The last leg of the trip! long entry!
Trip Start
Jun 17, 2009
1
10
Trip End
Jul 13, 2009
Taba, Red Sea and Sinai, Egypt
Saturday, July 11, 2009
excited I am to leave egypt. I had an amazing time and some
unforgetable experiances that I will always be greatful for. I saw
pyramids and tombs and retraced the steps of moses. But it is not some
place I would return to. Iīm glad I went, iīm blessed to have touched
the pyramids and seen the true beauty as God layed the sun to rest over
the red sea. But I am more excited then any trip before to go home.
Backing up I will try and retrace my steps over the past week......once
our falucca arrived in luxor we discovered we were not in luxor at all
but had a 3 hour van ride to Luxor. During the hourney we made 2 stops.
The first was to a camel market. This is a very interesting experiance.
My photoīs share this market better than my words can describe. There
were thousands of camels all with their front left leg tied up to avoid
a stampede. Men were all over shouting at each other in arabic over
camel prices all while the sun seared the desert sand and the
temperature steadily climbed to 125. Yep I was glad that was not my
job. I will never complain again about the lack of airconditioning in
my classroom in late august.
the 2nd stop was toEdfu stemple. This was an amazing temple fortress
but was damaged during the crusades. The stone ceiling was blackned fom
a fire in the 1300īs and I couldnīt help but smile knowing I was
walking through history. The engravings on the wall were not only
interesting but so detailed it was hard to believe they had been carved
thousands of years ago. The interesting thing to note was that during
the crusades the Christians chipped the faces of all the gods away from
the cravings so the gods were faceless. After walking through the
templs and ready for a change in temperature we headed to luxor. After
our 1st shower in 3 days and smelling like a camel myself I watched the
water turn brown from the dust and dirt in my hair. But after that I
felt human again!
That night my group and I went to dinner and enjoyed some meat mush
caserole again. Which was actually really good. Exhausted I called it
an early night or as early as you can call it when you eat dinner at
10pm. The following morning we got up at 5:30 to go see the Valley of
the Kings. All i can say is wow! I went insdie 3 tombs that ancient
pharohs were burried in. The calley is hidden in a mountain valley and
hte latest tomb was discovered in 2007. They are still exploring this
area for more tombs of pharohs as a few have never been found. Because
some of these tombs were recently discovered the carving and paint
colors are pretty fresh in amazing condition. We explored the tombs and
then went ot the valley of the workers which were the tombs built bu
and for the workers who built the pharohs tombs. Their hyrogliphics
were very different but interesting. The most facinating thing was
their drawing contained the family units rather then individual males
as was true of most nobles and high class citizens. Which I would like
to reserach more on when I get home.
After our very eventful morning we went to our guides home whre we had
an amazing egpytian lunch. We then went to the hotel took a 30 minute
nap and hit the souk (market). Normally I love barganning and bringing
home suvaniers but I didnīt buy anything because I was being hounded
and hassled and it was making me clastrophobic and sick. The next day
we traveld to Karnak temple and toured the ruins of one of hte most
famous temples in the world. I ws supposed to ride a hot air ballon and
watch the sunset but the balloon crashed and killed some tourists so
they cancelled the trip. I guess a hot air balloon ride will remain on
my bucket list and I will have to do it somehwere with strickt safety
regulations.
That night we took an overnight sleeper train back to my favorite place
in the world (sarcasim)Cairo. The train agent woke me up at 4:30am for
breakfast before the train arrived. I see a vacation pattern of
absolutely no sleep for 2 weeks.
Once we arrived at Cairo we went ot the islamic and coptic christian
centers of the city to visit some churches and mosques. I was looking
forward to this part of the trip but I was so exhausted that I felt
naucious and coulnīt enjoy my visist. The heat was not helping eithern
nor was my hijab which I had to wear to enter the moques. Once thinkg I
learned a lot about on this trip is the respect for the women of Islam.
Many who are not in great situations or have the choice. These women
though go about their days even in extreme heat. I will reflect more on
this when I get home.
the following morning we left at 5am for St. Kathrines in Sinai. It is
a long 7 hour drive which is not a pleasantry when you have extreme car
sickness. Anytime you dirve more than 20 minutes I get sick. so It was
a very long morning but after getting sick and educating Ahmead what
car sick means lol, we arrived at the base of Mt. Sinai. 1st we passed
under the suex cancal and saw gaurds with their guns purhces on the
hills. Deffintaly not home! that afternoon around 4:30 we started to
climb mt sinai. There are 2 ways to reach the top of Sinai. The 1st is
to take a camel for 2 ours up a winding path that has been carved in
the mountain. The other is to take over 4,000 steps (rocks in no
particular pattern= that need to be climbed rather than actual steps
you walk on. So 4 of us chose to do the steps. Knowing it would be
exhausting but well worth it knowing we retraced the steps of Moses and
pushed ourselves physically. So with 3 liters of water, my ipod, and
camera I started the 2 1/2 hour climb. It was very challenging but an
awesome experiance. Every time we reached another plato I would pause
and snap some pictures. The hike/climb was mostly done in silence as I
drew newar to God through prayer. I kept imagineing the heart of Moses
as he poured out his love and faith even when his people had given up
on God. I kept singing we fall down as I watched the sun start to set
across the horizon. Finally the last 15 minutes I put in my ipod as my
weary legs continued to go on and ignore the burn and listen to my
theme song, The climb.
