Bahariya Oasis and thoughts on this whole messy state of things

Two days later, the bombing has blown over completely. There were none of the security updates I expected. I did get a note from AU Abroad yesterday that said they had checked up on us with AUC. Good to know, I guess. No heightened security, which I'm somewhat thankful for.

I suppose I'm somewhat confused, also. There were a number of reasons for the story to disappear from the headlines. It was a small bombing. Ten times that many people die in Iraq and Afghanistan each day. The Oscars were broadcast the same evening. This struck fairly close to home for me, though. It's easy for me to write a casual blog post saying I haven't died, but what happened on Sunday did scare me, and significantly more than the violence in Kenya last spring. It's frightening how random the attack was. It's frightening that it happened somewhere I've visited multiple times, as recently as last week. It's frightening that the victims were young foreigners. Obviously the situation in Kenya was much more serious, but I feel less safe here, now.

This does not mean I'm remotely interested in coming home. I knew the risks associated with coming here. AU made me sign a waiver acknowledging these risks. My parents did not happily let me come. I very much want to be here, and I think it's important that all my wonderful, loving, concerned friends and family members hear me say that. It's now on the internet, so it must be true.

I'm here because I'm interested in understanding why these things happen. Despite my reputation as a crunchy hippie, I don't think a rousing chorus of "Give Peace A Chance" is any kind of answer. These conflicts are about economics, land, and environment, just like they are in most of the developing world. For me, the most frustrating but fascinating challenge in traveling is the attempt to understand another person's conceptualizations of money, community, and resources. I'd like to figure out how those differences can inspire three Egyptians to plant a couple of bombs in a tourist district.

Massive inequality is a fact of life in this country. I go to school with Egypt's rich and famous. I've never seen as much Prada in my life as I see on that campus every day. They film the Egyptian equivalent of "The O.C." on our campus. Not kidding. They were doing it yesterday. On the drive through New Cairo on the way to campus, the bus passes miles of new developments made up of massive luxury homes. On the ride to school we see all of the low-wage laborers piled into buses and trucks on their way to the construction sites, where they build these big ugly houses and water the desert until grass comes up. On the ride home after class, we see the laborers piling back into buses and trucks to go home to the slums of Cairo.

Statistics. Bear with me, because they're interesting. Egypt's GNP per capita is around $4000. My economics professor asked our class what percentage of Egyptians we thought live on less than $10 per day (=$3650 per year). My Egyptian classmates ventured guesses of 40%, 60%, and 70%. I apparently go to school with people living in bubbles. 97.5% of Egyptians live on less than $10 per day, and are thus below the average income. We don't even need to talk about people living on $1 or $2 per day. This is why people try to blow up tourists.

Mind-boggling. It's hard not to hate AUC students sometimes. I'll talk about that another day. And yes, for those who are wondering, I am currently at a low point on the culture shock progression.

On a much lighter note, for anyone who has persevered and made it this far: Bahariya Oasis! A four hour drive southwest of Cairo in the Black Desert (so called for the limestone that turns black when it oxidizes), and quite nice. View from the bus. For three hours.

The tombs and temples there range from 700 BCE to 600 CE or so. Spankin' new as Egyptian stuff goes. I sneakily took some photos inside the tombs where photos aren't allowed. No flash, no harm done. They aren't as nice as the tombs in the Nile Valley, since these were built in very rural areas.

Oases are not as cool as movies suggest. They're depressions in the desert where water is able to bubble through the (thinner) limestone to the surface, so people could use the water for farming and... living. But for the most part, oases are still desert. This is a green part of the oasis where they grow date palms.

So they can harvest these delicious things. Dania, I thought of you! Dates wrapped around almonds are Bahariya's specialty.

Geography lesson! Outside the Nile Valley is desert. Very very dry desert. It's not particularly sandy, except in fields of sand dunes (which are rare). Mostly it's just limestone rock with a bit of sand. Here are some lovely dunes though.

More light-hearted blog next time, maybe. There are a lot of good things to say about this place, too. I promise.