El wassifou

We are four guys living hundred miles away from Al-Fayoum desert. On the weekend we agreed to finally visit this part of the desert and enjoy the ultimate peace.

On Friday morning, when the Egyptians weekend starts, we have met at the bus meeting point. As usual the Egyptian timing puts us in a NO SURPRISE zone. The bus came half an hour late. The moment you realize that it is not shameful for the driver to come late, is when you look in his eyes, and find him really glad, saying "It's a good day, anyone have cigarettes?".

A friend said that whatever happens we will stay on our high spirit mode, which is good. We got into the bus. This is the time where strangers walk into the bus saying "Hi" to other strangers, because many groups where in there. In Egypt I like that people would share some food for breakfast, even if they don't know each other. What do you expect about our breakfast? It was terrible. Someone kindly invited us to traditional "Fiteer and old cheese", this is basically a kind of Egyptian traditional bread and a smelly cheese that have components need laboratory tests to know what exactly it is. We had a really strong painful day with our digestive systems, but "NO" We still happy. We are stick to this.

Before we have arrived, we checked our photography equipment. We were so excited about the magical land we expect. In Al Fayoum we saw pictures for the magical waterfalls, pharaoh’s monuments, and artistic galleries inside these historical places.

My heart was flying, and the bus stopped. Someone asked "Have we arrived?” Unfortunately it was the arrival. The driver gave a loud laughter clearly because he knows what people expect.

We walked for so long lonely to the waterfall, we found a crowd of people wearing white Kelots -kind of Egyptian men's underwear- jumping through the natural water fall into a pool. We expected calm time with peaceful place, but we ended up getting some drinks, sitting on the sandy hills laughing and crying out of laughter for the scene in front of our eyes. It was a real expectations Vs. Reality moment.

An old man passing by came and sat with us. The man looked old, with white long beard, tanned skin, he was wearing a long shirt -Gallabya- looks very old. He looked at our faces and then knocked on the ground with his stick. After a long time from day time to the sunset, he started to move away. Suddenly he stopped and told us with his hard voice: "There is a great secret in this land, follow me".