Siwa

There is NOTHING like the desert.

This was my favorite trip yet…

Siwa is a town located in an oasis in the middle of the Saharan desert (close to Libya).


One of the first things we did in Siwa was rent bikes in town and ride to a local’s home to hear all about the culture of Siwa. It’s very different from Cairo…way way way more traditional. Ex: girls get engaged as early as 7 or 8 years old…and while engaged the male can only see the girl once a year during the engagement for literally maximum 12 seconds.

After he shared with us, the males in our group left and some local girls came so that we could ask them questions and get a taste of what life is like for a female in Siwa. The girls were all family members (cousins, sisters, mother, aunts, etc.) of our local friend so he was able to be present to translate for us.

Interesting:
-The parent-child relationship is extremely different…The daughters don’t really ever talk with their Father, and conversations with their mother are basic, concerning only practical things. Very surface level…nothing deeper.

-We asked a girl (8 yrs old) if she was excited to get married, if she was looking forward to it but the response we got was one of almost confusion. Marriage for them is simply something one does…like going to the market to buy food or cooking etc…there’s not the same emotional attachment to it as in the West.

-We also tried asking what “Love” meant to them, but this question didn’t facilitate much of a response because the girls had nothing to base it off of, nothing to compare…they don’t interact with males at all unless they are a family member.

-Even Siwans love their television (one thing you notice here in Egypt is that EVERYONE has a tv and at least in Cairo it is the norm for a family to have the tv on from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep…all day is spent in front of the tv)

-Sadly the Siwan culture is changing and modernizing because of tourism. There aren’t that many foreigners who visit Siwa compared to many other locations in Egypt, but the Egyptian government has decided (against the will of the community) to build an airport there…this will drastically change the culture and destroy the traditions….

After our time with the Siwan girls I and a few others explored the “Old City” in Siwa and biked to the Oracle and some Hot Springs. We somehow missed the Temple tho and ended up biking out into the desert for quite a while before realizing we were definitely not headed in the right direction (fun detour tho!).
Then that night we biked to a nearby salt lake to swim, rode back in the pitch black night, and went back to our “hotel” for dinner around the campfire accompanied by a local Siwan band.




Friday.
I and another girl in my group stumbled into the shop of the only Christian in Siwa. He invited us through a side door that led into his “home” and served us tea while we sat and chatted (via his 11 yr. old boy who spoke minimal English). He told us that there’s no church in Siwa so the only time they are able to go is during summer when they drive a few hours to the closest town that has one. We had a cool conversation even though we were only using basic language.

Later.



We took jeeps into the desert.
If only I could adequately describe the majesty of the desert…



Sped through the sand in the jeeps, up and down the dunes, weaving crazily right to left.
Illhamdulilah there were no crashes.
Drove to a giant dune and sandboarded (not as cool as expected…the boards didn’t work too well—and also more painful than expected)
We also drove to a cold spring (how the heck it stays as cold as it was out in the middle of the desert, no one knows) a hot spring and then stopped on top of a giant dune for the sunset. The drivers then made a little fire in the sand and we sat around drinking tea and eating dates (which Siwa has A LOT of).

That night we slept in the desert in giant tents (or some slept under the stars) and I froze to death even with all my layers. I brought my smartwool long underwear tops and bottoms that I use for skiing, smartwool socks, sweatpants, a fleece, another fleece on top of that, hat, and gloves. Even with all the layers, it was one of the most miserable nights of my life. Haha. I was SO thankful for morning.

More updates to come...hopefully I can get caught up.