Greetings and peace to you, all!
So, we after our little (and wonderful!) jaunt to Luxor, we take the sleeper train back to Cairo that Sunday evening (left at 11pm; arrived in Giza at 8am or so). Not a lot to tell about next few days in Giza/Cairo, except maybe about the "lost passport", which WAS it's own little advencha:
Dear Alaa met us at the condo in Giza as soon as we got back and he, dear daughter, and I went straight to the US Embassy in Cairo. Thank goodness for that sleeper train because we had just arrived back! We get there... and there are 2 long lines (of course!). Thankfully, the lines were for Egyptian citizens seeking US visas. WE were needing a temporary passport so that daughter could get on flight back to US. At first, the "guard", a small, thin Egyptian "enforcer" of some kind... blew us off. We could tell right away it was a little "power tripping." Thankfully, Alaa was with us and spoke to the man in Egyptian/Arabic, which caused him to yield some. He eventually let daughter go in... but insisted she do so alone (although, the Embassy site says a person may take one other person with them!). We didn't want him to change his mind, though, so she went in and we waited outside.
And waited... and waited... and waited. In fact, we had breakfast... and lunch... and it was actually close to dinner when she came out. All was not done - she would need to come back the next day because THIS day... she had to go to the local police station and file a report on her lost passport. SO... we trucked (as in walked) about 20 blocks to the Cairo police station... which was a very interesting place. For one, you would not be able to tell it was a police station save for the "uniformed" men hanging all about. Otherwise, it looked much like an old Victorian building that had been repurposed.
At first, we were ignored. Not because we were Americans (Alaa is Egyptian, although he lives in the US... and daughter was often mistaken for an Egyptian... and I look like I could come from any number of countries in the Northern African region); no, they just ignored everyone. Didn't matter "who" or "what" you were... or why you were there. Well, dear Alaa wasn't having it - LOLOL! He went away and "spoke" to someone (think, here, about what "talks" and you get the picture), and we received a "audience" with one of the higher up officers who, after "interviewing" daughter, sent us to the "highest up." That one wrote out a paper indicating the report of a lost passport, gave it to us, and we were on our way.
As I said, it was around dinner time, now, and since dear Alaa had been with us ALL day, we took him out for a nice dinner. (I need to say here that while he did appreciate the gesture, he was a little taken aback because he felt he could have taken us to a better - eye-ee "authentic Egyptian" - place to eat and for much less. He was probably right, but EVERYONE... except dear Hubby and I... had experienced some kind of stomach problems by that time and I just wasn't risking it. I had eaten very little from day one and now I was RAVENOUS. I wanted to EAT, so I opted for a restaurant in one of the hotels we passed. I did take the family back a load of FABULOUS sandwiches and dessert pastries from a REALLY great french patisserie, though, so they all ate "well", too - LOLOL!)
First thing the next morning, dear daughter, dear SON, and I Uber it back to the Embassy (without dear Alaa, as he was leaving to return to the States later in the day). This time, they let me in - not with daughter but later when I said I need to use the restroom. The Egyptian ladies at the check-in counter were NOT happy about letting me in, but the skinny guard said something "sharp" to them and they (kinda) sucked it up. Kinda... but not really - LOLOL! I have to say, this was really the only place where we DIDN'T "feel the love" - LOLOL!
Anyway, I get down to where daughter is and guess what? Nope, she wasn't just able to hand in the police report, get her temporary passport, and go. Oh, no. No, no, no. Noooooo, she had to START ALL OVER. From STEP ONE! I am
not kidding you - I almost couldn't believe it. I was like, wait, isn't this the
US Embassy??!! What sense does it make to make people start from SCRATCH when you have all of their "stuff" from the day before? But I had to swallow that Americans are not "special" everywhere and in fact some places they go out of their way to make sure "we" know that. The US Embassy in Cairo is one of those places - LOLOL! Again, though, the ONLY place where we didn't "feel the love" - everywhere and everyone else truly tried to accommodate us no matter the issue. Well, except may also the Egyptian Immigration Service, which I will get to in a moment - LOLOL!
And so daughter starts over but this time she got what she needed in a few hours. Almost got what she needed. See, she was issued a temporary passport, yay. BUT... a passport, temporary or permanent... with out an ENTRY VISA... means absolutely NOTHING - LOLOL! See, you can't get OUT of a country, unless and until you can show that you got IN... LEGALLY. Which is the purpose of an "entry" visa (of course! Doh!). But the US Embassy can't issue visas for entry into Egypt - only the Egyptian authorities can do that. And they did... when we arrived at the airport: all of our passports received one of these BEAUTIFUL visa stamps (usually, they're just plain ol' black lettering, sometimes in a oval, sometimes in a square/rectangle - these were stunning!):
So, although it's pretty early in the day (around 10am), we now have to go to the Egyptian Immigration Service. And let me tell you dear one... that is a MADHOUSE. BUT... for all of it's madness, I would not trade the experience for ANYTHING! We get there... and not only are there wall to wall people (of practically every African/Mediterranean/Middle Eastern/Egyptian ilk... but on every floor! And... there are NO LINES (well, kind of - I'll get to that in a sec). And... you are run around from here to there, from this person to that person, this floor to that floor... and on and on and on! NO one speaks "good" English and so things can be very confusing.
