Run, Rabbit Run

Small donkey, big load

Aswan 11.12.2011

This is the last post from Aswan! Tomorrow I will be on the boat to Sudan, and if everything goes smoothly with ferry and paperwork, I and Wombosi will be out of the port on Wednesday evening, ready for the last couple of kilometers to Addis Ababa.

The man with the silk scarf

My week has been good, in fact, far better than last week. Last Monday I was far down, but towards the evening I decided that I had mourned enough, and started to focus on what I could do to reach Addis in time before Christmas. To get an Ethiopian Visa was the obvious thing to do, and it turned out to be a success.

Tuesday evening I took the night train to Cairo (14 hours). Having a seat, it was a rather comfortable ride. I’d hoped to be able to get the Visa in one day, so I wouldn’t have to sleep in Cairo, but that was not possible. The time in Cairo was good though. I met a man named Said, and had two long and good conversations with him, over several cups of tea.

Public water

Thursday I picked up my passport with a three month visa for Ethiopia in it, so if I get fat and lazy during Christmas, I can stay in Addis until the 6^th of March.

The journey back to Aswan was of the less comfortable kind. I was too late to get a ticket, so I had to buy one on the train, which meant that I would not have a seat. The next 14 hours consisted of 2 hour sleep, one hour in a seat and the rest of the time sitting and standing around between the carriages. The surprising thing is that I didn’t mind. I have been so focused on Addis that whatever I do to get there has made me happy.

Crossing speed-bumps 

Friday I had to get some sleep, and Saturday I, (and the rest of the overlanders) got the good news that all of us would leave on Monday. We even got to buy the tickets, so there’s no turning back this time.

That done, I thought it was time for a last trip with Ahmed. We went to his village 70 kilometers north of Aswan, and stayed at his family there over the night. All the pictures are from there, since the other memory card with the pictures from Cairo mysteriously disappeared.

Fertile soil

The time in the village was good. In the evening we hung out at what we would call the local pub and played domino. In the “pub” here the people drink tea instead of whiskey, there are only men over 20 hanging out and of course everything is under the open sky (and the full moon on this occasion). In the morning we went to the river, meeting lots of donkey-riders on our way.

White man on the riverbank

This culture has its good and its bad sides. It also has its different sides, like the local clothing of the men, consisting of a robe and a silk-scarf (see pictures). The gender division is extreme, temper is high, everyone smokes a lot and honor is very important. The hospitality is great, belief strong and tea good.

I will be leaving Egypt with a mixed experience. I have not entered any culture along my way so deeply as the Egyptian, and think that my picture of it is quite accurate. The people are generally very friendly and good minded, but to some extend the society seems to be stuck quite far behind.

Donkeyriders in robes

As for the political situation, what happens now is far from freedom. The military still has a firm grip on everything, and the money does not reach the people. If the Muslim brotherhood would win the election, and actually get some power, I fear that religious freedom will be even more put aside than now, and the women’s rights shrinking. Egypt has a long way to go, but at least it seems to be walking.

Taxi

I do believe that I have left a positive mark on Ahmed. I have tried to be an example, and have also given my opinion on a number of things. He has decided to try to stop smoking, and even though I think he won’t manage, he has reduced his consume from 60 to 20 cigarettes a day. He is also eager to make a radical change in his lifestyle, get back to education, or get himself a proper work.

Both with Ahmed and with Said, I’ve had good conversations on religion. I think they see how God goes with me, gives me confidence and love. I have given Ahmed a new testament (thanks to Nikolai who gave it to me), and hope he will read in it, and take heart from the message of love and forgiveness. Here the “revenge for honor”-thinking still is so alive.

Ahmed is ready to eat

The village

Now my longing for my family is so big that I won’t linger (by will) before I am in Addis. Besides, my Sudanese Visa expires on the 19^th, so by then I have to be in Ethiopia, so I’ll report back to you from there some time shortly after that. 

Round and Around

Aswan 05.12.2011


I just wanted to let you know that my struggle today was in vain, and that I won't be leaving Egypt before next Monday. To have a chance to be in Addis some days before Christmas-eve, I will go to Cairo tomorrow, and fix my Ethiopian visa. That means that I wont have to wait until Sunday, a working day, in Khartoum to do that, but can go start to the Ethiopian border when I get out of the port in Wade Halfa on Thursday the 15th.

From WH to Addis Ababa it is 2200 kilometers on the most direct route, and 2500 on the Dogola-Khartoum route. Either way I should be able to make that distance in 6 days, if Wombosi plays nicely and the Ethiopian border does the same. That would take me to Addis on the 21th.

To mourn now is useless. Yesterday, when there still was hope, I was extremely down. Now when it's game over, I accept the defeat. I will focus to prepare as best as I can for the time in Sudan, so that things run smoothly, and I've learned a lesson about African/Arabian bureaucracy.

Sorrow

04.12.2011 Aswan

Still Aswan. This week has been a low on this journey, and the ending made it a disaster. There really is not much to tell you today. I have spent the 5 days since the last time mainly indoor, sleeping, reading, wasting time on my laptop and playing the guitar. The reason is that I have been sick. I got a flue on Thursday that kept me in bed most of Friday and parts of Saturday. Today was better. I still have an aching head and a running nose.

Sunset over the nile

What makes me very sad and upset is that my possibilities to be leaving Aswan tomorrow are shrinking small. On Saturday when I called Mr. Sahleh he said that I had got the one spot for a car on the barge. This was confirmed this morning when I went to his office. He explained what paperwork that should be done, and then I should drive to the harbor (15 km. out of town) and load the car onto the barge. When I asked about payment he said no problem, we would do it tomorrow.

