The adventure to Cairo is complete. We arrived late last night at about midnight so excited to sleep in a bed after a night in a bus, one on a ferry, and another in the airport. Here is the scoop on the trip:
So last I left you we had travelled overnight by bus to Antalyia in Turkey. We had a couple hours in the bus station before we boarded our 8 hour bus down to the ferry port. Everything was going smoothly, other than having to pay to use the bathroom everytime we stopped in the station…my small bladder is probably solely responsible for the Turkish bathroom industry staying afloat. Anyways, we get about 1 hour outside of our destination and the bus breaks down! Kim, Chad, Jessica and I pass the time with some spades playing as we sit by the side of the road waiting for another bus to come with the part to fix ours. I was having Mexico break down flashbacks until we got back on the road about an hour and a half later.
The remainder of the trip wasn’t much more pleasant as the driver apparently tried to make up some of the lost time, making all of us nauseated by the end. Finally we got to the port and found out there was a midnight ferry over to the Turkish side of Cyprus. We had a couple hours to grab some food and relax a bit before boarding our next form of transportation.
Around 11pm we made it on the ship and found the only area big enough on the boat for us to all sleep. We were still surrounded by Turks and even woke up the next morning with random people sleeping near us. Kim almost had herself a snuggle buddy. Somewhat rested, but getting smellier we worked our way through customs and made friends with an English speaking student living in Cyprus. He was a blessing from God!
Now those of you who don’t know much about Cyprus may not know that half of the island is owned by Greeks and the other by the Turks. Each side doesn’t like each other much or allow travel of inhabitants to the opposing sides. We had to get from the Turkey side to the town of Larnaca, where the airport is, on the Greek side. Obviously mass transportation was not taking this route because of the travel restrictions. So this is how we did it.
Our friend from the ferry offered to help us get to his town where we could walk across the boarder. On the way, we must have been getting really smelly because he offered us to come over to his house and take showers before we crossed over. He said it was close to the boarder and easy to get across from there. Feeling the gunk of 2 days without showers and sleeping on public transport, we were so happy to accept.
At his house, we were introduced to his roommate who also speaks very good English and is a student. While we were taking turns showering, our friend went and bought us food, offered us drinks, and allowed us to sit and talk with them in a cool room with a fan. We were thankful for the break and glad God had put these people in our path. After discussing a lot of topics, Chad brought up religion. He did an amazing job of presenting some hard core Christianity facts to these 2 Muslims and challenged them to do some research. It was very interesting hearing about their beliefs and world views. I pray God may work in these guys with the seed we planted.
After a couple hours of good conversation and relaxing, our friend took us to the bus stop and helped us catch a 5 minute bus to the boarder. There we walked across passing through the Turkey and Greece customs. However, now on the Greek side we found out it was a holiday and that big busses weren’t running to Larnaca. Taxis were pretty expensive so we spent a while here trying to get a free ride. We tried asking random people, the UN, and even the Greece boarder patrol…but that wasn’t allowed unless we were arrested. Finally we had to give in and take a taxi.
We got to the airport Tuesday by 5pm and found out the next flight to Cairo wasn’t until the following night at 10pm. Sleeping in the airport it was then. We set up post in a corner of the cafe area. All was great, we played some card games, got free Sbarro pizza from a friend that Kim made (that makes both meals free for the day–praise God for providing), did some reading, played some farkle dice, until it was time for bed and the cafeteria lady got upset about the sleeping people everywhere. She eventually kicked us out of upstairs and made us go back down to the terminal. Luckily we found another spot to sleep in a corner…it was nice!
The next full day we spent trying to get our bags adjusted to the weight limit, cooked some food out on the patio outside (not so sure about the legality in an airport of the propane tank we were using for that), played more cards, and had some good conversations. 10pm came around and we were on our plane to Cairo. We arrived safely, used airport services to find the cheapest hotel, and made it to the New Palace Hotel around 2am…ready to sleep in a bed. What a trip!
Now in Cairo I am trying to get a hold of a man that TBarM has contact with in Egypt. I and Kim Lynch are hoping to get to visit his camps that run until August 24th. If this doesn’t work out, we will minister with the rest of the team where Anna Marie set things up. I’m excited to see what God will do here! Please continue to pray for our finances as things are getting tight with all our travel expenses the last couple months. Until next time….peace out foos!
P.S. The blue team posted our story as well with more pictures that Chad took…so check that out too!
