Day 2 - The Pyramids are in Cairo, not Khartoum, Right?

The wake-up call came at 9am. There was breakfast waiting for us on the first floor. I had been asleep for maybe two hours, and two very off-and-on hours of sleep at that. I was borrowing a backpack (a big backpacking backpack) from a friend, so I was able to fit everything in there and only have one bag with me while in Egypt. That meant that I just had a couple books, my iPod, my phone, and a deck of cards with me (I like cargo shorts). When I was back in Entebbe – which seems like forever ago – I figured it was just seven hours of traveling, so I was fine without a carry-on. It also meant that I only had shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops. This was fine because of the heat, but I think a bit disrespectful to the surrounding Muslim culture to show my legs. I was literally the only person not wearing pants or an ankle-length dress of the entire group!

After a quick sink-shower, I went down to breakfast. After four cups of coffee and some food, I was feeling alright. Though an interesting conversation about how what’s going on in Darfur is not genocide, and that 50 African countries say so, got me down a bit. But that’s a conversation for another time. Over the past ten hours, we had never received any real message directly from the airline as to what was actually going on, so now, of course, people wanted some real answers. Over the course of the next couple hours, we discovered that the mysterious spare part needed to fix the plane was coming via overland travel, and I have absolutely no idea how long it takes to drive from Addis Ababa to Khartoum, but I’m guessing it’s not a quick drive. We were told to be ready to leave the hotel at 1:30pm to go back to the airport. Luckily, there was football on (I mean soccer … oh man, if there was American football on I would have been so much happier), and I had a book, so I was just fine waiting. And earlier we had heard rumors that we wouldn’t be able to fly out until the next morning, so waiting a few extra hours but leaving today became a much better option. It’s all about what lens you look through, right? Anyways, I prefer a cup that’s half-full – it makes life more enjoyable. So we waited.

At 1pm, we loaded into the buses to go back to the airport, which really means we didn’t leave the hotel until almost 2. Then, our bus driver got lost on the way to the airport. (Again, really? It’s a ten-minute drive to one of the busiest places in your city, and you get lost?) Aside from the little detour, it was interesting to see the Sudanese city. I liken it to Cancun – not the touristy strip – but the actual city of Cancun. The streets are decent though dirty, lined with dilapidated buildings, some that look like construction began and simply never finished. But there are occasional nice-looking buildings mixed in there, too.

If you’ve ever wondered how cattle feel when they’re herded around aimlessly, I can tell you now. Aside from the foreboding feeling of imminent death, I think I could pretty well tell you what goes on inside a cow’s mind. After all the “herding” we’d endured so far, the optimistic news that the plane was fixed gave me some hopeful thoughts. But oh, was I wrong! We entered the airport and went to find our passports, but the man from a few hours before couldn’t be found. Eventually, we tracked him down and got our passports back. We bypassed immigration – which was a bummer, because now I have no proof that I was actually in Sudan for a night. We went through security, arriving at our gate expecting to leave fairly soon. Instead, we ended up waiting in the airport for another three hours before things finally got figured out (I say “figured out” very loosely here). The airline thought the plane was fixed, but they had to wait for Sudanese authorities to approve it, and waiting on the Sudanese government just isn’t something you want to do very often. So eventually an engineer came and checked the plane. Whatever was actually wrong with it, we never found out.

But there was now another complication. Assuming our flight made it to Cairo the night before, it was supposed to be back in Khartoum in the morning to fly people to Addis. So we met people that had been at the airport since 4am, and they were somehow supposed to get to Addis using our plane that we needed to get to Cairo. So what’s the quick and easy fix? Combine the flights. Or take us to Cairo first, and come back to pick up the other group. But again, this challenge proved very difficult for Ethiopian Airlines and the Sudanese airport staff, so the delay was extended even more. Eventually, they figured there were enough seats for everyone, so we all got onto the plane. I do feel bad for the passengers that had to fly to Cairo and then back to Addis, but at this point – 6pm is when we finally took off – I was ready to get to Cairo. I had already lost a full day of my vacation, I had only slept for two hours since the previous morning, and I hadn’t eaten anything since nine in the morning.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was still smiling. At this point, it was more comical and ridiculous than anything else. The situation was completely out of my control, so either I could get upset, or just go with the flow and be amused by the inept decision-making by the airlines. And you can’t not laugh at a bald, fat Arab man yelling in Arabic at the top of his lungs to any staff that would listen, but to no avail. So anyways, 24 hours after leaving Uganda, I was FINALLY going to Egypt!

The flight landed around 8:30pm at an airport the likes of which I had not seen in a long time. There was McDonald’s, Starbucks, Cinnabon, etc. Of course at this point, I had no desire to be at an airport any longer than I had to, so maybe I’d indulge in some North American airport food on my way back. I walked around for a bit, found a taxi driver who would give me a reasonable price to downtown, and I was off. After some busy traffic and crazy driving, I found myself in the heart of downtown Cairo at our cheap, but decent, hotel. Luckily, Sean and Jamie were there and just about to head out, so it was much easier to find them than I had anticipated! After I dropped off my stuff, we went out to a local place close to the hotel filled with Egyptian people that served some delicious shawarma and falafel.

It was midnight by the time I finally fell asleep, and I was exhausted. Obviously, everything hadn’t gone to plan – in fact, almost nothing had. But I was in Cairo, safe, healthy, and all together in one piece. I was ready to start my vacation!