42 Dollars and 24 Hours

Even a low-key weekend in Egypt is an adventure.

After last weekend's insanity and resulting illness, I wasn't too keen on venturing off into the desert or the Sinai or another country like many of my compatriots. My vision of the weekend consisted of laying around my dorm room, completing the transition into solid foods, and catching up on my reading. But Hafsa, Hammad and some of our other friends wanted to escape the city--and I don't blame them--and after some cajoling on their part I was in.

Our destination this time was Ain Sukhna, an isolated resort town about 50km south of Suez. Some of our friends had gone the weekend before, and marveled at what it didn't have, namely smog, honking, people or cats. It sounded the perfect getaway.

Thursday evening after classes the seven of us met up at the Turkamen Bus Station and bought our 8LE tickets to Suez. After that, our plan was to follow in our friends' footsteps and take a taxi the remaining distance to the Palmera Beach Resort.

The bus ride to Suez was pretty typical...loud movie, crowded, but not too bad. I bless college for giving me the ability to sleep through anything, anywhere. A man sitting next to our group cautioned us not to take a taxi, but to jump on one of the omnipresent microbuses, as it would be much less expensive. He offered to show us how to get one, and did, to the dismay and ire of most of the taxi drivers at the station who accused him of ruining their livelihood. I can understand their point: a cab to the hotel would have been about 30LE, while each of us rode the minibus there for 3.5LE. But we're residents of Egypt now, and we have to start doing things the way Egyptians do them. The drivers argued with this man for at least fifteen minutes while we all sat in the bus, regretting for the hundredth time that we didn't speak Arabic just a little better. Eventually we got on our way.

The microbus dropped us off on the wrong side of the highway from our hotel. With a word of caution ("Get to the hotel as fast as you can"), the driver sped away and left us in the middle of the desert in the thick of night. Across the highway there was a large sign for our hotel, and perhaps a kilometer or so down a dirt road, some faint gilttering lights. We discussed how sketchy this whole deal (pictured: wtf?), and quickly walked to the hotel. Wild dogs bayed from the shadows.

Once at the hotel, we booked our rooms (after some futile attempts at price negotiation). Expensive by Egyptian standards, each of us ended up paying about 200LE, which included dinner that night and breakfast the next morning. For a four-star hotel on the edge of the Red Sea, that wasn't too bad.

The resort itself was beautiful, and organized in kind of a compound fashion, where random clusters of rooms, several expansive pools, bazaars, restaurants and bars fit in amongst palm trees, jasmine plans and grassy playgrounds. There were birds, too, the first I have seen since arriving in Egypt.

We were served dinner in an awkwardly empty dining hall. Given the hour, we were the only patrons there. The food was pretty standard Egyptian fare--white rice, stewed okra, mystery meat, chicken and steamed vegetables with bread--but the desert platter was fantastic. After throwing our things in our room, we wandered the beach and sat by the ocean and told stories. We retired to one of the rooms for what can only be described as a pajama party, playing cards, watching TV and drifting off to sleep.

The next morning found us at a buffet, and then on the beach, where we attempted to play volleyball (and failed), build a "sandcastle" in what was probably treated sewage water, and slept in the sun. Some people made a really nice effort at doing work. For my part, I put Steppenwolf on my lap and felt its comforting weight as I drifted into dreams with Kanye as a soundtrack.

It really couldn't have been more relaxing. At some point, we were hot and thirsty, and decided to pack up and get a late lunch. Our comped meals used, we bought "cheap" 20LE sandwiches from the beachfront cafe and watched little kids play in the children's pool.

We didn't know how we would get back to Suez, but we struck out for the highway once again. We hadn't even reached the road when a bus pulled up in front of us, and for 1.5LE each, we got to a microbus station, where for 50 piasters we were taken to the bus station. As we rode into town, Hafsa remarked to me how amazing it is that things fall into place here. It's crazy and it's chaotic--I mean, buses just driving along, looking for random customers?--but it works. In the United States, you could walk for days along a lonely road in the middle of the desert and never see a bus. In Egypt, you can't help but find one.

We threw down another 8LE for the 6:40pm bus to Cairo, and were on the road again. Another movie, louder this time, with a screaming soundtrack that actually made your ears hurt. I don't know how we manage it, but Hammad and I sit under the loudspeaker every.single.time.

Back to Cairo a little more than 24 hours after we had left it, and for 240LE (that's US$42), we had been to the Red Sea, stayed in a resort, and slept away the craziness of Cairo in the sun.

And that's what I love about Egypt.