Day 61

Thursday March 20th,

Leaving Egypt was not a problem at all. The bus let us off at the Taba bus stop which was about a 10 minute walk from the Israel border. It was about 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning. Since we were not sure about how crowded the bus would be on the way back we decided to play it safe rather than sorry and buy the return bus tickets as soon we got there. Only one other group of travelers did this. Some didn't do it because they weren't sure when they coming back and we don't know why others didn't do it. We felt like were either really ahead of the game or missing a rather important piece of information. Anyways, we walked to the Egyptian border filled out the paper-work and were good to go. We had to pass through some metal detectors but in Egypt these mean nothing if we are foreign looking. I have stopped even emptying my pockets of medal to try and not set off the alarm. So our exit visas were stamped and we left the country for the nominal fee of two pounds. It pays to the have the visa.

The security situation on the other side of the border was a completely different story. Luckily we had heard all of stories about the super-secure nature of Israeli society and were ready for the change of pace. First of all, being foreign was not a free pass. They stopped us and made us go through the same metal detectors as everybody else. Second, if you weren't white, you were singled out. Luckily, since it was so early in the morning the only people passing through were students. So a lot of the Arab, or Black or Brown kids got the benefit of being associated with the white students. However, they were still given more questioning and eventually ended up taking much longer to get through the security. The group ahead of me, had one kid an American who was born in Africa who had a very Muslim name. He was pulled aside early on. The one Muslim who was traveling with us, who is one of the most innocent sounding and looking girls I have ever seen got held for 3 hours at the border. They asked her questions about everything from her parents to her religion. Apparently they were running back-ground checks while they kept her waiting. The other story is that they just wanted to mess with her. Us white folk got through in about 15 minutes. Luckily the border station is right on the Red Sea and waiting around there wasn't the worst thing in the world, at least for us.
While were waiting for our friend to get through, Ryan and I went exploring outside of the border gate. We actually went looking for Megan, but couldn't find her. We did find a rather large recycling bin though, which through us both for a loop. Not being able to find Megan was bit disconcerting, and goes to show the necessity of having designated meeting zones and following the three most important rules of of wilderness travel. We did eventually find her, exactly where she said she was going to be, but still not in plain view. Anyways, we loaded up into a white Mercedes mini-bus and for 50 shekkals were on our way to the Jordanian Border. During this time we dared not speak in any Arabic, because although it is an official language we didn't want to say anything that might set the security state on us. And a security state it is. Rather than the black wool clothed, AK-47 wielding, sitting down, tattered Egyptian security, many of the Israeli security forces wore casual clothes including Crocs, khaki's and polo shirts. However, there was one striking different, these guys also held black and yellow M-16's, and stood with the gun around their shoulders, finger running along side the edge of the trigger box. These guys looked serious.

We didn't stop in Israel on our first trip. We just saw the development from the windows of the car and it looked amazing. However, when we did get to Jordan we were quite able to be able to speak arabic again. However, their arabic is much more similar to Fusha, which made my day. The other problem is that there is only one taxi company at the border and he charged us 15 dinars to the hostel. Since the dollar is so weak, it converts from about 1.3 dollars to 1 dinar, the trip turned out to be quite expensive.

We did get to see the world's tallest flagpole in Akaba. It was really huge and I was really excited to finally see it. I wasn't so excited about out living conditions in the hostel there. Basically there were none. We lived in a hut, with bamboo walls that didn't keep out the sun or the bugs. We didn't have a flap on the door and the showers were in the same room as the toilets. This was kind of gross and it meant you couldn't have any toilet paper in the bathroom lest it get soaked too. This was a crazy experience.

So we checked in and stayed down on the beach of the Red Sea until the second group of our friends showed up. We then went to get some food and finally finished unpacking.

Okay, I am really tired right now, and before the sentences stop making sense I am going to get the bed.