A Bedouin Wedding

Everybody in Egypt has something to sell you, including any hotel you stay at. Some of them are pretty pushy about it, but ours was pretty good and just went through a long explanation of all the tours they offered and let us decide which, if any, we wanted to do. We did the personal driver for the pyramids, which cost us a bit extra but probably was worth the hassle even considering the episode at the stables. Another tour that caught our eye was the 2-day desert safari. We hadn't planned to go to the desert at all - why would you want to? - but when he said "camping under the stars in the desert" we were hooked. This also presented a rare opportunity for this trip - it being a tour, everything was taken care of for us and all we had to do was show up. No research ahead of time. No booking hostels and haggling with taxi drivers. No getting lost. We hadn't even done any research on the area we were set to visit, so we had no idea what to expect. It was such a relief. Unfortunately it only lasted about 30 seconds since I somehow managed to drop our iPod on the sidewalk as we hailed a taxi and didn't realize it until we were in the taxi. We turned around and searched the street but of course it was gone. (In an incredible stroke of luck, whoever found our iPod figured out my email and wants to give it back! How lucky is that?) Thinking our $300+ iPod was gone for good, I was not in a great mood to start the trip. The 5-hour hot, sweaty bus ride out to Bahariya Oasis didn't improve matters. Once we got there it was simply too darn hot to be sour, so we melted into what would be two of the most memorable days of our trip to date. The people that live in the eastern deserts of Egypt are Bedouins, which means they come from the nomadic desert-dwelling ethnic groups. There are many different tribes of Bedouins around the Middle East, some of which are "very bad" (the words of our guide) and some are, as we found out, very good indeed.

It's no mirage - there's an oasis down there!

Two things Bedouins seem to be very proud of - their tea and their bread. The bread must be an acquired taste, but the tea was within our liking from the onset. Every time they offer you some tea, they hand it to you and say "Bedouin tea" with a big smile on their face. It seems to be your standard tea, sometimes with mint in it, and a whole lot of sugar. The first time we sat down for a round and we saw the guy pour the whole jar of sugar into the tea pot, Steph and I looked at each other and smiled approvingly. One of our guides later told us that they have it regular in the morning, minty in the afternoon, and very sweet in the evening. It seemed very sweet to us at every sitting, but we weren't complaining. Our first day we met up with our jovial guide Sami, who brought a friend along to show us around the Oasis and some of the desert area surrounding it. The oasis isn't quite as glamorous or picturesque as you'd see in a cartoon - a few palm trees and a glistening lake - but they do get the jist of it correctly. It's a patch of green in the middle of miles and miles of desolation. First we went up to see the British Mountain, a site of a battle between the Italians and British during WWII. Apparently the British used the mountain as cover, but the the Italians won the battle. While heading from here to a big salt lake, our old Jeep couldn't quite clear a huge rock in the trail and we got stuck. After some digging and pushing, during which time sand got thrown all over Sami from the spinning tire, we eventually were freed.

Steph and I've been through Salt Lake City, and I've heard that the salt flats of Bolivia are spectacular, but it never really interested us much. This salt lake, for whatever reason, turned out to be amazingly beautiful. It didn't hurt that we arrived just at sunset and there were hundreds of white egrets returning to a little island in the middle of the lake where the presumably slept protected from predators. Maybe if we had been there when it was 110 degrees we'd be singing a different tune.

I call this Egret Island

It was about this time that Sami started talking about some wedding that he had to go to and asked us if we wanted to come. Most of the people in Egypt, especially those employed in tourism, speak English well, but with the heavy accent it's often hard to understand exactly what they are saying. All we could figure out was that someone in his family was getting married and he wanted us to come. We went back to the hotel to change, then waited, and waited, and waited to the point that I was sure either Sami had decided not to bring us or we had miscommunicated somewhere and weren't where we were supposed to be. It was after 9pm when Sami came to pick us up, which was the first sign that this wasn't going to be anything like a traditional wedding we are used to. When we showed up in the Bedouin village, all the men were sitting outside on big mats talking, kids were running everywhere, and the women were apparently somewhere secret with the bride. I'm not sure if the kids are just easily excited, or if they had never actually seen a tourist before because they went absolutely nuts! They joined into a tiny mob, clamoring over each other to get near us, shake our hand, and practice the little english they knew - usually "hello" or "what's your name?" It was madness. I felt like Zac Efron. They ushered us into an empty room where we sat on mats on the floor and waited for some food. Only a couple children were allowed in with us, and they spent their time fighting back the other kids that were trying to get in. It was hilarious. All of them loved having their pictures taken and would make funny faces and poses then giggle with delight when we showed it back to them.

All the men outside before the wedding

the kids fighting to get in

Steph with all our new buddies - these were our "bodyguards"

The food they brought was actually pretty good, if not at least interesting. There was plenty of Bedouin bread, of course, plus beans, okra, and some sort of green goo to dip your bread in. They also had small lemons that had been cooked whole with salt or something in the middle. All the Bedouin guys loved them but I wasn't a big fan. The bride's father had killed a cow for the special occasion, so they later brought out a huge bowl of rice and beef. We mostly ate with our hands, but they gave us all spoons for the rice. I'm not sure they would have used anything but their hands if we weren't there.

Our feast - not sure what their aversion to tables is

After dinner some of the kids were smuggled in to the room we were in little by little. Raphaella, an Italian girl that was on the tour with us, started teaching one of them patty cake, which was a big hit. Pretty soon everyone was playing patty cake and having a good time. The kids were great. It was probably around 10:30pm by that time - about time to get this wedding started! Everyone piled into cars and the ruckus began. What ensued was a good 30 minutes of chaos. Once the cars and trucks were loaded up, they raced around town honking the horns with everyone yelling and acting like hooligans. The town was surprisingly big, and we spent at least 15 minutes driving around in our riotous caravan. They stopped about halfway through to toss the bride into a car with the groom (along with about 5 other people). I'm still not quite sure if this was the wedding, because we never saw a ceremony or anything like that. They took the bride and groom to a house, presumably to be alone, and that was the end of it, at least for us. I think everyone else was going somewhere to sing and dance, but Sami drove us back to the hotel dazed and confused but happy with our truly authentic experience. Not every day you get to attend a Bedouin wedding!