Concerned emails flood in after I write something negative, as I did the other evening. I appreciate it, because it shows me that people care about me and are keeping up with what is going on in my strange, sometimes foggy head. That being said, everyone has to understand that: 1. There is so much negative around me here that it is hard to stay positive all the time, and I need to vent here and there, and 2. I do, everyday, find the beautiful, funny, sublime, or just smile inducing things in everyday life. I am not a large ball of static negative energy roaming the streets of Chad looking for something to get pissed off about or come close to get myself shot about. A guy deserves to get angry, introspective, or annoyed sometimes, right? Right?
Sailing the Nile River by Aswan...notice the massive sand dunes behind the boat!
So, now its out of the way and I can share with you the brief synopsis on our trip to Egypt. Amazing. Amazing but far from restful and reinvigorating. Egypt is a place of constant chaos, hustle and hustlers. You are a constant target for this or that...vendors, taxi drivers, tour guides, camel guys, tea-hookah-falafel and jewel salesmen...they all see you walk by and seemingly get dollar signs in their eyes. "My friend, welcome! Where are you from? Colorado? Aaaah, my brother lives in Denver! Come in, come in!" It's amazing, the geography knowledge these guys have. I think I went through 40 of the 50 states, and the various hawkers could always come up with some city in the state in question. Always there was a brother, sister, cousin or nephew there, usually studying. Sometimes they were just a little too much in your face, preventing you from moving, crowding your personal space, being that Seinfeld close talker (you know who I'm talking about Andy!). In these cases I prayed that I could open my mouth and convince them to move before Elizabeth unleashed a maelstrom of direct, brutally honest, and jaw-dropping explanations on why it was that she would not go into their shops, and why it was that they were annoying her beyond comprehension. After such brutally honest attacks some would look at me and ask "what's the matter with her?" or "what's her problem?", to which my response was usually, "judging by what she said I'm going to go out on a limb here and say YOU. It'd do you good not to stare at her breasts while slipping your hand towards her ass as you try and sell her perfume. Did you here what she said about castration? Have a good day!"
Slaves awaiting smiting from Ramses II, carved into the walls of Abu Simbel
Upon arrival in Egypt we found a travel agency to make our train reservations and wound up being booked for a 9 day long tour of the country. And a tour it was. Everyday our itinerary was laid out and we were shuffled from tomb to tomb, palace to palace, bus station to bus station, hookah bong coffee house to, well you get the point. It was busy. Some nights we only had 4 hours of sleep, and when we politely complained, they looked at us like we had four heads, "don't you want to see all the amazing sights? Is it not beautiful enough?" and suddenly we were guilt tripped back into napping on bus rides and cooperating with the hectic shuffle.
We went from Cairo to Aswan to Abu Simbel, to Luxor to Hurghada, up the Red Sea coast, under the Suez Canal and down the Sinai penninsula past Mt. Sinai to Dahab. By the time we reached Dahab we felt we needed a vacation from our vacation, and we were grateful for the two days spent lounging, eating, snorkelling and diving. And then we went back to Cairo and bought what will hopefully prove to be real gold wedding bands in some crazy hectic inner city market. It's amazing what you can get in a vending machine in Cairo!
In the end, the best offer I received for Elizabeth was 6 million camels, honestly, (I'm not making some snide racist remark) and I seriously debated. I mean camels are fetching a decent price on the Middle Eastern commodities market lately, and well, that could have been a lot of boats and toys. But I kept her. I'm still open to offers though.
Bedouin Camel Herder by Dahab
Backstreets of Cairo...and the area that specializes in wedding bands.
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3 comments:
Hey at least you are still smiling.
Your negatively makes us laugh. We know that things can be shitty but thats real writing about balloons and clouds is boring.
-D & C
Hey..I am Darcy's girlfriend Kacey. I just wanted to thank you for keeping your thoughts up to date here, and that you really do speak for all those that are too lazy and/or worn out. I know you all appreciate, and are grateful of your own experiences there, however, as you have explained,your reality really is a non-logic zone, and i really appreciate your feedback and loyalty to your friends and fans by keeping us updated, all this time- You are highly admired. Take Care.
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