The Sands of Time

I have been very, very bad. My last post was over a month ago. I'm sorry. 

The story I am going to tell you is a few weeks old. But it is worth telling. I went with 8 other girls from my program on a wild excursion into the Western desert. Over the course of two days and one night we saw landscapes we had only dreamed of. We walked across earth that used to be submerged under a giant ocean and climbed rocks that used to be  a coral reef providing life support to our earliest ancestors. We journeyed through mountainous valleys that looked as though they had been plucked straight from J.R.R. Tolkien's mind. We watched the source of all life on earth set below a jagged horizon and watched the ascension of our natural satellite into the sky. We courted a desert fox in and out of the shadows. We ate, drank, and were merry. This is the tale of our visit to the White and Black deserts of Egypt.

We departed the concrete jungle of Cairo at the crack of dawn, navigating our way through dense fog in a bus that might very well have been made of cardboard. The ride was bumpy, there was zero visibility, and we were exhausted. Once we transferred to our four wheel drive jeeps and saw our first glimpse of the sprawling desert however, we perked right up. First stop, a majestic sand dune. 

Although paling in comparison to the massive stretch of sand dunes in the desert of Siwa, the next stop was something new entirely. A huge black mountain rising out of the sand came into view and our tour guide informed us that it used to be a giant underwater volcano, the remains of which are now covered in black basalt rock. Hence the name, the black desert. We immediately drew comparisons to Mordor and assigned LOTR characters among our group. I was Aragorn. BAMF.

Our driver was named Romario, in honor of Mario Kart. We maneuvered around sharp rock outcroppings, over curving dunes, and under towering cliffs, bouncing like Mexican jumping beans in the back seat. Screaming and giggling, we yelled Bisura! Bisura! (Faster! Faster!) and Romario obliged, honoring his namesake. 

It is easy to see where the White Desert got its name. Huge chalk outcroppings rise from the ground, whipped and manipulated by the unrelenting wind into strange forms. Set against the blue sky and golden sand, we found familiar shapes in them like you would cumulus clouds on a lazy summer day.

The Chicken and the Mushroom

Bunny

The desert is a place where time and space lose meaning. The vastness and the antiquity of the landscape is too much to comprehend, too much for the small, young human mind to grasp. You know that the spot your feet are touching was once the same spot that the first micro-organisms swam. You know that when taken in the grand scheme of things, you are no bigger than one of the trillions of grains of sand you stand upon. The sun sets, the moon rises, the sun rises, the moon sets; it is a pattern that this desert has seen more times than every human on this earth combined. Each new phase of light reveals new things about the terrain, a new view of the same land. 

At night, away from the scorch and burn of the sun, the desert comes alive. Critters come out of their hiding spots beneath the sand and playful foxes get curious. Our campsite drew the particular attention of one, who we named Shadow Fox because he navigated the night like a pro. Our guides gave him a little cup of water and he stayed to listen to the Bedouin music they sang. As the night grew colder and darker, the heat and light from our small fire grew more inviting and we gathered around to drink tea and watch our dinner roasting.  

This is still technically a food blog, so I feel it is only fitting to tell you about our dinner, which was truly one of the best meals I have had in Egypt. And it was all prepared in the middle of the desert, over a fire and some small camping stoves. Perfectly cooked rice was served next to a warm vegetable stew of potatoes, carrots, zucchini, and onions. Simmered in a hearty tomato sauce, the vegetables were tender without being mushy and seasoned beautifully. 

On top of this delectable plate of rice and veggies, succulent fire-grilled chicken with crispy skin and juicy white meat.  

It was so simple, but so so delicious. 

Winter has come to Alexandria, bringing with it cold weather and wild storms. Hail has been beating against our window on and off for the past 24 hours, the wind is rattling the walls and whistling through the cracks in them, and the rain is pounding the once parched earth. The sea ports have been closed all over Egypt, as the waves continue to crash into the shore. Click here to see a video of the Corniche in Alexandria yesterday. That is what we returned to after a week long cruise down the Nile in southern Egypt, a trip which I am to repeat with my family in less than a week. My fall semester ends in 4 days and my two month break begins. What exactly I will be doing is still up in the air and therefore, so is the future of this blog for the next two months. I will do my best to continue posting, but I cannot guarantee consistent posting until mid-February. At that point I will be returning to school, this time in Cairo, and I will make a very concerted effort to keep this blog updated. Until then, I can only promise to post when I have the chance. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and, if I'm not back before then, a very Happy New Year!