More photos

You can see more (most of which Damon took, a few that I took) at:
www.nmazca.com/cairo/

www.nmazca.com/sinai/

Ras Abu Golum and Birr Ogda

We spent an amazing long weekend at Ras Abu Golum and Birr Ogda near Dahab on the Sinai Penninsula. It struck me how simply the people live in Ras Abu Golum. Returning to Cairo, it seemed odd that people are concerned about so many pop culture things. Being surrounded by people who live on the beach, and have little more then basic cookware, and blankets and cushions, it seems so obvious that that's all we need!

Our first stop was Dahab, on the east side of the Sinai Penninsula. We stayed one night at our friend's house, which is right on the beach. We caught this sunrise in the morning. The mountains in the photo are across the sea, in Saudi Arabia.

Later that day, we rode in a taxi as far as we could go, and then hiked along this trail north towards Ras Abu Galum.

We stopped for tea at the only structure along the way. This restaurant is typical of restaurants/sheesha cafes all over the Sinai Penninsula.

After hiking for roughly and hour and a half, we arrived at Ras Abu Galum. Ras Abu Galum is a small hut village built right on the beach. The people who live here are referred to as Bedouin people because they are ethnically the indiginous people of the area, and have continued to live in more traditional ways, while in other parts of Eygpt, people live in more and more western ways. (Bedouin people live all over Egypt in more remote areas like the Sinai Penninsula and the deserts.) People live in huts with no electricity (though it seemed someone was running a generator for an hour or two after dark) and no running water. (All of their water appeared to be either bottled water brought in on the rough car road in from the Nuweiba in the north, or piped down from the wells at Birr Ogda.)

Stone houses like the one in the forground of this photo are uncommon in Ras Abu Golum, though we saw several abandoned ones on the hike in. Most huts are built with wood pieces, or straw and dried plants. This area is becomming more heavily touristed as tour groups from Nuwieba bring jeep loads of tourists in for an hour or two of snorkeling and eating a Bedouin meal. Tourism like this has been slowly driving changes in the Bedoin's way of life. Not to mention the mass destruction to the reefs which come right up to the shoreline. It's sad and disappointing to think that Ras Abu Galum may some day become another tourist resort. It is my favorite place I've ever visited.

The family who hosted us brought us all of our meals in our hut. They continually brought us tea as well. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the beach. It was windy, and cooler this time of year, but we managed to swim for a little while.

While we were laying on the beach, we saw the sunset behind the Sinai Mountains. After dark we laid outside and saw more stars then I've ever seen in my life! (I find myself saying that over and over in Egypt!)

The next morning we hired a guide and two camels and set off for Birr Ogda. Throughout a very "biblicalesque" hike, we walked and took turns riding up into the mountains. We stopped for tea along the way. In this photo you can see Jemna (sp?), our guide, cooking tea over an open fire he made of sticks he collected at the stop.

We reached Birr Ogda in the early afternoon. If you look closely you can see lots of buildings amongst the trees in this photo. Birr Ogda is an old settlement which is no longer regularly inhabited. People come up on occasion to camp out, or to work on the pump and piping that runs from the wells all the way down to Ras Abu Galum.

This is my favorite building in Birr Ogda.

The door is still standing on this one!


This building was built up against a cliff - the builder only using stones for three walls, and the cliff for the fourth wall. We found lots of incrediable sand and stone structures in this area.

Piles of colorful sand - again the photo doesn't do it justice.

We used this building to break the wind, and set up camp in the "yard."

Rusting metal trash like this is seen all over the dessert.

After one night sleeping outside, we headed back to Ras Abu Galum, where we rested in a hut.

And then ate again! We hiked back towards Dahab in the afternoon, and our weekend in the quiet was over!

Ramadan Kareem

The whole month of Ramadan came and went, and I didn't post a thing! Ramadan is the holy month in the Muslim religion. I don't know a lot about it, but in short, people fast from sun-up until sun-set. This means that we only ate and drank in public at places that catered to foreigners. Businesses were often open for different hours, always closing before the evening prayer so everyone could get home to iftar - the meal in which they break their fast. The businesses then reopened two hours later, and people stayed out all night long. I've been used to the quiet evening streets, and waiting for the evening call to prayer. It's an odd adjustment now to eat in public anytime.

I've been waiting to post lots of photos, but many things keep getting in the way. Damon and I rented and apartment for the month of October. We had a blessedly sweet landlord who insisted that we come visit him next time we're in Egypt. The apartment had problem after problem - electricity, washing machine, body lice in the mattress... But we managed! It was really funny now that I think about it. Good thing we've had so much free time to deal with things. Some friends here just moved into a new flat, and needed a temporary roommate for their third room - so we've moved once again! We're still in Maadi, in an even more westernized part of the neighborhood.

I find myself nostalgic for the regular street vendors that would frequent our old neighborhood daily. We could sit and observe the regular activity from our porch. There was a man who would come through the neighborhood on a bicycle powered cart calling out something in Arabic. People would bring odds-and-ends to him, and he would give them money for it and add it to his collection in his cart. There was also a vegetable seller who would bring his truck around almost every day. At about midnight, there was a man who would walk through the streets singing and drumming all through Ramadan. We found out that neighborhood parents would pay him to sing the names of their children. He would sing their names to remind them to have their last meal before sleeping during Ramadan.


This is what the bedroom looked like by the time we were done vacuuming, laundering, wiping things with scalding water, and spraying pesticides (at the request of our land-lord).

Damon spent a lot of time with the laundry machine as it conintuously broke as we laundered every piece of fabric we owned! Note the piles of clothes on the floor!

This is a shot from the porch of kids playing in the street outside our apartment.

This is an old shot of the glow of green lights from the mosque next door to our hostel room.