Another quiet morning following a long night of activity. The official curfew lifted at 8 though the streets were still in shock as our trio returned home, passing looted buildings, scattered garbage and papers, and dazed pedestrians.
From Shehab's house we packed and made our final attempts with the Internet. Still no connection. I wonder if our families have any clue what is happening around us because on international news Alexandria is hardly mentioned and there is no video footage of the protests except from Cairo.
As Chris and I biked out of the city we cycled by smoldering buildings, charred buses and police vans, and the crumbling remains of the governor's mansion. Usually city biking is easy, however we faced more difficulty due to the blankets of shattered glass in the street, gangs of riled up citizens excited to scream and holler at us, and numerous civilian and military-manned checkpoints and roadblocks.
The western suburbs were even more congested with traffic, garbage, and people who by this time of day were nervously stocking up for the 3 pm curfew. Slowly the road emptied out and we found ourselves on the westward highway, surrounded by desert but no sea views. We had hoped the road would follow the seafront.
While taking a break at a set of crossroads two cars and a taxi van simultaneously screeched to a stop next to us. We didn't see the initial incident but were privy to the subsequent dispute between drivers. They formed a small mob, yelling and waving sticks at each other; one man pulled out a gun and began shooting the van's tires while another busted the widows with his two by four. We very quickly biked onward.
Eventually we hopped into a furgon (shared taxi van), tossing the bikes up top, and joining a group of guys to El Elmein, the WWII mega graveyard. There are over 80 thousand soldiers buried in the nearby cemeteries, and an unknown number of landmines still hiding under the desert sands. We followed the road into an unfinished housing development and found a cozy spot at the edge of a white sand beach.
Our tent sat guarded from the heavy wind just behind a low sand barrier. At sunrise we woke to see a red ball of flame rise above the Mediterranean waters. Then quickly went back to sleep. Yeah freedom! Not a human being in site.
By noon Chris and I were out on the highway, cycling toward Mersa Metruh, the country's summer magnet. It's a ghost town in the winter, which works out in our favor. After about 50 km or so we flagged down another van to the city, bypassing the endless stretch of uninteresting desert road. At the bus station the manager informed us there is a daily bus straight to Cairo, then added it may or may not be running in a few days. The entire country is waiting, either for more chaos or for another shut down.
In the normally carefree beach town of Mersa Matruh military tanks have blockades set up around the ballad (downtown) directing traffic up and down 2 roads. We had some difficulties trying to get through to the market and then finding restaurants, which are usually plentiful but had all been closed down for the 3 pm curfew. Several people went out of their way to help us and warn us of danger, though it's hard to believe anything will happen because all we get are welcomes and ahh America good! I'm only slightly on edge knowing that a lot of people are concealing guns and it only takes ones crazy to hurt us...
We eventually settled on falafel and chicken, then took off toward the west, hoping to reach Cleopatra's beach before sunset. Instead we got lost and ended up in a suburb, where we met Abu Rahmel who invited us inside. He set up a tv with satellite and we watched (for the first time) the reports from Egypt on BBC English, CNN, and Al Jazeera English. I'm amazed that the riots in Suez and Alexandria are not even mentioned! Local Arabic tv stations did describe the actions around the country, though due to Internet cuts no one has any footage. Only Cairo is spotlighted on international TV, and they barely mention the effects of Internet and cell phone cuts. Don't they see how Mubarak wants to quell the facebook groups and Twitter messages?-- by tightening his stranglehold he thinks he can crush the protests, but really it just provokes citizen's anger and proves he is a tyrant in their eyes.
We are staying the night here with the family, actually a compound of homes, each of 8 brothers and 6 sisters. We've only met the brothers, who sat with us for tea while the news played in English. We'll get to the beach tomorrow.
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