MINA, 13 February 2003 — This is the true story of a family of Americans who learned the hard way that beating the system can be difficult and expensive. For the sake of privacy, we will call them Omar and Ahmed:

They started out in Madinah with their parents, where they had overstayed their two-month-old Umrah visa. When the time for Haj came, they asked a Saudi family for help. They contacted an acquaintance who agreed to take them by car. A couple of days later, at 11 p.m., a Bedouin arrived with several other passengers, and half an hour’s stowing of belongings later they set out with two people in the front and four in the back of the small car.

They had been driving for about 15 minutes when the driver pulled off the road and they were hustled onto a pickup truck. The pickup wandered about in the desert for half an hour, getting stuck on rocks a couple of times. At first, they traveled in a convoy with some other cars, but they fell behind and got lost, the driver informing them that he had no idea where he was going. After a few attempts they found the right way and, at a gas station, caught up with the other cars.

From there things went more smoothly until about 30 km outside Makkah, where they were told to get out and wait for a bus to take them the rest of the way. The driver told them to tell the bus driver they had valid iqamas (which they did not), and they paid him SR700. The bus to Makkah cost another SR300. There were 12 or 13 other people on the bus.

Approaching the checkpoint the driver asked if anyone had an iqama, and everyone said no. He pulled over and told everyone to get out. Omar’s father was able to persuade the driver to take them back where he had picked them up. After about half an hour in the same spot, a car pulled up and the driver said that for SR500 he would get them through the checkpoint. He explained that they would have to leave the car and walk through the desert for about 15 minutes.

The family had heard that there were Mujahideen in the desert who would shoot them down if they didn’t walk fast and purposefully. A lot of people were jumping out of cars at the same point and across the street, where they rolled under the fence. Omar and Ahmed say they will never forget the sight of their mother rolling under the barbed wire.

The family were meant to meet their driver after 20 minutes on the other side of the fence. Once in the car, the driver became convinced that someone was following him, and he told the family to pay him and get out.

By now they were about 10 km outside of Makkah, and a taxi eventually charged them SR50 to go the rest of the way. The driver took the back alleys into town.

Total duration of the trip: 10 hours. Total cost: SR1,850.