Maybe because Iīm an adventurous person or have a visual mind but as I
listened to those lyrics and continued my climb I felt a sense of
accmplisjment and pure joy and peace that I havenīt felt in a long
time. When I reached the top I was absolutely breathless and
speakchless but not from the climb but the beauty that is
indescribable. It is as if God took a paintbrush and created a perfect
painting. I have watched sunrised and sunsets all over he world. I have
seen the way the sun hits the water and why they call it the red sea. I
have seen the sun hit the pond on Angkor wat and create a beautiful
reflection but this was spectacular that nothing has come close in
comparison to. It was as though I was on top of the world with my Lord,
peace calm and utter joy is all I can say.
After the sun went down is when my experiance took a turn. I put my
head lamp on and began to hike down the train. It was a 2 and ahalf
hour hike down but the path was not falt but rather rocky. 10 minutes
into the hike I fell and twisted my ankle. It was pitch black and i
couldnīt see a thing. Long story short I had to get off the mountain
and there was no way anyone was going to be able to carry my down since
it was so rocky, so i tied up my ankle the best to my abilty with my
scarf and hiked the 2 and a half hours down. It hurt like hell and by
the time i reached the bottom I had a burning sensation all the way to
my hip. Trying to be touch and yet almost in tears on of the expats at
thebottom took 1 look at me and tried to fireman carry me the 15 minute
walk back to the villiage only to dumb me at hte hospital. I said I was
ok and it was only a sprain but no one would listen and i got to visit
the most disgusting, dirtiest, oldest hosiptal in the most remote
village. I had an x-ray with a mchine from the 1920īs that i thought
might kill me and a doctor who kept yelling at me in arabic and then
took a large neelde out to drain the fluid from my ankle. That is when
all hell broke lose and i started screaming in english, he in arabic
and so um yeah.....Axtually i believe my peaceful joy i felt a few
hours before got to shot to bits in that moment so i will stop that
reflection and go back to the beautiful sunset.
that night i didnīt sleep well and the meds they gave me made me sick.
So i woke up to visit st. katherines monastery the oldest monastery in
the world. There they had a burning bush and many coptic greek relics.
It was interesting. Then we drove the 2hours to the red sea beach camp.
The camp was on the north eastern tip of Sinai. Where you could see the
mountain borders of Isreal, Jordan and Saudia Arabia. It was one of the
most clear waters i have seen but the beach itself was a heap of rocks
and hard coral so you had to war shoes to swim. The next 2 days were
spent at the beach camp. The hut faced the ocean and was a simple stick
hut with a matress on the sand and a moquito net around it. We were all
very excited as we literally watched the moon rise over the mountain
and turn the sea red through reflection. However we learned the meaning
of desert wing which tunrs the air hotter when the sun went down. It
was so hot and stuffy I thought I would melt if it was humanly
possible. For 2 nights not on of us in the group slept. It was hot
unlike anything i can describe. But during the day it was beautiful. On
the2nd day I went diving in the gulf of aquba. It was amazing the coral
was untouched and the wildlife was beautiful. I saw so many unique fish
and had a great dive. After I went back to the hut and met up with the
rest of the group. We hung out on the beach, told stories, watched the
moon rise, watched a beautiful sunrise over the saudia arabian desert
and then left for the 8 hour drive back to Cairo. That is once again a
bad experiance that left a bad taste in my houth for egypt and I will
not discuss it at this time.
When we finally arrived back to Cairo we had dinner and I was so upset
I tried to get hte earliest flight possible out of egpyt. I flew to
rome at 4am after the 4th sleepless night in a row. Right now I sit on
my flight from Rome to Madrid ready for weatern culture and really
ready to go home....one more day!
Egypt was amazig minus some not so good people and the heat. I swa some
awesome sights, I experianced some unique culture, I touched the
pyramids, walked in ancient tombs, visited restored templed, retraced
the steps of biblical figures and saw Godīs painted beauty with so many
sunrised and sunsets. All together I did love my adventure and will
cherish the 2 weeks I spent in Egpyt. But as the same time I wonīt go
back. There are many more unexplored places yet to be discovered and
its time for me to follow my heart and go home where my friends and
family are and where I can peacefully rest my head with a peace knowing
I am right where I belong. So, so long Egpyt and time to rest, relax
and recover and enjoy home before i start planning my next
adventure....until next time!!!! --- Samantha Jo
