Swimming in the Suez Canal

The day-trip up to the Suez canal should have happened before we were all completely spoiled in Aswan. It was a disappointment. We rode a smelly bus for four hours so we could cross the “Japan -Egypt Friendship Bridge” which goes over the canal and take a picture from the window. We weren’t allowed to get off the bus. 

It was hard to get a good picture, as the bus was moving...

We still had high hopes though, because we were told we were going to be able to swim in the canal too, which sounds amazing, right? Well... the bus dropped us off at this “resort” full of Egyptians. I think I’ve already mentioned the outrageous amounts of attention westerners (especially women) get over there… just imagine how that attention intensifies when there’s a group of fifty of you, in swimsuits. 

It took a long time for me to build up the courage to lose the towel and just go for it… and not just because of the hundreds of eyes. The water was, well, disgusting. Think floating band-aids, plastic bags wrapping around your ankles, long hairs catching on your hand as you swim… disgusting. And yet, I had to do it. How many people can say they’ve been swimming in the Suez Canal? I refused to get my head wet, and I think I screamed/laughed, and almost cried the entire time. 

Once I’d had enough, I went with some girls to find the showers… ha. The one I ended up using was just a big open faucet that poured water down so fiercely I just laughed more and got out as soon as I got in. Shower fail. 

And that was it. 

Back on the bus for the four-hour ride home. 

We entertained ourselves by photographing the things out the windows, like so:

And by staging a classic banana peal slip:

Oh, I forgot, we also got to stop in the town for some koshiry. That was the highlight, as always.