Cab Drivers in Sharm

It's been a whirlwind over the last week as Corey and I have been moving to new cities practically every day. Right now we are in Dahab, on the Red Sea. It's always nice to be here because it's a beachy, warm, relaxed atmosphere.

In order to get here, we first made an overnight stop in Sharm el-Sheikh. After arriving at the bus stop in Sharm from Cairo, we needed to find a cab to our hotel. I have never heard drivers inflate the price as much as what these guys were asking for. The driver started at LE200. I started at LE10. In the end, I had to pay LE15 (which is less than $3, but still...). As part of his elaborate scheme to get more money from us, as we were driving, he suddendly decided that he had no idea where our hotel was. So, we pulled off to Sunset Hotel, where his friends who were also involved in the scheme worked. We are greeted by a guy wearing a security jacket who leads us into the hotel. The guys at the front desk appear to be helpful. But they too have never heard of our hotel. The mention that they have rooms available, however. At this point, I have definitely decided that they are trying to scam us, so I tell them that I will call the hotel so they can give them directions. The people at the front desk say that they'll call on their phone, but fortunately I have a cell phone, so I could dial the number. Otherwise I'm sure they would have made a fake phone call. The person at our hotel gives the schemers the directions, but we decide to find another cab to take us there (unfortunately we had already paid the driver).

The second cab is just as bad. He tried to rip us off again. I was really getting frustrated at this point, so I was drilling him about how much it would cost an Egyptian to ride in the same cab to the same place (probably about 15 pounds less). I made him define the Arabic word "haramee," which means "theif." In the end, I think he got the point that I was pretty upset.

It's not that these cab drivers are taking a lot of money from us, it's just the fact that they think that just because we are Americans we have unlimited money. Indeed, many of the people who go to Sharm probably have no idea that they're being ripped off and that's why the prices are so inflated, but it's frustrating to me after being in Egypt for over 4 months now.

Anyway! Things are going really well here. Corey and I are having a blast. Tonight we're climbing Mt. Sinai so we can see the sunrise over the mountains. Can't wait.

Have a happy Monday (I think it's Monday...I get the days confused...)!