Siwa

At the end of November we took a short trip to Siwa, an oasis 30 miles from the border of Libya. It was like traveling into a different, ancient world. The people speak a different language and are self-sufficient. They don’t need anything imported and take care of everything on their own.

Interesting story – when people first began to use plastic bottles and bags in Siwa, they didn’t know what to do with them since everything they had before this was natural and reusable. However, after someone explained that you have to dispose of plastic bottles properly, they got it under control. In fact, it is much cleaner than most of the other places we’ve been in Egypt.

They have ancient fortresses built out of the rock as well as natural springs, both hot and cold.

We left right after school which meant that we arrived at something like 1:30 in the morning. Because it was cold and we were camping in small huts made of palm, we changed and went straight into the hot springs before we went to bed.

The next morning we took a walk to the salt sea and later a tour of the sights in the back of a tuk tuk. The food they cooked for us was also incredible. It was a feast of chicken roasted underground along with rice, bread and the usual Egyptian sides (babaganoug, tahini, molokhia).