Friday, January 20, 2006
Luxor
Pic yoinked from Catherine Corne's (a fellow rider) blog - This is the start line one fine morning in the desert.
http://catavelo.monblogue.com/
Up until yesterday, the trip could be broken down into two sections, riding and camping. The riding is long, sometimes bloody long (2 days ago began with a 40km climb and then 100km over sandstone plateaus) especially just getting used to it, but also great exercise, good fun, and good comeraderie if you opt to slow down and talk to another rider. The scenery goes from fascinating to sandy. Mostly sandy so far. The camping has been best described by fellow rider deb in a concise spontaneous sentence that bewildered me with the amount of truth and insight it contained. She said "If I wasn't so hungry I'd be asleep". We have been eating 'bread' and 'cheese' with boiled eggs for breakfast and the same with 'salami' and fruit for lunch. Dinner is a feeding frenzy for 50 similar to an aquarium of piranhas, prepared like only our Egyptian travel crew (because they won't let the desired crew into Egypt) can. To my amazement, today in Luxor I discovered that there actually is more food in Egypt than the five things we've been eating and will bring this to the attention of the cooks if I can find a translator. I have been probably averaging 10 or 11 hours of sleep a night and could use more. The entire camp is out like a light immediately after dinner from exhaustion, but it still amazes me what our bodies have dealt with.
We had our first rest day in Luxor. Luxor is a filthy and sandy combination of ancient history, markets, tourists, hagglers, militia, and pollution. You cannot walk down a sidewalk for 10 feet without running into rubble from a torn down wall that looks 50 years old and was never cleaned up, a tree that the sidewalk was built around but you can not get around staying on the sidewalk, or a table trying to sell you the same thing you've seen the whole way there (statuettes, scarves, papyrus). The city was clearly designed by the same people who thought of giving the sixteen year olds on every street corner machine guns. You have to swat away merchants and keep your eyes open for vehicles or animals or combinations of the two. The honking is endless and the language is loud and aggressive. The redeeming quality of the city, however, is an important one. They have ice cream. I don't normally eat ice cream but I haven't had milk since leaving and have eaten mostly desert mush or stale bread for a week while averaging 130km/day so a little food selection was almost a euphoric experience.
People are starting to feel the effects of the pace, foreign environment, and lifestyle. Travelers illnesses (use your imagination) and cycling-related issues (again...) are not uncommon. I have been quite healthy but found myself in a headached stupor with aching muscles and shivering one evening and morning - a couple friends helped me pack and John the nurse gave me a couple ibuprofin if needed and I made it through just fine. I think this will be a common theme of the trip and I feel completely safe with the people and support staff we have here, caring, smart, effective, and competent.
I began on a few negative notes to communicate that it is not sunshine and lollipops biking in Egypt. I have asked myself more than once on the road at the 90km mark with 50km to go or in my tent at night having to get out to relieve myself for the 4th time (we drink a lot of water to not die): What I am doing here, what possible reason is there to do this? After a rest day I have a couple answers: We learn through experience, the more you experience, the more you learn. I don't know what I can do and I won't unless I try.
