Day 2 in BFE

Who said we didn't get to see the pyramids?

But this is a “smart phone”

Saturday morning dawned and Voila! – Internet and cell service were up – for part of the day, that is.

So even though my fabulous Droid “Global” phone wasn’t so fabulous out of the country because Verizon doesn’t have agreements with the strong networks over here, we were able to get e-mail messages out to loved ones from the hotel business center, which was just the beginning of much unexpected Cha-Ching.

After a fabulous buffet breakfast and some perfect opportunities to rehearse for when I’m a little old lady stealing Sweet-n-lows, we ventured out the hotel entrance for a quick look-see to observe the tank and heavy equipment lorries that had been stationed across the street and next to the Pyramids, which were now officially closed. How do you close a pyramid, you might ask? It was a moot point because our hotel security weren’t letting anyone out, period. Police were nowhere in evidence. The sounds were of heavy equipment on the move and occasional gunfire, but no sirens at all.  Reports of damage done to the Egyptian museum artifacts were contradicted by tales of young Egyptians linking arms under the tanks that were guarding the museum to protect the priceless items that are their most important legacy.

The criteria we heard about by word-of-mouth were that no flights were taking off after curfew. Attempts to get through to Egypt Air by phone or internet were unsuccessful. We were able to contact the American embassy, who was routing calls to consular officers at their homes, since the embassy was already on lock-down. Their wisdom was to wait and call back on Monday, the day of our scheduled flight out at 18:55, to see if the curfew had been lifted.  OK, we still had a few beers left. We could do that.

I had almost forgotten that I now had cell service, but luckily Jim Walker called from his home in England because he hadn’t heard back from us. He was the perfect accidental travel agent, trying to find the best route out for us- also unable to get to Egypt Air to even see if our flight was still scheduled and having to navigate the price gougers (thanks, Royal Air Maroc).  

The hotel staff had to stay over at work because of the curfew. All 3 of the restaurants there and the poolside bar and grill were still open.  Front desk staff was showing signs of stress, but were still able to smile. They handled all of us whiny babies and drama queens with charm and tact.

Curfew was still 18:00 on Saturday, and we went to dinner at the hotel’s Tex-Mex (yes, imagine it!) restaurant with our new friends John and Chris from Wales and met Bryan and Joy from Boston, in the UK.

We were asked to sit in the back of the dining room, away from the windows. The whole thing felt a bit like a hurricane party, but it was going on for days.

Later that night, John and Chris (seated nearest the camera) witnessed a shooting from their window. A man in military uniform shot one warning shot in the air and then aimed the next shot at someone who was out of their view. Presumably it was a looter, but we never knew. It was reported as fact that Mubarek had pulled a Sadam trick and emptied out his prisons, provided the “escapees” with weapons and told them to go and loot. This was in order to prove that chaos would ensue without him as head of the government. Looters were picked up with ID’s saying they were the feared and dreaded plainclothes police, also.