Sketchy Encounters En Route to Cairo: Let the Adventures Begin

There is something very special about growing up in one neighborhood your entire life: the opportunity to grow up with the same peer group from kindergarten to high school.  Childhood friends don't judge.  You remember the days they chewed your snoopy pencils and you had to put nasty-tasting nail polish on them so they'd stop (3rd grade with James); you remember making friends with 6th graders and swapping food with them (James in 1st grade); you remember marrying trees, who you had a first grade crush on, picking your nose in front of the entire class, and being thrilled when your best friend gave you wonder bread and skippy peanut butter for your birthday.  We are brothers and sisters, and no matter how long we fall out of touch, we can always call on them, regardless of where we are in the world.

James is one such friend.  I've grown up with him my entire life; in college, we went our separate ways, with me heading to Princeton and him heading to Stanford.  He says he's changed a ton since heading to college.  He's grown: his perspective has grown, his priorities have changed, and obviously (one would hope) he has matured tremendously in the past few years.  But there are a few core traits that remain.

James is brilliant.  He calls himself a free-thinker; absolutely true.  He was the kid in 2nd grade frustrating tour guides in Old Town with amazingly challenging questions.  He's full of ideas, full of ambition, full of talent, full of curiosity.  He's also a pistol.  A loose canon.  For James, lines are drawn to be pushed and crossed.  He is a risk-seeker, an adventure-maker.  He can relax, but his nature is to do, discover, explore.  Sometimes he gets in trouble for it; sometimes you want to kill him for it; other times you see things you would never otherwise see, and take his actions as a learning experience - no matter how uncomfortable they make you.

James is currently taking a trip around the world for 120 days, with a three-week stop in the Middle East.  When I heard he was arriving in Tel Aviv and planning a trip to Jordan, I e-mailed him asking if I could come along.  Sure, he said.  Soon it evolved to 'James staying with Sarah in Tel Aviv for a couple nights while planning the trip.'  'The Trip' turned into 'let's go to Cairo to visit James' fraternity friend Anant and Anant's childhood friend Aryan;' both were staying at a hotel in Cairo spreading Hepatitis C awareness to Egyptian students.  Anant and Aryan graciously agreed to host us, and James and I were then on our way.

First stop: Eilat.  I went to Eilat exactly ten years ago with my family, and remember it being a fun, cute resort area with a nice Pizza Hut on the Red Sea.  Not so anymore.

We took a bus from Tel Aviv to Eilat - approx. 5 hours - and arrived at the central bus station.  It seemed like a seedy area, and as soon as we arrived at our hostel, we got even more creeped out.  Creepy people, creepy atmosphere.  Bottom line: we stayed out of the hostel as much as possible and I certainly didn't sleep that night.  We left early the next morning for the Egyptian consulate incident-free, despite being sketched out by the whole scene.  I was excited to leave Eilat.