Friday, March 11, 2011

The Boondocks

Every now and I again I like to go through my photo albums on facebook and reminisce about my adventures over the last 5 years.  Today as I was browsing through one of my Egypt albums from Semester at Sea I found this picture

It's a seemingly boring picture.   There's no great sites or activities in it, but this was the beginning of my most memorable day in Egypt.  In the picture we're standing on the side of the rode in Adibiya, a commercial port on the Red Sea near the mouth of the Suez Canal.  The men in the background, yes all of them, are attempting to get a taxi for us to Suez, the nearest town, which wasn't an easy feat considering how desolate our location was.  At this point we were wishing we'd just taken one of the taxi's parked right outside of the ship.  We'd bypassed them seeking cheaper transportation that we were certain was on the road just outside.  As we walked through the port toward the gate we realized that we were the source of entertainment for all the Egyptian men we passed.  When we finally reached the gate the guards were all smiles but didn't really know what to do with us.  When we finally communicated with them that we wanted a taxi to Suez they told us "No Taxi come." Well, OK can we get one anyway?  And then we come to the scene above.  We did eventually get a ride into Suez.  It was overpriced but at least we got there.  Little did I know what this day would lead to.  Free lunch given to us by a little Egyptian man who was all smiles, getting picked up by an drug dealer (for the record I didn't like him to start out with) then being rescued by a travel agent who we ended up spending the rest of the day with, getting our hands wet in the Suez Canal , getting free drinks, free rides, free everything, finding ourselves in the middle of a wedding and becoming the center of attention, dancing for Russian sailors, should I go on? It was quite a day, and to think, tourists don't go to Suez, I'm sure it wouldn't have been half as interesting if it were a tourist town but would I go back? Hmmm, probably not.  I think I've had enough Suez to last a lifetime.

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