Day 3 : Reclaiming

Day3: 27th of May 2005

After a terrible night, my back was as painful as if I had been struck down by someone... Zac was also in a bad shape. We remembered that we had lost our bag and went to the nearest police office in the town.

The place was falling apart and we couldn't believe that people were actually working here to dispense justice. We waited 3 hours before someone dares talking to us. It was an old policeman with a long black mustache, he actually didn't seem friendly at all... We gave him our regards and happily he was speaking English quite well, there is what he told us:

"- Hey what are two young foreigners doing in such a place ? he said aagressivly

- Sir, I beg your pardon but yesterday night we were attacked by a group of bandits. They threatened us with guns and we were forced to give them our bagpack... we answered

- And how is it supposed to be my problem? He replied angrily

- We're in a stupid police office! And we reclaim justice! Go arrest them and give us our bag back! This your freaking job!

- Eventhough I was searching for them, your bag would certainly be no more, I'm afraid so... But we might do something if...

- Where are you getting to ? May I ask.

- Well, this is Egyptian's business, you give us something... and in exchange we give you back whatever you desire... Otherwise, you won't get anything. If you're not intending to do what we want you to do, then you may be allowed to leave...

- This conversation is going nowhere, come Zac let's leave, this place is a shithole."

For summary, he didn't give a shit about us...

Disappointed, we came back to the hotel to get our stuff back and we left straight after by boat from the harbour to Ras Gharib. Crossing the Red Sea took us 3 big hours and it was not over as we wanted to arrive at a little fisher village near the Nile which was approximately 250 miles away. But right now for us it was lunch time, we took two Arabic sandwiches and left with the next bus which was leaving at 1 PM.

The landscapes we could see from the bus were eye-catching and the dunes around us were trully huge: it was great. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and (it may be hard to believe) it was RAINING! We're not kidding: RAINING. This event was unexpected from us and considered as a miracle by the residents, and happiness was all around us and people were crying, screaming; enjoying.

In fact, this region of Egypt is the driest of all and water is a rare commodity and that's why it was so miraculous for people. They were happy and watching made us feel even happier... In England, rain isn't something we do appreciate a lot and we do not realise how important it is for the peoples living in dry countries.

Nevermind, we observed them for hours until night and dinner time came. We tasted traditional fish meals of this village which were with no exception all succulent! After that we danced with them around a campfire and Zac drank a bit too much, he won't ever change... You may guess the end.

Luckily I don't drink alcool and tasted the rainwater gathered by the villager and I wasn't feeling very well. Anyway, we both came back to our tent and slept peacefully. We wish you a pleasant journey and see you with the next article folks. ;)

By François Gutierrez and Zacharie Richter