The Road Less Traveled

It took Alexander the Great eight days to make the journey across Egypt's desert to Siwa.  It took us about 8 hours by car.  The Siwa oasis was the destination of choice for our last long weekend in Egypt.  This lush paradise within the desert did not disappoint.  Neither did our multicultural travel companions.  We were six in total for the trip:  2 Canadians, 1 Egyptian, and 3 Brazilians... 6 relaxed weekend travelers.  

As usual, our trip began with too much time in a car, with too little to look at.  After hours of characterless desert, we reached our first of many amazing views: a strip of bright turquoise water in the distance.  Without realizing it, I was seeing the Mediterranean Sea for my first time.  The strip of turquoise soon became a seemingly endless sea of turquoise, bordered on one side by white sand beach.  We stayed at a seafront hotel our first night to break up the drive... not to mention to enjoy the beach.  Despite it being fairly chilly outside (for Egypt, not for Canada), Tom convinced me that I couldn't miss the opportunity to swim in the Mediterranean Sea.  Been there, done that. 

After a morning run along the water, we cleaned up, ate too much breakfast at the all-you-can-eat buffet, packed up, and continued the journey to Siwa.  After about 3 hours of flat desert driving, the expanse of green palm trees was almost surreal.  Oasis:  a small fertile or green area in a desert region, usually having a spring or well.  (dictionary.com)  This was no mirage, we'd arrived at the Siwa oasis.

We went straight to our hotel, Shali Lodge, a unique hotel built in Siwa's traditional mudbrick style.  Our room was large and charming, filled with local decorations and  handcrafted bamboo furniture (even the bed).  The very friendly staff soon let us know that the chef was ready for us.  The local cuisine of bread, (many many) dips, rice, and eggplant stew was truly delicious.  The chef came out to talk to us and gave me instructions for making one of the dips that I had really enjoyed.  He teased me a little for being too North American, wanting to know amounts to use.  It turns out that recipes are quite literally foreign to him (and to most Egyptian cooks we've met).

We toured the town for the afternoon, and climbed through the fortress of Shali for sunset.  The mudbrick castle uses the typical building material (mud) of the town.  Sadly the clouds did not allow for a great sunset, but they could not take away from the magnificence of the contrasting surroundings.  The panoramic views of mountains, desert, a lake, and palm trees were breathtaking.  We stayed until it was almost dark, and headed back to the hotel for another spread of local dishes.  The chef made me think a little of my granny... "why didn't you eat it all... you don't like it?!"... "I like it, it's delicious, but I'm so full"... "ok, let me get you dessert"... "no thank you, I'm so full"... "just a little piece" (after which a huge piece arrives).  The crepes with dates were well worth the overstuffed feeling though.  Dates grow naturally on palm trees in Siwa.  In North America we talk about a 100-mile diet.  I think I had a 100-meter dessert.

Sunday was our busiest day, with a short run turned long rock climb in the morning, and a desert safari in the afternoon.  Throughout the morning run, our very fit Brazilian running friend kept convincing us to run for "just five more minutes" to get to a lookout. I'll admit, it was worth it in the end for the amazing views.  It was probably good to work off the crepes with dates as well. 

We left around 10am for our safari in the Great Sand Sea.  A half-joking suggestion to ride over the Lybian border (within the empty desert) got us quite lost, and possibly in Lybia for a few minutes, but we'll never know.  We had two jeeps, and the drivers started to get pretty irritated with one another, and started driving less cautiously than I would have liked.  You have never truly appreciated your "oh shit! bar" until you have been riding up and down sand dunes in a jeep driven by a crazy Egyptian man you can't communicate with, without a seat belt or even a seat that stays bolted in place in the vehicle.  We're fine!

By 1pm we were safely oriented in Egypt, out of the jeep, and climbing up a sand slope for sand -boarding.  In actual fact, the foot straps on the board were broken, and our guide told us to just sit on the board to go down the hill.  I would call what we did "sandbogganing".  No matter what you name it, it was a blast.  I was a split second away from being the only person in our group who didn't take a spill when the board's edge caught the sand and I rolled over.  Tom had so much faith in my skills that he'd already turned around, so he missed the spill picture.  Too bad. 

The rest of the safari was less eventful.  We stopped at a natural hot spring and had lunch.  We stopped at a natural cold spring for some relaxation.  It's pretty unbelievable to drive up to a natural body of water in the middle of the desert.  We relaxed a while before heading back to the hotel, and had a siesta before playing cards and heading out for another local dinner.  The vegetable couscous was delicious. 

Our last day of vacation was no vacation at all as we traveled the entire distance back to Cairo with only a couple of stops.  The long weekends are over, and the work weeks are coming to a close.  16 days of class left... but who's counting?!