Shoes full of sand, sky full of stars...

This past weekend, I experienced my first adventure outside the confines of the City Victorious (Cairo). Along with four other guys, I would be partaking in an overnight adventure in Egypt's Black and White Desert, which lays four hours southwest of Cairo by bus. So Thursday night, with preparations made and bus tickets bought, I went to bed, eagerly anticipating what the next couple days would bring.

Things got off to a rough start. Even though we had planned on meeting in the lobby at 6:00 am sharp, and I had set my alarm accordingly, I somehow slept through it (or possibly set it wrong). I was awoken at about 6:10 by a phone call from Ben, telling me that everyone else was waiting for me downstairs. I hadn't packed the night before (obviously), so I ended up rapidly throwing a few articles of clothing into my back-pack before bolting out the door.

Of course, in the hustle and bustle of getting out of my room as quickly as possible, I forgot my camera. Now, if you're only really interested in pictures, don't fret, because my friends still had theirs and they took plenty of pictures which I will share with you (Thanks, guys!). And, as it turns out, forgetting my camera was about the best thing that could've happened; nearly everyone else's sustained some pretty serious damage from exposure to the sand.

Fortunately, despite my tardiness, we made it to the bus station with plenty of time to catch our 7 am bus (even though there was nary a taxi in sight- typical Friday morning in Cairo). After locating the correct terminal and boarding, we got comfortable and set off.

Our target destination was the quiet oasis town of Bahiraya, which was the location of a hotel where the tour agency we had booked was located. The bus ride itself was pretty uneventful- except for two separate, but equally bizarre, events: hitting a speed bump at 70 mph and the guy directly behind me throwing up on the floor for about five minutes. Mumtaz!

Anyway, for most of the ride, I either tried to catch some Z's or just stared out the window at the landscape. If you're not familiar with the topographic features of Minnesota/Indiana, there aren't really any deserts (What!?!), so I tried to make the most of the relative foreign scenery that unfolded outside my window. I was really shocked by the sheer emptiness of it. We honestly went for hours at a time without seeing any sign of life, save for the railroad that ran parallel with the highway. Another observation of note, was the relative variety of the desert expanses: rolling sand dunes gave way to jagged cliffs, followed by endless waves of gravel and dirt that turned into plains of sand, punctuated by mini-mountains.

Even so, it was still a boring bus ride, and I was eager to get off. After calling up our contact to determine exactly where we should get off, the five of us stepped off the bus and into the streets of Bahiraya.

Oh, Bahiraya...what a strange, strange little town. Dusty, dirty, and broken down, it (unsurprisingly) reminded me of similar small towns I had happened upon while living in Mexico.In keeping with Egyptian tradition, there were at least as many unfinished building throughout the town as there were ones that were lived in. Oh, and lots of useless trash littering the streets, another Egyptian hallmark.

After getting off the bus, we were collected by the man who we'd set the tour up with, Sayeed, and whisked off to the hotel for stage one of our desert excursion: lunch. We were all famished, and we dug into the bread, eggs, chips, and cheese with gusto. Post-lunch, we went out to the front of the hotel, where we met the guy who would actually be taking us throughout the Black and White Desert over the next 24 hours. His name was Boobas and he didn't speak a lick of English, but he was certainly nice enough. We piled into the Land Cruiser (pictured at right-thing's a beast) and set-off, desert-bound.

We headed out of Bahariyah on a narrow desert high-way. It wasn't long before Boobas had suddenly whipped the Land Rover off the paved road and we were bumping along the desert floor at about 40 mph. After cruising around for a bit, we came to a stop on top of a dune. We were about to participate in an event that I had heard a lot about from some other friends: sand-boarding.

It's a pretty simple concept: climb to the top of a steep sand dune, strap a board to your feet, and slide down at exhilarating speeds. Easy in practice, but not in application. For whatever reason, our boards seemed more inclined to sink into the sand than to actually slide down it. It was a little disappointing but it was still loads of fun to run around the sand dunes. We even decided to trek up to the top of a little mountain, which was probably close to a half a mile walk. If you know how hard it is walking up hill in sand, you know this is quite a feat. Anyway, here our some pictures from this portion of the day:

 

Shredding some sand

 

We climbed this puppy and then some. The speck at the bottom is the jeep.

 

King of the mountain

 

Ben on top of the mountain, to really give you a feel for how high it was

After we had sufficiently filled our shoes with sand, we returned to the jeep and continued on our sight-seeing journey.The first leg took us through the Black Desert, which is named due to the plethora of little, black stones that cover much of it, including the volcanic-looking mountains that jut up from the earth, like this puppy below:

After an hour or so, it seemed like we'd seen all the Black Desert had to offer, so we got back on the highway and headed south to its fairer counterpart.

