Stranded in the Sahara -- or not

Saturday, Nov. 14 -- I joined folks from a couple of other tours for a visit to the Sahara. At least, that's what they call it; I think it just means "lots and lots of sand." Anyway, it was touted as a tour of the the desert and it kind of was, for awhile anyway. In our Land Cruiser, one of three, we drove past lots of mesas and plateaus, kind of like Utah except they were tan instead of red. Then we went offroad, on to the sand, where we slid and skittered and bounced over the top -- until one of the tires sank. We were stuck. The five passengers clambered out and it went from sort of OK and funny to a tiny bit worrisome but still funny for most of us. A nylon tow rope tied between our car and another snapped. The driver let the air out of the tires, and we sank deeper. The guides produced some metal runners, and they bent in half. We pushed, we rocked. Nothing worked. Looking in another direction, I noticed that the hood of the lead car was up. Dead battery. Uh oh. Meanwhile, several very very angry Aussies started screaming at the drivers, who of course couldn't understand a word they were saying. Finally, we pushed our car out of the sand. The dead battery traded with another car and everyone got going. Six furious Australians demanded to be taken back to Cairo.

The rest of us went on to a national park called Wadi El-Rayan, location of 40 million year old fosslized whales. Somehow, Egypt doesn't seem like a place whales would hang out, but apparently they once did. Our poor driver, who was feeling very put-upon, made us a fabulous lunch, including bar-b-qued chicken.

The whole country is in a state of high excitement -- tonight is the qualifying match for the World Cup. Egypt is playing Algeria and needs to win by three goals to qualify. The streets are filled with people waving flags, their faces are painted black and red, they're banging drums and passing cars, shouting, whistling. You'd think the 49ers were in the Super Bowl. Right now, Egypt leads 2-0. Check the paper to see who wins. If Egypt pulls it out, it'll be an upset and the streets will just go crazy. We've got our fingers crossed.

Egypt just won!! This is like Chicago on election day last year.