FLEEING FROM LUXOR, "GOOD AND SCARED" - EGYPT, 1964

Egypt, 1964: my journal continues through the valley of the shadow of . . .

. . . We were sure these men were leading us to some dark alley, which they did, then up some stairs.  Just when we were sure the men were leading us astray, we came to a door at the top of the stairs which announced the local police captain.  He questioned us as to where we had stayed during our visit to Alexandria.  We pretended we couldn't remember the names of the hotels, so we were taken back to the hotel in Luxor on the pretext that we would find a bill, or something, with the name of the hotel on it.  We sat in our hotel room, trying to think what to do, to make plans, hide the money -- we were followed by the guards (hotel men) who kept knocking on our door and insisting that we hurry . . . our conductors didn't dare speak to us, and we were good and scared.


We were unceremoniously ushered back to the Luxor Police, still not knowing what to do, except knowing that we would not reveal the name of our hosts.  The police questioned us as if we were criminals.  I explained to the man exactly why we could not tell, and that we would not tell, but he kept questioning us.  Who were our friends in Alexandria? Did we have friends in Luxor?


An hour of questioning -- always the same question -- "Who were your friends, Egyptian or American?" (The hotel "guards" kept telling us to lie and give the name of any hotel, insisting that we should say anything just to get out, but we, being stupid, honest Americans, would say nothing.


We never told, and finally the Police Captain wrote a report in Arabic (assuring us it was what we had told him) which we signed; he stamped our passports, and we left, relieved though ready for trouble ahead.


We returned to the hotel to find our conductor friends gone, and lizards crawling up the walls of our room.  

 [We didn't know at the time that for the Egyptians, the lizard represented divine wisdom and good fortune, that the lizard was one of the Egyptian god Atum's symbols, that Atum was often represented as a lizard -- that amulets and small reliquaries of lizards were often worn in honor of this god in the  Late Period 664-30 B.C.E. -- now we know why!]

We wanted out.  As a matter of fact, we wanted to get to an American Embassy pronto!  And the closest one was in Cairo.  We ran to the train station at midnight, just before the train was about to leave, and found our conductor friends who gave us their compartment on the train so that we could get out of Luxor that night.  They returned to the hotel with us, got our bags for us and we checked out.  The people at the hotel wanted to know why we were leaving, where we were going, what train, etc. etc.  We felt watched and pursued ("The night had many eyes") and at the mercy of everyone.  The conductors not only gave us their bedroom on the train, but bought us cheese sandwiches and watermelon and we had a party of five.  They decided they wanted to see the moon and kept turning the lights off in order to see the moon, so we kicked them out.
More tomorrow from the 1964 journal I wrote during my travels through Egypt with my friend Gail.