Re lines, there are SUPPOSED to be mens' line(s) and womens' line(s); however, because at time there were like 20 men to every woman, the men kept creeping over to the "womens" windows. When this happened... the lady behind the womens' window (and this only one of about 50 or more windows on one floor... and there are 5-6 floors, I think) would stand up, bang on the window (literally, yes), and scream (literally, yes) at the men to get BACK into the mens' line, that the line was for women ONLY.
At first, this kind of took me aback. Along with:
1. Being blown off by virtually every "officer" we [tried to] speak with;
2. Being blown off by virtually every "clerk" we [tried to] speak with;
3. Being pushed and shoved by... well, I can't even tell you the number of people just in the hallways, let alone in the "lines".
And then... I "got it" - I realized, hey, wait, THAT's the window we need, that's a WOMENS' line... and there's NO WOMEN IN IT! Oh, I shoved MY way through the mass and got up to that window - LOLOL! A little about "shoving" my way ('cause I don't want ya'll to think I'm just a bogarting mean lady - I CAN be, but this wasn't that kind of a situation - LOLOL!):
I learned from two of the other folks there what was going on. Not because they told me but because of how they reacted when I spoke to THEM. The first was a woman who I noticed kept trying to creep AROUND me while I was in this line (I was the only one in the line... but the lady clerk had left the kiosk and the men clerks were dealing with the men because there were SO many of them). I could see her out of the corner of my eye inching... inching... up behind me... then to me side... then the next thing I knew, SHE was in front of me at the window! I was, like, "Ummmm... no. I was here in line first; please get behind me." Did she go off? Curse me out? Nope. She smiled a sheepish, "Okay, you caught me" and got behind me. The same exact thing happened with a man (who wasn't even supposed to be in this line, mind you)... and he, too, simply smiled sheepishly and said "Okay" and got behind me. It was then that it hit me: no one is OFFENDED a the pushing and shoving - indeed, they EXPECT it. And no is offended when you point out to them they've just cut you in the line. Thing is, if you DON'T push/shove BACK... or saying anything when someone cuts in front... you're just A-OUT! They ASSUME you DON'T CARE... and are LETTING them in front of you - LOLOLOLOLOL! If you push/shove back, though, and say, "Ummm, no, sorry, get behind me," they are TOTALLY okay with that. It was a truly a "survival of the fittest" kind of situation... and so poor, poor dear daughter got herself little self pushed, shoved, cutted, squeezed, squeezed out, dragged along (to the wrong line(s), etc., on more than one occasion - LOLOLOL!
Anyway, once I figured "how" this who "who's in line" thing worked... well, I just had dear son and daughter stand back... and I made my way to whichever windows we needed to go to. Unfortunately... most of them turned out to be the wrong window - LOLOLOL! And so we spent most of the day there, dealing with trying to get an entry visa stamp for daughter's temporary visa. No go, though.
The next day was more of the same... until we got a call from dear Ashi offering to come down and speak to "whomever" for us. He did and while things initially looked they were going to go the same way, they actually turned out differently. Dear Ashi was able to kind of "shame" the supervisor (a very tall, large man who looked SO stressed out we wondered that he hadn't already had a heart attack and certainly looked a candidate for one!) into pushing things through (the application was just sitting somewhere) and getting daughter her stamp - HOORAYY!! NOW... she can LEAVE Egypt (without being detained for entering with permission)!!
I did take a short video of the Egyptian Immigration Service to show the family waiting for us back at the condo. It doesn't show much - photos/videos are strictly prohibited - wonder why - and a lady stopped me just after I started - so I won't post it... yet. Maybe later.
And so, that was the end of the "lost passport" fiasco! Again, I wouldn't change a THING - I can't imagine having any better opportunity to see the "real" Egypt: Cairo police station - what other reason to go THERE... and not be scared out of one's wits? Egyptian Immigration Service... why would one need to go there? Oh, that's right - entry visa stamp for a replacement passport! US Embassy... and not for anything related to terrorism?? This was really a wonderful part of our advencha and I cannot say how fortunate I believe we (daughter, son, and I) were to experience it!
Other than that, we went quadding in the Sahara (in the area west of the Great Pyramid/Sphinx):
(We had to cover our faces due to the sand/dust!).
.... and took a 2-hour dinner cruise down (up?) the Nile... where we enjoyed a wonderful buffet meal and some FANTASTIC entertainment (belly dancing, Egyptian light dancer, and a WONDERFUL band - I will post pics of all of that later; gotta run - meeting with boss).
The next day the young folks all left to return to the States and dear 'Mom, FinalCall, Hubby (peace to you all!) and I left for the next leg of the great advencha: Sharm Al Sheikh and St. Catherine's Monastery ("Mt. Sinai"). More on that in another post.
Peace to you all!
Your servant and a slave of Christ,
SA