Galatctic Teeter Totter

A friend once told me that a good way to remember how to distinguish "dessert" as in sweets and "desert" as in giant sandbox is that dessert has two "s" because you want more of it. After my experiences in the desert, I think that statement should apply to both desserts and deserts. If the desert was not totally uninhabitable, I would live there in a heart beat.

This past weekend I traveled with three friends to the Bahariya Oasis and the surrounding deserts. We visited the Black and White Deserts. They are unlike any place I have ever seen before.

Rather than your standard rolling sand dunes, which do not get me wrong, are pretty awesome, the Black and White Deserts were full of ancient rock formations. These formations made the desert seem like a huge sprawling monument rather than the usual empty quarter. Both are shocking and both make one feel pretty small and insignificant.


Our travel to Bahariya from Alexandria could easily be the plot for a movie. There seemed to be a comical amount of steps: We took the train to Cairo immediately after our last lecture Thursday. Once in Cairo, we took the subway to the last station at end of the line. From that station, we walked to a micro bus station under a nearby bridge and met our driver who would take us to Bahariya. It is approximately four hours from Cairo to Bahariya. We spent all day Friday, Friday night, and Saturday morning in the desert and then did the entire trip in reverse. We managed to dash through Cairo on the return trip, riding the subway, buying food, buying train tickets, and making the train in under an hour. We were really impressed with ourselves. Cairo traffic usually puts an end to most efforts for speed and efficiency. It was a lot of travel for a short time in the deserts but so worth it.


We jumped off of sand dunes into the softest sand on the planet. (I make that conclusion, of course, drawing from my extensive background in world sand.) I had sand all over my entire body but that was a small price to pay for FLIGHT.

The night was chilly but we had a fire, good food, and warm tea. The stars were incredible. I think we saw every single one. There was hardly room for another star the sky was so bright.

Galakies, European showers, and عجيب