misappointed
it's not really disappointed. that would imply that things have let me down. it's more misappointed.
disappointed would be showing up for a blind date to find out the woman in question favors electric pink and has bought you tickets to a yanni concert. that's disappointed. misappointed is like showing up for a blind date to discover that the woman in question is actually a gazillionaire with a private island hideaway but you were supposed to show up YESTERDAY and she's already moved on.
that's misappointed. and that's how i've felt in Dahab until today.
in Cairo bartlebee asked me what i thought Dahab would be like. would it be like Tulum -- a quiet honeymoon type of beach? or like Playa del Carmen -- a woot!woot! you buy my shirt mister good price! kind of beach?
i said; without a doubt it will be like Playa. perhaps a low-rent Playa, but Playa all the same.
then, as it was frigidaire in Cairo, i checked out the weather for the Sinai on weknowhowcolditis.com. (not a real website, mom.) in Cairo the extended forcast ranged from 18-22 degrees Celsius and we were shivery. in Sinai, the extended forcast was 19-23 degrees Celsius. i suggested it might not be so warm in Dahab.
no no no, they said. "it's always warm in Dahab!"
but they lied. it's been colder than a teetotaler at a keg party here. windy. cold. let's put on all the clothes we have and buy more kinda freezing.
also, it's been hard to walk ten feet without someone -- granted a very nice someone -- trying to sell me a sheesha, t-shirt, fish dinner, perfume, SCUBA trip, whatever-passes-for-coffee here. so, in short, despite my prediction that it would be Playa-esque here and cold, it has turned out to be Playa-esque here and cold.
so i've been misappointed.
it's been a gloomy week. our week of relaxo was not so. we huddled for warmth. we met a nice swede who eats nothing but dates and played a lot of rummy with him. we attempted to smile when people tried to sell us stuff. we tried not to consider ourselves cursed.
and lo, today it was sunny. and calm. so sunny and calm that we not only put on shorts for the first time in a month, but we actually got in the water. yes. we snorkled. and we saw the pretty fishies and we said, "hey. these fish sure are nice. and this coral? really healthy! and the visibility? sah-weet! and the water? the water is cold enough to make my testicles shop for real estate in Florida."
but it's cool. we saw why people come to Dahab. and we realize that the fact that we didn't relax here is mostly our own fault. so we're taking the bus to Cairo tomorrow and getting on the awfully expensive but hopefully romantic sleeper train to Aswan. and after we've tooled around in ancient temples for a few weeks we'll come back and do some diving. and if it's still cold? well, we'll expect it.
around then we'll also celebrate my wife turning thirty. which she's not in a bad mood about at all. nuh-uh. not at all.
30? Rock the cradle of love.
--b
30 is what we call priiime-time. (put the accent on time, like you mean it.)
30? great! that's only halfway to 60!
Cheers for the fishes, cheers for the romantic sleeper train to ancient ruins, boo for your testicles deserting you to run off to Florida to frolic with the elderly, and just in time for your lovely wife's 30th.
I hope by the time you read this you will be properly appointed.
Miss you, XZ, squeezes telepathically emitted from afar...
It's the dream you are living.
Actually, what i meant to say is "you're living that montage from the movie Mame when she marries that rich southerner and they travel around the world for the rest of their lives."
Hi guys! Missing you! Sorry we haven't checked in on you a bit earlier, but here I am...I remember going to Dahab in 1980. I think it was a different place. I remember there being no buildings, only palm frond huts. A bedouin kid tried to steal our shoes, but we told him not to do that. And then we up and went south, to Sharm el-shekh, on the southern tip of the Sinai...I recommend that highly. If it makes you feel any better, I remember it being slightly chilly too, but worse yet was the sand storm we camped through, waking up from under 6 inches or so of sand. Those were the wild days....love,john