In, around, and under da sea
April 12, 2005
I have way too much to say about Zenith and E's recent visit, so I'm going to have split up everything I've written into several parts. Without further ado I give you Part One (complete with pictures! crappy ones!)
Well, Zenith has already sent out an email to his newsletter about his trip to Egypt, so I figure it�s time I sit down and write about it.
After getting out of customs a little later than expected on Thursday evening due to a visa-purchasing fiasco in customs (yes you CAN purchase visas at the airport; no, silly, you can�t pay for it with Egyptian Pounds or a credit card), I greeted Zenith and E. at the arrival lounge of the airport and whisked them off back to my place. We arrived home around 8-ish which gave us just enough time to have some dinner and finish making last minute arrangements before we head out to catch our overnight bus to Sharm al-Sheikh at 10:30 pm. The drive to Sharm�which is THE Red Sea resort located at the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula�takes about 6 hours, but even though we took the �express� bus, what with stops for passport inspection every couple of hours, we ended up arriving in Sharm at about 6 am the next morning. The moment we stepped off the bus, taxi drivers started hassling us. �Taxi, taxi, taxi?!� I gave in to one guy because he was really insistent and I really wanted to get him off my back. Bad move. He led us to a black sedan, not one of the regular blue and white taxis, which probably meant he would try to charge us some ridiculous fare. In any case, I told him no, and turned around to find myself literally in the middle of a crowd of scary, Egyptian men all clamoring for my fare (Zenith and E. were a little bit outside this circle). In an uncharacteristically assertive and take charge move, I held up my hands and yelled in Arabic, �Get out of my way!� and�I hate to abuse this simile, considering where we were at that moment�they parted like the Red Sea. I picked out the one taxi driver not in our face and we headed to our hotel, which was located right on the beach. Of course the driver dropped us off about 100 meters away from the roadside entrance to the hotel, and we ended up searching for our hotel for 15 minutes, when we should have found it in five minutes. In any case, we arrived at our hotel lobby absolutely destroyed (we slept very little on the bus), and had our first stroke of good fortune�the hotel would check us in right then and there, at 7 am, even though officially check-in was not until 2pm. We settled into our rooms and E. took a little nap while Zenith and I explored the hotel. 
(Um, our hotel�s pool. Our "bungalow" rooms are in the background somewhere)
I�d actually stayed in the same hotel a few years before when I went there for AUC study abroad orientation, but Zenith couldn�t wait to find out what there was to do. We found the hut where, basically, one can make arrangements for various trips and activities, and took one of their flyers. The sign on the side of the hut gave us many laughs over the next few days:
�WE ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS!�
We all appreciated the slightly stalkerish quality of that sign.
In any case, Zenith was really into a three-hour snorkeling trip, but E. and I were a little less enthusiastic. I think we were more interested in relaxing and tanning after the exhausting evening/morning we�d had. We ended up compromising. After breakfast at the hotel, we signed up for a one-hour snorkeling trip for later on in the afternoon. The last time I�d been snorkeling was over ten years ago in Hurghada (another, more family-oriented Red Sea resort), so after renting our snorkel equipment, Zenith and I practiced a bit in the shallower waters of the hotel�s beach. In short, we had a fairly lazy morning, minus brief efforts by E. and me to join in the pick-up volleyball game Zenith had joined.
It generally became a rule throughout the time that Zenith and E. were here that anything Zenith suggested that E. and I were not really interested in ended up being really worthwhile. I think we all really enjoyed the snorkeling trip, and when the hour was up, we were pretty tired but also exhilarated. It was kind of awkward for me though. Besides our party of three, we were joined on our trip by a Scottish couple, and, of course, a snorkel guide. Well, since the two couples ended sticking together while under the water, and since I was the only Egyptian on the trip, our Egyptian guide ended up focusing most of his attention on me. At first I felt very weird about it, especially after he first grabbed my hand underwater and started pulling me towards the coral, from which I had been cautiously keeping my distance for fear of damaging them (I�m such an environmentalist, you know). But pretty quickly I shrugged his attention off�the man was trying to earn his tip, and what was the worst that could happen? He�d fondle me underwater? (yes, I realize it could happen, but other than a very awkward few seconds where he held my hand a little too near his crotch, everything was fine). In any case, I managed to shrug off my initial apprehensions, and I ended up getting my own guided tour of the Red Sea�s aquatic life.
We didn�t give in and buy a disposable underwater camera, but I managed to snap some (not so great) pics the next day when we decided we wanted to be out on the water, but not in it, and took a trip on a glass bottom boat. So here are some very murky pics, which just don�t do justice to the Red Sea�s underwater beauty:
After our snorkel we decided to retire and refresh. Which is what I�m gonna let y�all do now. (Stay tuned for stories about crazy happy hours! Four-wheeler excursions into the desert to meet Bedouins! All culminating in our climb up Mt. Sinai!)