We
were woken up by a phone call; it was Marwuan's mother she called to say
that Hosni Mubarak had just resigned from the presidential position.
Marwuan quickly ran to the remote and turned on the TV. I looked at my
phone it was 4pm in the afternoon we had spent another day in bed. So
much for me working on my tan while here in Egypt I was thinking. On the
television we could see the revolutionist
going crazy in Cairo. Hundreds of thousands of protesters crammed into
Tahrir Square erupted with joy.People were waving Egyptian flags,
dancing, singing and some even crying with happiness. These people had
been camped in the square for 18 days now. And it had all paid off in
the end. Still daylight fireworks were being let off in the sky. Even
though I was not Egyptian and did not go through the 29 years of
Mubarak's authoritarian lock on power, corruption, economic woes and
widespread disparities between rich and poor, I felt joy come over me
also. I couldn't believe I was in this country when such a milestone was
taking place.
After watching the celebration for an hour we
needed food. We asked the hotel for a menu but they told us that a lot
of the things on the menu were not available at the time because they
had no guest when something ran out they did not bother replacing the
items. They did offer to go out and buy us whatever we wanted but we
decided that we would go in town and see if any celebrations were going
there. We called a jeep and made our way into town. In Dahab there are
no taxi's as such but if you want to go from place to place you either
contact a jeep driver or you flag down a Bedouin driving a utility truck
and jump in the back tray.
In town there was no mass
celebration with people dancing in the streets but the restaurant and
shop owners were out on the path talking to each other and saying
"Marbook" to fellow Egyptians that walked by which means
congratulations. Marwuan stopped at a few restaurants that he went to
regularly to talk to the staff. Even though I couldn't understand what
they were saying I could tell that the news of Mubarak resigned was the
greatest news they had heard in a long time. They were speaking so loud
and waving their hands in the air while they spoke.
Continuing
our walk through town we walked past a Muslim Brotherhood headquarters
were people were starting to gather. These people were the happiest I
had seen yet. Briefly Marwuan explained to me that Mubarak had treated
this group very badly and because so they had to do most their work
underground. They had a car with some children sitting on top waving an
Egyptian flag that began moving down the street honking its horn. Behind
the car was a group of people with a larger flag chanting in Arabic. We
stood back and watched for a bit then Marwuan joined into the chants. I
could tell that he wanted to join in to the celebrations. I told him to
go and join. At first he was hesitant. "I need to go use the internet
cafe anyway" I said. There was no holding him back now he had my
approval. He ran off to join the parade yelling out the chants. "I'll
meet you at the internet cafe when you're done" I yelled he nodded and
continue to make his way down the road. As the parade made its way
through the streets shop keepers would leave their shops and join in the
parade it was forming to be quite a big group by the time I left them
and walked into the internet cafe.
A hour passed and still no
Marwuan I tried calling him but no answer, I decided I would take a walk
through town centre to see if I could see them gathering somewhere. But
I could not see them anywhere. I stopped at one of the restaurants and
ordered a thickshake. I was starving by now I still had not eaten since
waking up but a thickshake should do me over until Marwuan returns.
Another hour passes by I am sitting looking out to the sea when Marwuan
finally calls me. "Where are you I'm at the internet cafe" I laughed did
he seriously think I would still be there. I told him my destination
and he made his way down to meet me. When he arrived he was hot and
exhausted, he drank a whole bottle of water before I got a word out of
his mouth. "So where were you?" I asked. He explained to me that the
parade just kept getting larger they had ended up walking to the edge of
town and then once there they all started dancing and singing Egyptian
songs. "They are still all there" he said "but I knew you would be alone
so I caught a jeep back here". "Oh how nice of you" I said
sarcastically. I was not angry but a little over waiting to eat. He
could tell I was a little frustrated so he apologised. We ordered some
food and once I was eating I was back in a good mood. By the time we
finished eating the sun had gone down behind the mountains. That night
we went up to a bar and had a few cocktails before heading back to the
hotel for a early night. I wanted to get some sun tomorrow so I didn't
want to be out all night and sleep the next day away.
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