11-26 (Monday)

We had three wake up calls this morning and a knock on the door. They must have thought we were really hard to get out of bed. We left on a bus at 7:00 for Siwa Oasis.

After we left the last town the scenery was mostly desert with a few camels here and there. It was an 8 hour ride to this remote oasis near the Libyan border.

We had a security guard on our bus wearing a suit and packing heat. When the wind blew his jacket open we could see the large automatic gun he was carrying. Behind the bus was a pickup truck full of security men. I don't know what all the security was about. I know they used to do that after all the tourist were killed at Luxor (or where ever) but that was years ago. The guy with the gun has been with us the whole time and so have the men from the truck. Apparently they have an agreement with the US to "protect" tourists. What ever! There is no way they can keep up with all of us as we all take off in different directions.

We have really enjoyed being in Siwa. It is very remote and not many tourists come here. They roads are all dirt and people ride around on donkey carts. It is like stepping back in time. They best thing is that they don't hassle you to buy their wares. It would have been nice to have spent more time here but we're leaving tomorrow morning for Alexanderia.

This afternoon we did a jeep safari out into the desert. It was so much fun. You wouldn't believe how we went straight down sand dunes that were so steep that I was sure we'd turn end over end. The drivers built a fire just before sunset and served mint tea. What a feeling to be out in the desert and not see another thing.