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 favours 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 my wife 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) in Cairo the extended forecast ranged from 18-22 degrees Celsius and we were shivery. in Sinai, the extended forecast 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 teetotaller 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 snorkelled. 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.