After ca. 2 hours the paperwork was done, and we headed for the docks. Still in town, I said to the man with me that I did not bring the money for the ticket, and he said that it would be ok. We would just enter the docks, do some more paperwork, and I’d load the car tomorrow. After waiting half an hour at the gate we got the information that I could not enter the dock without a ticket (for the car), and I was forced to drive back to town to get to an ATM.

When we got back to the Harbor almost an hour later, another car entered the area so that I could still se its rear lights, and took my space. After a rather tense “conversation” with the guards I had to go back to town. There was no one there with authority to do much.

Tomorrow I will go back to the harbor. Mr. Sahleh will be there, and I hope some miracle happens, but I have experienced the Egyptian way, and if they have loaded the barge with the other car (that was behind me in the queue), they won’t likely start unloading again, even if it does not leave before 4 pm.

Oh, and yes. I called Mr.Sahleh when I was in trouble on the docks. This was at 1.30 pm, but he said he was at home and would not do anything, and when I asked him to PLEASE do something, he screamed that he was at home, and hanged up. Oh man, I think I’m angry. Good that I could talk to Andreas as soon as I got home, and he could calm me down.

For me Christmas is at stake if I don’t get a spot this week, and I so want to get “home” to Addis now. Sophie, Mparany and the kids will come there on the 17^th, and Alma has holidays the same day, and I presumably sit in Aswan or Khartoum scratching my beard.

Keep your fingers crossed and I will give you news as soon as possible. 

Lost for Words

Pyramids at night

Aswan 29.11.11

I guess it’s time to give you an update on my whereabouts. I wanted to write on Sunday, but Sunday was a sad day, so it would not have been fair.

Reflection

The week after Cairo was very good. I found a much better side of Egypt, partly because I understood that I just had to try to cooperate with the military instead of fighting it. The first pleasant thing that happened was that I got my Visa for Sudan.

Abu Simbel

From Cairo I wanted to get to Aswan quickly, because I thought that might increase my possibilities to get a place for Wombosi on the barge (car ferry) that left on Monday, so I just took time for the most famous attraction of the Nile valley, starting with the pyramids of Giza. Instead of doing the normal walking around the pyramids, I rode into the desert on horseback, and locked at the pyramids by night from there. My guide was friendly and invited me for dinner with his family, and offered me a place to sleep too, but I preferred Wombosi.

Next morning I went south, and yet again the Egyptian hospitality was fantastic. Bound to stay in towns at night (because of the military) I parked my ride in a quiet spot. Sometime later two men came and invited me for tea, water pipe and fruits, and Wombosi stayed in their courtyard that night.

Movember

The following morning I got some very good falafel as a thank-you from a hitchhiker, before I got to Luxor and visited the kings. They were expensive and disappointing. I arrived in Aswan on Thursday and went straight to the ferry-company, and got the typical and encouraging answer “come back on Saturday”. I figured I needed to find some friends. There are no cheap camping grounds in Aswan, and to pay for so many days was no option, so I prepared for living in the street.

Ahmed

I was very happy when I found a park with public toilets and parking space on the street in front of it, and celebrated with sitting down in the park with my guitar. I hoped to meet some nice people, and guess what; there came two young men, who sat down some meters away from me. A couple of songs later they came closer and asked if they could listen, and some more songs later we started to talk.

With my friends Islam (right) and Mido (left)

When they asked me about what I would do the rest of the day, I said I intended to go to an internet-café. Ahmed said I could come home to him instead, and get free internet there. When we got there, he said I could as well sleep there too. It would be far better than sleeping in the streets, so since then I have stayed with Ahmed and his family. Isn’t that fantastic?

The following day we went to Abu-Simbel together. It’s a long drive, but the temple was nothing short of breathtaking. The last days I have enjoyed experiencing life in an Egyptian town. I have been to the gym, swam in the Nile, drunk a lot of tea, walked the streets and had good discussions on politics and gender.

Desert

Sunday was the day of sorrow. In the morning, I went to the ferry company (they had said “come back tomorrow” on Saturday), and got confirmed what I had suspected for some time. Wombosi did not get a place on this week’s barge to Sudan, and I am forced to stay here in Aswan with him for a week. My friends here were happy to hear that, and that means a lot to me, so if it wouldn’t have been for me missing the appointment with Daddy in Khartoum, I would not have been too unhappy.

The end is the beginning is the end

To cancel Daddys flight to Khartoum made me very sad. I had looked a lot forward to our common days, and I know he had done so too. In addition I feel that I failed him. I take appointments seriously. Now we aim to meet up in Northern Ethiopia, so that we at least get the last 3 or 5 days together.

Later that Sunday the real tragedy happened. Ahmed’s grandfather died. The house war full of sorrow, and I didn’t know what to say. We buried him, and spend big parts of the next two days sitting and grieving. It is interesting to witness a different culture so closely, but it’s not always easy to know how to behave. Due to my complete lack of Arabic, I cannot really say anything, and don’t always know how to behave either, whom I should greet, when I should stand and when I should sit.

To sum it up, it has been a very good time since last time. The waiting here in Aswan, and the death of Ahmed’s grandfather are sad, but the love and kindness shown by the people here are so overwhelming. I feel that I don’t repay them in any way, and that’s not how I wanted it to be, but I receive with gratitude. I look forward to the remaining time here in Aswan, but also to Sudan (even if it will be a rush), and even more to meet my family in Addis. Man, I am blessed. My life consists just of good better and best, 22 degrees and sunshine! See ya.