While the Black Desert was interesting, the White Desert was flat out amazing. It was home to some of the most impressive geological sights I have seen. Again, why use words when you can steal pictures from your friends?

 Benji in front of these big rocks- he's more photogenic

After exploring some of the sites in the White Desert, we came to the main attraction: an endless sea of funky looking white rock structures (apparently chalk rock, the product of sand storm sediments). It was like being on an alien planet. Take a look at some of the pics (which really don't do it justice):

 

  

  

Known as "The Chicken and the Egg"

 

 

 The whole gang in front of "The Mushroom":

Matt from American, me, Patrick from GW, Matt from Baylor, and Ben

We explored the White Desert for a while, but it was soon approaching dusk. Setting up camp before the cold desert night set in was a must. After finding a suitable site, we parked the Land Cruiser and began unloading and assembling. Within half-an-hour, what had previously been an empty patch of desert was now a make-shift living area, complete with a kitchen, dining room, and sleeping quarters (sort of). Here's a peak of Camp Victory:

 

Pitching in

 

 Boobas is a master at his craft

Camp from a far

 

The dining room

 

The kitchen...believe me, Boobas didn't need much more to whip up an incredible dinner

 

The sleeping quarters- which we ended up not even using

  

After setting up, it was time for dinner. We sat down at the table and helped ourselves to some tangerines and chips while Boobas prepared the main course. Boy, does he not disappoint. We feasted on endless helpings of rice and potatoes stewed with veggies, as well as some delectable grilled chicken (which I realize now I consumed on a Friday during Lent). I must've had at least three full plates of food. Easily the most satisfied my stomach has been in Egypt, amazing considering the circumstances in which it was all prepared.

  

Veggies and potatoes stewing

Me, Matt, and Ben ... and no, I don't smile in pictures

  

We had an unexpected, but certainly welcome dinner guest- a little nocturnal fox with the biggest ears you will ever see. He really loved the chicken we gave him, but not so much the tangerine peels.

After our bellies were stuffed, it was time to get to bed. We had tents set up, but we decided to go for the authentic experience and sleep out under the desert stars. We each laid out a mat and made ourselves comfortable with multiple layers of blankets. I had a sleeping bag that went up to my chest, and then a large blanket that I put over that. 

The night started out well. It wasn't that cold at the time we got into bed (about 8 pm) and I was warm and toasty. However, after a little while, things got a little more unpleasant. First off all, off in the distance we heard the incessant banging of drums, no doubt from other camping groups in the desert. They would not shut up. Even worse were the mosquitoes. I was apparently the only one in the group that was pestered by the them, and the little buggers would not leave me alone. It wasn't being bitten by them (which I don't think I was), as much as it was the gosh-awful buzzing of the mosquitoes in my ear. If you've ever been to Minnesota in the summer, you know what I'm talking about. Which is kind of ironic, because the experience kind of reminded me of sleeping at the cabin in the spring, except you couldn't just jump in a car and drive home.

Also, as the night progressed, it started to get quite a bit colder. I soon realized that stripping down to just my t-shirt and boxers was not necessarily a wise idea. However, I managed to tough it out, usually sleeping in 45 minute spurts before waking up for 15. It was an experience I'd repeat again (although probably with a little more preparation/clothes on).

We woke up early in the morning, at about 6 am. We first had breakfast, which consisted of thick Egyptian bread with an assortment of jams and spreads. Sounds simple, but there was plenty to go around, and it was just what the doctor ordered. After breakfast, we packed everything up and hit the road.

The rest of the morning was uneventful. We drove to a natural spring, but it wasn't all that exciting. After that, we headed back to Bahariya, just in time to miss the 10 am bus back to Cairo. Mumtaz! We were informed that there was another bus back at 3, but if we wanted, there was also a micro bus that would not only depart a couple hours earlier, but would save us 5 pounds a piece. Sounds worth it, right?

In hindsight, maybe not. The little bus was absolutely crammed. My seat had no back, I wasn't able to sleep on the wall, and the Egyptian guy next to me reeked of BO and insisted on invading my personal space. It was one of the most miserable rides of my life. To compound it all, we were dropped off in the middle of Giza, quite a bit a way from the comforts of Zamalek. We located a subway, rode it back to Zamalek, and then took a cab to the dorm. We were dirty and exhausted by the time we got back, but there was only one thing on our collective mind: a big ol' bowl of koshari from Alex Top, our favorite haunt. The weekend in the desert was awesome, but after the first bite of koshari, it sure felt good to be "home.