after the swimming. 

After lunch we are dropped on the island. we can snorkel from the beach of coral sand while the divers do their second dive. The beach is quite chilly since the wind has got up. Alex, Beatrice and I take to the water, this time without fins, finding a pair to fit is simply too time consuming and they are not so necessary in shallower water. The water is warm in comparison to the beach. pretty soon Chris joins us. He tried to take a walk to a viewpoint but was told that it was off limits to go towards the cell phone tower or the solar panels that power it. I see an anemone with what looks like two clown fish in it, they have the look but are apparently Red Sea anemone fish – oh well not then! there are plenty of parrot fish, wrasses of many varieties and shoals of fish in varying shades of blue to match the varying shades of blue of the water which in the shallows is a brilliant turquoise. I follow several fish around especially two brilliant yellow ones the size of breakfast plates that I found were called masked butterfly fish. My favourite is a fish that has its eyes half way down its back and is decorated with a very snazzy arrangement of stripes on a pale background. It turns out to be called an Arabian Picasso fish which endears it to me even more. Sea urchins lurk blackly in the rocks causing me to keep my hands and feet well away while I admire them and the fish that swim around them. Some of the soft corals wave in the current and small clams appear to pant as they filter the water. Eventually I surface having no sense of time and find that everyone in our party is on the beach bundled up again against the wind. I am feeling like it’s time to emerge – gosh it feels cold in the wind! I fall back into the sea a couple of times before I am brave enough to make a rush for my towel. I have been in the water over an hour – how did that happen?

I join the group on the beach, most are lying flat trying to avoid the wind and absorb the sun. Alex is digging holes and burying himself, normal practice, Beatrice is collecting tiny shells, Chris is fast asleep. I collect shells with Beatrice and watch the Russian tourists frolicking in their swimsuits oblivious of the cold wind. Many of them are tanned a deep brown, more recent arrivals are still very red. There is no self consciousness which I find very refreshing. Fat or thin they wear the skimpiest possible costumes to facilitate maximum browning although one middle aged woman, over ripe and well past her sell-by date, really should not have been wearing a thong bikini.

The call comes to return to the boat so we walk along the beach past the reef to the sandy area where we can be picked up and transferred to the Sea Song. We are quite tired by now and so the journey back is quiet. I collect some more tea and drink it on the upper deck watching Hurgada coming closer. By four thirty we are back at the hotel. The hot water is working in our room, hooray! I take a shower and wash the salt water and accumulated dust of the past days out of my hair. Chris visits the supermarket to buy fruit and Beatrice finishes her diary entry.

 

At around seven thirty we walk down to 
the shops and restaurants looking for somewhere to have supper and a sew-on badge for Alex’s rucksack. We are strolling along looking in the shops fielding the inevitable inquiries and entreaties from the shop keepers. “Welcome! what’s your name? Where are you from? (Namibia always throws them – some don’t believe it exists some think we are lying when we say it’s in Africa.) Come and see my shop – just looking only….” Gosh I wish I was rich and could buy something small from each of them. There are so few tourists and they are so desperate but manage most of the time to keep a smile and a sense of humour in their approaches to us. Not sure I would be able. Some of the entreaties  ave a note of pleading in them. In one back street a young man starts to follow us. He will not leave us alone. We let slip that we are looking for a fish restaurant and he tries to convince us to follow him. We try ignoring him, try telling him we want to be left in peace, nothing works but eventually he seems to leave us only to turn up again in front of us. Unwittingly we have followed him and he reads the wrong message from our actions. We pass a fish restaurant and he tries to get us to come in. We don’t follow him and he gets terribly upset. His desperation is showing, this may have been the only commission he has stood to earn in days oh dear, by this time we are all upset and rather shaken we regain the main road and go to the fish restaurant that had attracted us earlier due to its offering a dish called ‘Tuna Pena’ the names of our two nieces. 

It is a lovely restaurant with a great view of the street, well staffed, well decorated, the food is good and the tables are nearly all empty. It is an alcohol free restaurant but the mineral water is well iced and I have a mango lassi, delicious! After our meal we browse some more but Alex’ quest is not fulfilled. In one shop I find the names of the Red Sea fish in a leaflet, in another shop Beatrice is horribly ripped off over some post cards. So we have had a day of mixed fortunes but on the whole a good day and now it is midnight and we are all still here. Apparently the descendents of the Mayans are having a big party today to celebrate the dawn of a new era – good idea!