Egypt trip! Woot Woot!

Our trip so far in Egypt has been an interesting one. I have so many things to share but I find myself not able to process them into writing. I used to live in the future and in the past, revel over the events and play them over in my mind. Now, I live in the present and it is hard to think of the future because I have no plan, and there is no time to think abou the past. I was craving this and feel alive now that I do live this way. It's refreshing. Now to the task at hand, Egypt.

Well, to get to Egypt we had to go from Jordan through Israel and into Egypt, all in one day. It was incredible to go from each country and in a matter of meters the whole area changed. It all looked the same geologically, but was drastically different in the color of the people, feel of the area, economic wealth, and all that other good stuff. I think the most shocking situation of the entire trip was coming from Jordan to Israel. After being put on a facotory line (being stamped, questioned, and inspected), passing AK-47's, and barbed wire, we were in an entirely different world. THe language changed, the people changed, and the women changed. I was seeing women in short sleves with their hair showing! I was in quite a surprise on the cab ride. We met an austrian couple and decided to share a cab, but they wanted to go to this aquariaum (funds were not sufficent so we did not go). We all piled into a car, and headed off to Eliat. I saw white people again, women in tight shirt, WOMEN IN SHORTS!!! (not people that should be wearing shorts might I add), T-shirts, and long hair billowing in the wind. I was shocked at how much skin they were showing. THe girls with their short skirts, tank tops, looking like little harlets. (Now I sound like an old lady I've already started with the "music being too loud") Eliat is a modern city that looks like a typical american beach scene except there are grey desert mountains in the background. I wanted to turn right around and go back to Jordan. As my mom and I sat on a bench in front of the Aquarium for a long time, I didn't get my stares, they all dressed innapropiatley, and I missed home. Even now, thinking about Wadi Rum makes me nostalgic. I long for my sand, my bad music, and my nook. I feel at home there, with drama, laughs, fights, friends, and many more. I felt like I was back in America and was ready to run out of there into an Arab country. Once we got into Egypt, It was like we were a piece of meat and all the taxi drivers were like hungry wolves. They would drive very slowly next to us and say "excuse me my sister, taxi , taxi , TAXII!" Over and over again. There was so much stimulus and I already had stress up to my eyeballs, I was about to punch him in the face. It was also HORRIBLY HOT!! I could not role up my sleves because I did not feel confortable and getting any more attention than I already was......so I opted to soil my clothes in sweat. (haha lovely description, soil.ha) We got on a bus to Nuweiba and I thought we were about to go off the road the driver was driving so fast! The coast here is interessting with sandstone mountains and a blank desert (not as pretty as Wadi Rum) then an aqua blue puddle they call an ocean. THe Gulf of Aqaba is an interesting converstion. YOu have Israel and Jordan up on top (plus a little Egypt) and then the giant mass of Saudi Arabia. If you are not familiar with how women are treated there I will just say this, even women travelers have to be completely covered from head to toe in traditional dress. Our camp was wonderful (even though I got a lot of bug bites). It was right next to the beach with about 45 little palm froned huts and a restaurant. There are also a lot of lage areas filled with cusions right along the water in the shade. There is also private service right to your little kingdom of cushions on the water with amazlingly cheap food and amazing fruit drinks. I would just lay and look out at the ocean with was about 10 feet away and ocassionaly gaze over at Saudi Arabia. I went snorkeling while I was there with Jessica ( a wonderful girl we met in Wadi Rum). It was quite an experience. Even though I may want to be a marine biologist, I still have a fear of the ocean. We walked in and in 2 seconds I was seeing crabs. We walkeed furter and then the reef started. OH! The day before this we tried to go to another reef but I got freaked out when I walked in about 15 feet and saw a large poisonous water snake that was black and white. (no thanks!) Well we got on our equipment and started to go around the bottom of the water was about 5 feet down adn the reef was abotu 2 to 3 feet from the top of the water. Jessica took a turn towards the top of the reef and I followed. I felt like I was about to brush innto all the coral and large purple sea urchins. I got so scared and hyperventelated in my snokel (which was already broken) and got all water then put my hand down on the reef! I didn't touch anything thankfully! We swam more and saw beautiful hot pink coral colorful fish and giant black sea cucumbers. I was in awe because I had never seen this much life. It was an amazing exerpeince that I can hopefully elaborate some other time (people are waiting for the computer). We had lots of fun at Soft Beach Camp, made so friends and spent some time with adorable puppies! Then after 3 days, we headed off to the bus to take us to Cairo. And I leave you with suspense 'till the next blog post I bid you adieu.

Bailey

P.S Sorry about the typos if there are any, I am in a rush.