on to Egypt this week

So, I spent a long time at the travel agency with Yusef, and my plans are made. I'm off to Egypt on Friday, where I'll stay in some nice hotel and spend the days on excursions to historical sites. The airfare and everything is included for about what I feared airfare alone would be, so it's a pretty good deal - which is good because I got pillaged at the money exchanger (it was over my daily ATM limit, so needed to change some traveler's cheques too). My concern, which Yusef kept saying was not necessary, is that I'll get there and EVERYBODY will not speak any English and I'll be bumped around from place to place not having a clue. But, since it's all like 1/3 the cost of English-speaking tours I found on-line, as long as they're bumping me along and not abandoning me to my non-Arabic speaking wiles, I'll be ok.

I'll be in Egypt from this Friday to the next Friday, then back to Jordan for about five days (this was the soonest open flight onward, plus it gives me a chance to take trips from Amman to the Dead Sea and Petra) then on to Madras/Chennai (India). Yusef says he can change those reservations from India as well, which will be a nice trick since I was told I could only change things at Indian student travel agencies for large fees. I might very well try to have that all changed here and see if it works.

So, I'll spend some time now wandering around - my first day on my own. I was just at the hotel to drink some tea and get some advice, and the phone rang. I thought, "Why is Ahmed speaking English?" And when he gestured to me I thought, "Why is Mahmoud calling now and speaking English?" But, it was Dayton, which was very nice. And very serendipitous that I was even there -I've never been there in the middle of the day before.

Prices are cheap here for some things - like felafel. But for others, they're sky-high. I'm spending like $1.50 per hour here on the internet (and with my travel changes, I'm needing to do this more now), and just mailed postcards for like $1 each! That's crazy! Calling Africa is like $2.50 a minute. I just checked at the post office (nobody speaks English there, dammit) about mailing a box home and it's like $12 per kilo! ($6 a pound). That might still be worth it for my Thermarest and travel book and water filter and leather winter jacket, but I'm starting to wonder. Sigh. Mahmoud's niece and nephew are going to get a very interesting care package of all the items I leave behind - hairbrush, soap, Gatorade powder, suitcase, Thomas Hardy and Graham Greene novels, etc. etc. etc. Well, at least now I know that I must dispose of all these things before Friday - plans have been laid and I soon hit the road again.