onilecraM | Marcelino

Sharm El Sheikh/Cairo

Got up, somehow. Met our driver to drop off our equipment. Went to go look for a dive t-shirt. Went back to anemone dive club to say good bye to the guys. Went to lunch at the Marriott Hotel. Very Italian presence there. They were doing some daytime aerobics class. (Mind you, it’s like 120 degrees outside.)

Left Sharm, stopped by a giant sand dune to take a photo. Walked precariously to the sand dune from the side of the road – about 100 m walk. You have to watch out for Israeli landmines that were left there after the war. The Egyptians have done a good job in clearing most of them out from Sharm, but you still have to be careful.

Sand dune was really cool. Took some photos of it, then John took one of me chillin on a giant sand dune. Good stuff.

Drive back was fairly uneventful. Slept most of the way, though I kept waking up to find ourselves on a collision course with a giant semi. The road to sharm is just a two lane highway. I use the word lane very loosely. At any point in time you have two cars side by side going one way and one large truck going the opposite direction. Just a tad bit stressful.

I’m really going to miss Sharm. I could totally see myself spending a week there and doing dives every day. Maybe I’ll come back in December…..

Drove to the City of the Dead to film a sunset over Cairo from a Mosque. This place is known as the City of the Dead because it’s a poor neighborhood that is literally built on top of a cemetery. People have built homes inside of tombs. It’s kinda creepy. The first mosque we went to had its access to the minaret closed off. So the keeper of the mosque (a doorman, if you will) walked us over to another mosque, where we climbed some rickety stairs in the back to get a shot of the sunset over Cairo. Took some photos while I was up there too.

Left the city of the dead and came back to the apartment in Mohandeseen. Nahla text messaged us about getting together. We made plans to go to Khan el Khalili at 9:30. She came and picked us up and we headed over the Khan to pick up some goodies.

She dropped us off at Pizza Hut in Zamalek (John and I were starving) and we ordered a cheese lovers pizza.

Got back to the apartment around 12:30 and packed for about an hour. I barely fit it all in. Went over to the airport – got there around 2:15 for my 4:15 am flight. I’m really sad to leave Cairo. I really had one of the best times of my life, and I met some incredible people. Editing the footage is what keeps me on the happy side of things. I really can’t wait to have a finished product to show all the people that took part in the doc. Thanks everyone, for making me feel right at home in Egypt. I’ll miss you all!

- M