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9 March, Thursday Aqaba to Egypt

3/12/2011

1 Comment

 
We submit our applications for visas at the Egyptian Embassy; drive back to town to take pictures and on our return are called into a big boss office who wants more information about our trip. Willie’s and my passport show that we’ve traveled to several Middle Eastern countries in the past and he had questions about that and our itinerary for the next few months. Hugo asks him about the unrest situation; he shrugs his shoulders and says not to worry about anything.

Willie buys our tickets for the ferry and we spend the rest of the day at the camp. We arrive at the ferry station at 10pm and go through all the procedures to exit Jordan and enter Egypt. Thanks to Willie’s hard work, many hours spent in researching all the hoops to jump through, our Egypt entry goes very smoothly. The only hurdle left is to register our car once we arrive in Egypt. We stand in a long, pressed together line on the ferry to have our passports checked.

It is after 12, the ferry has not left yet and we are very tired. The lounge is chock full of Arab men, many sleeping, and we wander out on the deck trying to find a place where we can sit or lie down when a young man asks us if he can help. Willie asks him where we can sit and he leads us to big, empty lounge with comfortable lean-back chairs. The only other people are a group of 8 young, yuppie maybe students. I have no idea why they were the only ones in the lounge and why no one else was allowed in there. We are so thankful for this unexpected provision and quickly find a place to curl up and sleep.

Picture
The ferry reaches the harbor at Neveiba, Egypt by 5:30am.We drive to arrivals and an Egyptian official, Ashraf, greets us, asks a few questions and then helps Willie through the process to register the car. We’ve heard and read many nightmare stories about what can be an ordeal and although it took 2+ hours we had no problems at all. How amazing once again and kindness and helpfulness extended to us by a complete stranger.


We leave the port fitted out with Egyptian license plates! What a smooth crossing of a border with an ill-famous reputation.

Picture
Our campsite is in Dahab and we are happy to see the two vehicles of our British friends we met in Syria. An interesting camaraderie develops through shared experiences and interests. It is like meeting old friends again.


1 Comment
Mrs Cecily Wilson
3/14/2011 11:32:56 am

Some lovely photos and really interesting commentary - thank you:-)

Cecily: Robert's Mum and Peter's wife!

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    Author

    Caren

    "There is something about safari life that makes you forget all your sorrows and feel as if you had drunk half a bottle of champagne - bubbling over with heartfelt gratitude for being alive. One only feels really free when one can go in whatever direction one pleases over the plains, to get to the river at sundown and pitch one's camp, with the knowledge that one can fall asleep
    beneath other trees, with another view before one, the next night." -
     Karen Blixen - Out of Africa, Kenya
    'Of course as I am reading this, I know that you DO get your visas and the container DOES get released, but oh the internal struggle we face even though we should trust (as Hugo does) that God has His hands on all things and is constantly taking care of us.'


    From a Friend:
    :) Crazy to think that we are ALL made of blood, bone and water yet we speak in so many tongues that getting along together becomes a massive task within itself.

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