How to prepare for driving through a country on the brink of civil war?

Thanks to all of you who have sent us warning messages. We actually changed our route slightly because of them.

We are now at Istanbul airport waiting for our flight to Alexandria, and we are getting seriously nervous. Our euphoria about getting the van to Egypt faded away slowly from the moment that we turned on the tv after getting the car through customs. It was the night that 300 people got killed in the fights between Mursi supporter groups and the armed forces. CNN Turkey reported elaborately on the turmoil, showing explicit images of burning churches, government buildings and bodies lying in the streets.

We sat in bed, me with a laptop, Conny with his pad, TV on. We were in Izmir for 4 days and every day we had a late afternoon ritual of reading through all relevant news items on Aljazeera, Spiegel, CNN, NOS and Egyptian websites. And although we didn’t understand CNN Turkey in words, the images are pretty self explanatory. “Any more news on your side?” we ask each other regularly. And the more we read, the more apprehensive we get.

What worries us the most, is not only that the clashes grow more violent and the number of people killed is over 900 now and growing. Also that Egypt is isolating itself from the western world, and may come to see foreigners as having a role in the conflict. The groups selarate themselves from each other by using heavy deeds and words, such as terrorists, curfews, war. Will this sentiment gain ground and will come to include neutral travellers soon?

How to prepare for driving through a country on the brink of civil war?!

Second step, after following developments closely first, is that we made our visit known by registering ourselves at the Dutch embassy (those whimps found safety in the Hilton Hotel, as if a Formula 1 hotel would never be as safe :-). Good that at least someone there knows that we are on Egyptian grounds. The first few days we have a hotel there (while waiting for the vessel), they are picking us up from the airport.

We have changed our route via Suez, Hurgada, Luxor to Aswan. There isn’t a bigger circle around Cairo imaginable! Unfortunately, even Luxor and Suez had their share in the conflict and had to mourn several deaths.

One small party in the conflict are the neutral ones, choosing not to take an obvious side. Every day during the first 5 minutes of the curfew, they protest against the violence and killings. They also make a statement on the effect all this has on the economic situation. They protest by hitting on pots on pans, their voices are the drumming sticks & spoons.

We’ll keep on the down low, I will be wearing my headscarf, but if things get rough, maybe our pots & pans can help us in hazardous situations. What else can one do, when one doesn’t know what to expect on the road? Based on nothing but faith in our own judgement and ‘streetwiseness’ (as far as we have any when living in safe Germany and Holland), we somehow both have the confidence that we’ll get through this safely.

Crazy idea: only to be on the street 5 times a day when all muslims are supposed to be head down and noses on the carpets facing Mecca. Perfect moment to drive by unnoticed. Not pratical, you say? Hmm, at least on Holy Fridays we’ll make sure that we are out of sight of angry men with rifles and/or beards.

And first let’s see if we can get out of the Airport when we arrive at 2 a.m.: there is a curfew from 7 pm to dawn…