|
A
Day Off
Today, Monday May 21st, we did not stick to our itinerary.
We were supposed to visit a mosque before our train
ride to Luxor, but after our hellish bus trip home from
Hurgadda, our empathetic professors granted us a free
day. The only stipulations were that we check out of
the hotel (Al Horeya) at 3:00 p.m. and that we be ready
to board the bus to the train station at 7:45.
Although
3:00 p.m. sounds like a late check out time, I don't
think that I was the only one who was hard pressed to
be ready by then since I slept until 1:30. After checkout
we all scattered and did different things. Some stayed
and ate for a couple of hours in the air-conditioned
Al Horeya restaurant, others went for a stroll around
the shops close to the hotel and many went to McDonalds
for a thirty-cent ice cream cone.
Alissa
Shirk and I were on our way back from an Internet cafe
when we ran into Dan Schall. Earlier, Alissa and I had
met a girl named Engy who was working at a clothing
store called Sixty Nine. Engy spoke English very well
and we had a long conversation with her. She asked us
if we wanted her to drive us around when she was done
with her shift and we said sure. Later we had second
thoughts and decided we shouldn't drive off with a stranger.
But then we found Dan and he was all for going with
her so we decided to go. No risks, no gain right? Perhaps
not the best philosophy when traveling in a new country,
but everything turned out all right.
Engy
drove us around Cairo on our way to a lookout point
above the Citadel. It had a beautiful view of the city.
We could even see the pyramids, shrouded in a hazy cloud
of pollution, off in the distance. Then Engy drove us
back to the hotel where we ate dinner and boarded the
bus to the train station.
For
some of us, including me, it was our first time on a
train. That made it a pretty exciting experience, at
least for me. We rode in Super Class (better than first
class!) where we stayed in compartments that could accommodate
six of us. The trip took about nine hours through the
night and most of us got at least a few hours of sleep.
But as the five lucky souls in my compartment can testify,
I can't sleep in transit, so as midnight rolled around
and they began to get ready for bed, I (supposedly)
began to ask "Are you guys tired?" and "Do you want
to play cards?" over and over.
Besides
my questioning as an annoyance and Erin Cramer needing
a shot of whiskey to ease her cough, I think everyone
spent a decent night on the train. Dan cozied up on
the floor, so Jon Moskaitis and Roger Ice had three
seats to share. Erin and I were at the ends of our row
with the Dramamine Queen, Erica Schneider, sitting between
us. Erica convinced me that I should take some Dramamine
too, which allowed me to get some sleep, but also rendered
me practically comatose the next day, as I left my hat
on the train and can remember very little of the Valley
of the Kings!
All
in all, it was as adventurous of a day as we wanted
it to be. As with every other day on this amazing journey
that I feel so blessed and proud to be a part of, we
each made it our own and experienced that which Egypt
had to offer.
Stephanie Byham
Mineral Economics Junior
Egypt—May 21, 2001
|
