One night in the camp

Another night in the camp here in Basata. Today most of the people left as tomorrow it’s a working day. But today it’s still holiday. We decided to stay an extra night: it’s the Sinai Liberation day, and it makes a lot of sense to be here today.

One night at the camp

If you’ve been camping before, you know that everyday life is not only far away in terms of distance, but also in terms of activities and habits.

No tv, no internet, no newspapers. Phone signal comes and goes, therefore no texts and no calls too. It’s incredible how in the city life this would lead to total boredom, but here I don’t miss any of the things I named.
I feel so tired, even if I didn’t work today. But it’s a “healthy” kind of tiredness, I think.

I’m tired because I woke up early as the sun was burning hot.

Just woke up and opened the tent

And yesterday night I went to sleep too late because I was watching the stars, and talking about the Revolution with some Egyptian guys I met here. Busy night, huh?

I spent the day sunbathing, swimming, talking with people, socialising and taking part/listening to very interesting conversations. Not the kind of conversation you have on a metro ride or anything like that.

A quick (cold) shower to take the salt off my skin, a ton of after sun gel, and then off to cook, eat then wash dishes.
“My group” is composed by 3 people but tonight we ate at a table of 12, and we cooked all together. As usual, I am the pasta specialist!

Me cooking at the camp

Now, we are sitting outside of the main tent. On my right a guy is gently playing guitar and singing in a very low voice.

Behind me I hear voices and the sound of the chips of Tawla (an Egyptian game very similar to backgammon). Clack, click, buzz.
Someone is laughing, someone is eating. Sound of glass and metal. Ding, clack.
We will probably end up playing Jenga as we’ve been doing for the last 2 nights.

Playing Jenga in the main hut

I will miss this game and all the laughs.
There’s no sound of cars, planes, boats, trains or anything like that. Just people and their simple life, one night in the camp.

Basata, April 25th, 2011