Feb 23rd and 24th – On to Egypt

I headed by way of morning bus back down to the southern tip of Israel. My intention was to get by the early afternoon and go ahead and cross the border. Things don't always go as planned.

I neglected to double check the visa situation before heading that way. I discovered while on the bus that in order to go into Egypt past the Sinai you needed a Visa before arriving at the border. I headed from the bus station directly for the consulate. I arrived as they were closing up shop for the day and they would have done it except i didn’t have passport photos with me. I had to spend the evening in Eilot and head back to the consulate the next morning around 9.

I got some rest and worked on the computer a bit more that evening before sleeping and in the morning took a cab up the street to the consulate. By 11 AM I was on the Egyptian border and heading across on foot. Across the border, was a gaggle of Egyptian cabbies hawking rides to wherever. I was by myself and no one else crossing was headed in the same direction so I knew that the money saved was worth waiting for the 3pm bus. I walked the kilometer or so to the “bus station” which turned out to be a bus office and a few run down outdoor tea houses where the Egyptian drivers wait for the tourists who head to Jordan or Israel for day trips.

I made myself comfortable and hung out in front of the convenience store for a while and read a book. After a bit, I checked out the tea house across the way where a jovial group of Egyptian drivers were watching the video of the Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at George W; They laughed and when I told them I was American, we watched it together and laughed some more.

They invited me to sit and have tea and Sheesha (Hooka) with them. I saw no harm, so I did. I had a nice conversation with the one who spoke the most English. We talked about a range of topics including tip-toeing around some religion and politics.

I enjoyed the moment, not because of the particulars, but here I was having tea with a common stranger in a new country at a rundown tea house on a plastic chair by myself with no other tourists in sight, sharing with him a smile and a warm laugh and thinking to myself how lucky I am.

Eventually, it was time for the bus to leave and I was on my way to Dahab. It was slow going for what should have been a quick couple hour bus (we spent some time fixing the bus on the side of the highway), but eventually I made it to my final destination. I wandered the city a bit and had a chicken dinner by myself before making it an early night.