Home at last

 Writing this from the comfort of my own abode, my body is still unsure that it agrees with the clock on the wall, thanks to an entire day of travelling and a 9 hour time difference.

 Friday began with another early wake up call at 4 am, boarding a bus to the Aswan airport at 4:45.

We made a brief visit to the Aswan High Dam to take a few final photos before flying back to Cairo.

After loading our luggage on the bus, we headed into downtown Cairo for a stop at the central market. Arriving during the Friday noon prayers we found the place largely closed down, with literally thousands of locals all facing Mecca while a lengthy series of prayers boomed over the area from loudspeakers attached to the minaret of a nearby mosque. 

Interestingly, many locals, including women with full burkas moved through the area oblivious to the prayers, making one question their choice of attire, considering their lack of adherence to their religion. But that’s a whole other subject!

 Many of the prayers seem to illicit a response, the offering of such seemed to vary from an indifferent shrug and mumble to a full throated cry, with arms raised. 

 When prayer ended the entire market exploded into activity and we found ourselves accosted by merchants who were now preying, rather than praying. 

 “Only a dollar, one American dollar, come into my shop, I have the best prices” seemed to be the endless battle cry from stalls offering cheap ceramic busts of various Egyptian pharaohs and their queens, most having that “Made in China” vibe. 

 At one major intersection a quickly set up portable kitchen was staffed by a number of people handing out sandwiches of flatbread with unrecognizable contents to dozens of locals, free of charge. Seemingly the generous offering of a more affluent Muslim, sharing his wealth with the poorer people in the area.

Wandering deeper into the market, we eventually settled on a couple of brass “Aladdin” lamps and quickly escaped, returning to our bus for the trip to our final hotel for the night.

 With our flight scheduled for 6:30am on Saturday we wasted no time grabbing a quick lunch at the hotel’s Italian restaurant- beer and pizza, settling down for sleep at the ridiculous hour of 7pm.

 A 4:45 am pickup got us to the airport shortly after 5, where we were subjected to a security check by staff who shamelessly asked for a little “baksheesh” to expedite the process. Politely but firmly telling them to “bugger off” our luggage was processed with the same speed as those who had succumbed to their bribery request. 

 Incidentally, security lines in Egypt were often separated into individual Male/ Female lines and all seemed to require a physical pat down after passing through the X rays.

 Is that what Egyptians call foreplay? 

A second security check prior to boarding was also conducted, this time, bribery free

 Our first leg of the trip took us back to Amman, Jordan where we met our connecting flight for the 14 hour trip to Chicago. Arriving there we were shocked to find a customs hall jammed with fellow passengers. With no advantage being offered to transit passengers we endured an almost 2 hour wait before we were finally processed. We were then required to claim our luggage and then recheck it before heading to another terminal for our flight to Toronto.

Customs in Canada was a relative breeze in comparison with processing taking less than 15 minutes.

We finally arrived home slightly after midnight, some 33 hours after the start of our journey in Cairo.

Now, some 20 hours later, the suitcase is unpacked, the sand washed out of my clothing and a small collection of souvenirs is piled on the dining table as I debate where to display or hide them.

My aching joints tell me that at 70 a 2 week slog through the Middle East might have been a bit much.

 I’m slightly less opposed to organized tours than I was when this venture started but travel in that part of the world without a coordinator would have made for a rather rough time. Jordan was clearly the more developed country, albeit with much less to see. I would have preferred a little more time in Cairo to explore but one can only pack so much into an 18 day trip.

 While I have returned to several countries on my travels, I don’t think I would say the same for Jordan and Egypt, although I am glad I went. 

 I had planned on making my next adventure a trip to Eastern Turkey in May and I had already found a suitable company to provide transport and lodgings. However the recent earthquake affected much of the area we had planned to visit so that may be on hold for a year or two.

 As an alternative, I’m looking at a revisit to the Azores with a side trip to Portugal- primarily Lisbon and Porto. An Insight coach tour some 20 years ago provided a very brief glimpse of the two cities, but a very lazy tour guide made the visits less than enjoyable.

 Until then, I guess it’s time to put my blog to sleep for a few months, although I may take the time to expand on some of my previous posts and add a few more photos. Sadly the restrictions on video size prevent me from adding some of the footage I took of scenes such as the Cairo market and the rowing boat vendors selling their wares. Perhaps some skillful editing might fix that.

    Signing off

        DD

          Feb 19th 2023