Ashary!!!

So today I returned from a lovely couple of days in a western oasis, Bahariyya. I went with my friend Dan (visiting from Boston) and my roomie Mona for a night in the oasis itself, and then a night camping in the white desert. Desert + August = HOT, but it was well worth it - we all had an amazing time.

We took a bus there, which was supposed to have AC but didn't ... NOT a good sign. And we were met at the bus stop and taken to a camp that had just opened - we were the second group of guests - which meant there were a lot of kinks to be worked out, like dysfunctional plumbing. But the staff more than made up for any defects ... plus, there was a dog to play with!

After a rest, we went on a tour of the oasis itself. First we went to a "spring" - basically, water is pumped into a pool, and then flows into the irrigation system. This pool is often used for bathing (I like to think in the "swimming" sense, but I suspect some people really do bathe there), and tourists who can't take the heat ... when we arrived there were three Croatian tourists and their guide already in the water. It was nice, I suppose, but the water wasn't really cold, so not really refreshing, and the pool was lined with green sludge ... we left before the Croatians did.

Next we went into the desert outside of Bahariyya, rolled down a couple of sand dunes (where I got my first injury of the weekend, slicing my arm open on a half-buried rock or stick that I actually saw ahead of time but didn't move), and visited the great salt lake. Which, much like every other salt lake in the world, smells REALLY REALLY bad. Earlier at lunch, I'd mentioned that I enjoy figs, and so the hotel owner (who was with us and our guide) insisted on introducing me to these desert figs, which were actually quite good ... it was a bit awkward, because he actually took them from someone's HOUSE instead of buying them on the street, but he insists it was okay, and who am I to complain, eh?

Then we went to English Mountain, so named because the English climbed to the top on the lookout for Germans. I seriously don't know what English or German armies were doing in Egypt, but both Dan and Mona acted like it made sense, so I'm sure it does ... just not to me. There was this awesome pile of ruins, from a house/shack/whatever built by the Englishmen on the top of the hill, and it made a great contrast to the mud brick houses that fill the oasis. Finally, we went to a palm-tree grove (where I hurt myself again - yay for me) and got a few pictures, and then back to the camp for dinner. Around nine, we decided to walk to town to get some antibacterial cream for my arm and knee (the desert is a bit dirty), but Egyptians don't really understand the joy of a nice walk, and so our guide came to drive us before we made it to the pharmacy. As we drove through town, he kept shouting "Ashary!" out the window, and one or two men on the side of the street would always send an "Ashary!" back our way. Mona asked what it meant, but they only told us it was the name of a guide in town.

The next morning we piled in the land rover and headed out for the desert. At the last market in town, we stopped for ice cream, and wound up picking up a woman and her three children, who had been waiting for three hours for a car going in the right direction to take them to the restaurant the woman runs during the day. It turns out this restaurant was to be our midday stop, but first we drove through the Black Desert, and this poor family was sucked into our sightseeing tour.

Fortunately for them, the Black Desert was pretty damn lame. Yeah, there's black, but I think we were hoping for black sand and dunes and stuff (geologically, I can't guarantee that's possible, but that doesn't make it any less cool-sounding), but instead it was just a regular desert with a lot of black shale-like rocks. Boooo. So we took our obligatory pictures and quickly piled back into the car.

After dropping our passengers off, we went to another irrigation "spring" to cool off before lunch. There were a few kids in the water, which was fine, and a few Egyptian men staring at the bathing suits, which wasn't as fine. But this water was actually cold, and knowing that it was probably the last cold water we'd get for the next 24 hours definitely increased our appreciation of the experience.

We spent about 30 minutes in the water, and then dried off, ate lunch, and entered the Western Desert. Which we thought was the White Desert, and we were quite dissapointed, because the White Desert was as un-white as the Black Desert had been un-black. However, there were some cool quartz formations (we climbed "Crystal Mountain") and an area that had these crazy "flower stones," black rocks that were shaped like flowers and pinecones and other un-rock-like objects. Finally, I asked our guide, Enta, "Where are we camping tonight?" "In the White Desert." "Aren't we IN the White Desert???" "No, this is the Western Desert."

Ooooooooh ...

Once we got to the White Desert, we were sufficiently impressed. This is miles and miles of weirdly shaped, perfectly white rock formations, fine, beautiful, clean sand, and no light, sound, or air pollution to remind visitors of Cairo. Our guide, Enta, set up a fabulous camp, cooked a fabulous dinner, and made a fabulous pot of green mint tea, and we spent the evening (and long into the night) wandering and talking and staring at the stars, which were brighter than I've seen in a VERY long time.

There isn't much wildlife in the desert, but we were visited by a few foxes (who ate my chicken for me) and a large number of scarab beetles, which scared Mona to no end. As we drove out the next day, we saw a crow (or Egypt's version), but that's about it. Which means that the place was COMPLETELY silent ... an amazing change from the craziness I've been experiencing the past couple of months.

I woke up at six (about four hours after falling asleep) to watch the sun rise, which was an amazing experience and well worth the lost sleep (although it's now 2:42 Saturday morning, and I REALLY WANT to go to bed). Afterwards, I realized that I'd lost my chance, since it soon got much too warm to sleep comfortably and Mona and Dan grudgingly got up. We had a nice breakfast, packed up camp, and headed back towards the oasis. On the way, we stopped back at the irrigation spring to rinse off the dust of the desert. The place was PACKED with young boys, but they were all pretty cool. Unfortunately, the pump was turned off for Friday afternoon prayer, and we learned that the water wasn't cool when it was allowed to stagnate - time to get dressed!

We made it back to the camp in time for lunch and a rest, and we were to catch our bus at three. Unfortunately, we discovered that the bus was full and we had no tickets - instead, the camp found a "car" for us. This car turned out to be a microbus, which would have been VERY lame except it was filled with six Irish people about my age, who also couldn't fit on the bus. The ride back to Cairo was definitely more fun than the ride out. (At dinner tonight, I said to Mona, "I'm glad we wound up in the microbus - it was fun to have new people to talk to." Dan, sitting quietly on my left, muttered, "You mean flirt with?" As I told him, "Hell, yeah! It's been more than two months since I've been allowed to flirt with anyone, and if I'm not careful, I might get rusty!!")

The only problem - we were told at the camp that the driver had been paid, and of course, once we got to Cairo, he insisted that he hadn't, and that someone was going to come pick us three up and pay him - and wouldn't let us leave until this mysterious someone showed up. Finally, after fifteen minutes of phone calls (all made on Mona's phone, of course, since his happened to be out of credits), it was determined that he'd misunderstood, and his boss had already been paid. Ahhh, Egypt.

But a VERY nice holiday all the same! I can't really do it justice by giving you a blow-by-blow, so I think I'll just post a few pictures and let them speak for themselves ... but for the record, it's days like these that make me appreciate the fact that I came to Egypt. It can be a very nice place.

P.S. "Ashary!" is a reference to a night that a very drunken French tourist came out of her tent, yelling for her guide as only a drunk European can do. The story spread like wildfire through the oasis, and poor Ashary was ridiculed by shouts of his name all through the town ... and now everyone just shouts it for fun. Including me.