An Egyptian Fourth of July

I love the 4th of July. It's a perfect holiday--a sense of unity that goes beyond race, class, gender, and religion; fireworks, good Midwestern corn, blueberries and strawberries (good thing we picked delicious colors for the flag!), and laying down on blankets late at night, staring up at the sky as we watch the fireworks, feeling that sense of smallness and awe. 

Now, there's simply no replicating that outside of the United States. But with or without a national holiday to celebrate, it was the weekend, and my roommates and I were feeling very proud of our first week in Egypt. Proud, and ready to rest! It was the 4th of July and our first day off, and we were going to celebrate.

We found out that a few other Americans (whom we had met through out hostel, but didn't know well) were planning to rent a van to go to the Red Sea for the day. I was pumped! All my ventures to the Red Sea before had involved 13 hour bus rides across the Sinai...I thought that was the only way to get to a beach from here. It turns out that to get to the very closest NW corner of the Gulf of Suez takes only 2 hours from Cairo. Perfect.

We left at 8am, under the careful watch of our jovial driver Farek (who has become our 'Egyptian Baba'), and picked up the other 6 Americans. They're all undergrads from Ivy league schools here to teach English for 2 months. 

We drove past the Cairo city limits and entered into the Saharan desert...stretches of mean, jagged sandstone bluffs and barren sand as far as you can see. Happily, we were taking this all in from the comforts of an air-conditioned deluxe van with cushioned seats. If you were wondering if it would ever be fun to get lost in a desert, though, let me assure you: not fun at all.

Finally, we see a stretch of blue along the horizon, and pull into a beach comprised of 1 restaurant, 2 small convenience stores, and a wire fence marking off the public beach area. We all chip in $3 to rent this palmbranch canopy to protect us from the unrelenting sun. We are the only foreigners there. This being the weekend, the small beach is bustling with Egyptian families: veiled and unveiled women with their children, elderly parents fanning themselves in the shade, young men showing off to their friends, fathers playing in the water with their families. 

Having been to an Egyptian beach, before, we knew to expect two things: modesty and crowds. Unless you're in one of two resorts that are on the Sinai Peninsula, that's a given. Unfortunately, no one had clued our American friends into that fact before hand--they were picturing stretching out on a wide, quiet beach in their bikinis. Whoops. Understandably disappointed from the difference between their expectations in reality, they remained total sourpusses the whole day. Refusing to let my glorious beach day and 4th of July to be dampened by their grouchiness, K. and I went waded past the 12 year old boys ("What's your name? Where you from?" in incessent choruses) to swim out in the perfectly clear, warm, salty sea. The Red Sea is the Carribbean, only with yellow sand.  

Pictures will come soon, but the whole scene just warmed our hearts to a place of perfect contentment. The sky was pure blue and wide open. The water was warm. Turning in the water to face the beach, you saw the craggy sandstone desert cliffs towering right over the sand--here we were luxuriating in perfect comfort, but with the largest desert in the world encroaching right upon us. Women wearing face veils ("nikab", the Egyptian equiveleant of the Burka) or brightly covered head scarves were splashing each other in the water and riding paddleboats with their children in their arms. On the beach there were Muslims and Christians, Arabs and foreigners, conservatives and liberals, all varities of dress--and everyone was enjoying it together.

After we had enjoyed enough swimming, we returned to doze off under the cool shade of the palm branches. Naps on the beach are the best.... 15 minutes is enough to die to the world completely and come back in complete contentment, when your body is too happy to even be able to move. We laid there completely limp and happy as clams.

Our tranquility was disrupted by an MC setting up enormous speakers on the beach and blasting Arab dance music. We sat up to see that the men had formed a big dance circle and were doing a belly dance dance-off with each other. They kept at it for a good hour, at least, until the Call to Prayer (Friday, the big weekly service). Words simply cannot capture a beach full of bellydancing men. awesome. 

We came back to Cairo and got huge hamburgers with bbq sauce from Spectra, a nice-ish restaurant we used to go to when we were students here. With bellies full of french fries and fried beef, we went to sleep for the last time in our hostel. A happy Egyptian 4th of July, indeed.

Today we're packing up from the hostel and getting ready to move in with a host family on the south end of the city. 

Until then, take care!