THE SINAI

Before to catch the crazy Ferry, we met in Aqaba, Florine and Ziat, and they invited us to eat in the house in the oldest part of the city; the menu: Bedouin rice, which we ate as the traditional way, by hand.
The staff of the Ferry told us that we had to be at the port at 22:00h. and the boat will departure at 01:00h. The people kept entering the boat without ceasing, and all of them were finding places on the floor, on the restaurant, mosque… to sleep. As we saw that the ferry didn’t departure, we also accommodate ourselves on the floor, and around 6:00am we departure to Egypt.

Afterwards the paperwork to do the visa, everything among the trucks unloading the staff of the people and throwing it everywhere on the ground.
Since we crossed the border in Jordan until we arrived to Egypt, passed 14 hours, and the boat trip only takes 4 hours. We avoid the mass of taxi drivers and a Bedouin offered to take us to a camp that we have heard, "Greenbeach camp", it is managed by a very nice Sudanese guy and he rents huts just 4 steps from the Red Sea for 10£EG, (1,25 Euros). We went just for a day, but we couldn’t resist it and we spent more time; Nuweiba is an authentic paradise in the Sinai. In front of the hut there are coral reefs, and just snorkeling, we could see lion-fish, moray, and plenty of colorful fishes.


Convinced of the possibility to travel by hitchhike, we went up to the main road, with a constant harassment of all the cars saying: taxi! taxi!
It was easy to stop to the cars but… each one has their fees to go to Dahab. After an hour fighting for traveling without paying, we realized that, ALL is for money…
We managed to travel about 15 km without paying, and when we were in the middle of the desert, and nothing around, we told to the drivers that we didn’t have any money, (to prove them), but it doesn’t matter!! If you don’t pay, you stay there…

In the end we pay to one guy the same price of the bus to Dahab. This city is totally different, here the loneliness and the paradise is finish, everywhere are restaurants and people harassing you to put you inside the agencies, the shops of groceries with European prices... and plenty of dive agencies.
The best thing of this place was when we approached to the "Blue Hole", a huge fossa in the sea of 127 meters that falls straight down from the shore of the coast.


Again a Bedouin stopped to help us on the way to the Blue Hole; he told us that he had a lunch with some friends in a canyon among the mountains near there; he offered us to go and of course we went. Talking with them, we asked them if they were Egyptian, and they denied clearly: We are Bedouins!!!


We saw that there are a lot of rivalry between them, turning back to Dahab, we stopped in a shop in the Bedouin territory, and the man told us the real prices, and he left us very clear that they are Bedouin and the prices are equal for everybody, they don’t cheat as the Egyptians do.

The prices of the buses are a big temptation, but hitchhike is adventure and much better, despite giving a thousand turns to find the exit road, we didn’t surrender and went out the city on foot; on the way… a great surprise, the Bedouin of yesterday!!!; he brought us up to the police checkpoint.
This is another story, in 4 days, the police asked for our passport daily, Egypt is a country for the organize tourist, and when the see two foreigners loose, they afraid and start to make questions. In this last checkpoint we told them that we were going by walk to Sharm (100 km), because if we say hitchhiking perhaps they think we are crazy...
We look for a good place, because we knew that we had lot of time to “fight” with the drivers. But no!, the one who stop was a Lebanese, a very nice man who didn’t want our money. He took us to a café with which he has business in Sharm el-Sheikh, he treated us as kings giving us coffee, laptop to use internet, and everything we needed…

We had made an appointment with Jay of CS in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time to see the city; but we didn’t like at all; we felt as two strangers among so much luxury. Massive tourism, an artificial city for relax and party; totally different to Egypt, everything is impeccable, new, as in Europe, even the prices.
We escape from there to eat something outside of the tourist places, because the beaches or places to sit are by payment, and which was our surprise that one guy came to throw us away, we cannot stay there, and we must go to the area where all the tourists are.
Discouraged we walked through the street of the beach in the fact of the looks of the people for our remarkable big backpacks, and suddenly, I felt a jostle on my back; a girl with a big backpack, asking us if we were hitch-hikers. Finally we found our company, a couple from Russia; Pavel and Maria, who have flown up to here to start their journey by hitchhike to Russia. Now even more we are the attention on the street, four backpackers among elegant people; it was great to find them!


We went to meet Jay, and he was very nice with Pavel and Maria, because they didn’t have a place to sleep and he offered them to pinch the tent in his garden. Finally we passed everyday all together in Sharm the- Sheikh. Near Jay’s house there is a small cliff on the shore of the Red Sea, which is full of coral reefs; there, we spent the last days; a summer, warm days just only a week for Christmas.


This night we depart to the Egyptian capital, Cairo; where a big surprise is waiting for us......
We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and happy New Year 2008!!