Sand Covered Highway
We woke in the morning to another blistering day, and made the decision to go further south. We took a taxi to the Egyptian border, singing along with the driver to “Forever Young.” We meant to catch a bus from there to Cairo but were conviced by an official, in his unofficial job as a hotel tout, to take a taxi. After some meagerly successful haggling, we got into his man’s car and sped off. And I do mean sped; we drove through the narrow canyons in the left lane on blind curves while the driver laughed gleefully. When sand covered one lane in the Sinai, we drove in the other. This was not confidence inspiring. He spoke some English, or at least enough to ask for more money, which we did not intend to agree to, but he misconstrued my response. Somehow “we’ll see when we get there” became “I’ll pay whatever you ask.” When we got to Cairo, he pulled aside an obliging police officer to help his side of the argument. We paid almost what he asked, just so he would go away. Welcome in Egypt, as they say.
Hotel Luna is a wonderful respite from the heat and bustle of the city. Situated on one of the upscale shopping streets, nestled between a watch and shoe store, up a rickety elevator, it’s a truly Romantic place. We went to dinner at Gad Diner, which serves excellent fast food, and apparently delivers. An unfriendly ATM ate Jared’s bank card, setting up a whole litany of money issues. The lesson here is, don’t put your card into machines that are not attached to banks, so you always have someone to yell at.
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