Tired from all the drama and just wanting to settle in for the night, we got out at Habiba camp. The manager of the camp came over and sat down with us and started by apologizing for the taxi driver's attitude . As we told him our story of woe, and asked if he thought we would be able to get into Jordan via the ferry to Aqaba without a visa for Dev, he immediately recommended we talk to the camp's owner. The owner of the camp very nicely (we thought) took down Dev's passport and letter of introduction and faxed it over to a "friend" in Jordan. Then we waited to hear back. We figured we would hear from the friend the next day. In the meantime, we decided to make the most of our stay. After all, here we were, right on the Red Sea. 
Turns out we were the only regular guests in the whole camp! The Taba bombing had really hit Nuweiba tourism hard- most of the camps up and down the beach were half full or were totally closed. The only camp that had a full load of people was the all-inclusive camp catering to Russians and Germans up the beach. At Habiba, they had a huge lunch crowd daily that came in from various tour groups shuttling through. But for the rest of the time, it was empty. So we had an Italian chef who told us stories of giving up his hectic lifestyle and coming over to Nuweiba to live a simpler life , multiple waiters who still took forever to get us food, and the entire beach all to ourselves. We got in some snorkelling as well- there are some beautiful coral forests on the Nuweiba coast. It was an idyllic day......
The next day passed and the camp owner hadn't made an appearance. Nor did we have Dev's passport back- the owner had kept it "safe" with him. We had already decided, however reluctantly, that we wouldn't be making it to Israel and would head straight for Jordan. We weren't getting good vibes from the camp manager that our ferry jaunt would be successful into Aqaba, so we decided that we would go back to Cairo (another 7 hour bus journey from hell) and fly into Amman. And we were STILL the only ones in the camp. By this time, the Twilight Zone theme was starting to sound in our head!
Finally, by the third day, we decided enough was enough. We got the passport back (never having received a straight answer from the 'friend'!) and asked for a cab to the bus station. After an hour of "It's coming- just now, very soon!", we hitched a ride with a water truck that was leaving and high-tailed it out of the camp. As we left, we could hear the crickets chirping.........
-Smruti
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