I know I know I took forever but that's what happens when school starts up, my time on the computer is spent coding and wikapedia-ing, not blogging. But here goes:
So I think where I left off we had been to the Valley of the Kings. The next day we went and saw the Karnak Temple which is bigger than Luxor temple, but also was way more crowded. The only interesting thing that happened was that Cabby thought it would be a good idea to try to get a pencil rubbing of a hieroglyphic. Out of nowhere comes a ministry of tourism officer who tells her no. She obliges, but he follows us around for the rest of time, just to make sure. After leaving the temple we hopped back onto a plane to Cairo. Once back in Cairo, Cabby, Jessica, and I wondered the streets and found some local markets where we stocked up on some fruits and sweets before we left in the morning. I think that was my favorite night out of the whole trip, we weren't in a huge group snapping pictures. In fact the locals were asking to take pictures with us!
The next day we began our very long trek to Mount Sinai. An added bonus is that Mount Sinai is actually on the continent of Asia. So I went to Africa and Asia in two weeks, not bad. Once we got to the lovely hotel we were staying at we all kind of crashed. We were beginning our hike up Mount Sinai at 2am so we all had dinner and tried to take naps. Unfortunately whatever I had for dinner didn't agree with me and I was up at 2am running to the bathroom and debating whether I should do the hike or not. Well for one thing I still hadn't ridden a camel and for another my motto is go big or go home so I threw some puke bags in my pocket, swallowed some Amodium and got on the bus to begin the longest day, ever. We got to the base of the mountain and we got paired off with our camels. Because I wasn't feeling very well and because the camel wranglers were yelling at us there are no pictures of us on the camels. But I can tell you that for me it was amazing. I fit better on a camel than I think I do a horse and my camel fit my personality. We booked it to the front of the line and then we slowed down and blocked the trail so that no one could pass. I had no control and I thought it was hilarious.
I just have this picture in my head of how it looked: Camels lined up walking up the mountain, people hiking up with flashlights that were really needed because the moon was so bright, and dry mountainous regions as far as the eye can see. You can't forget the amazing stars either. We were on the camels for about an hour and something about the outdoors and the new experience made my sickness disappear for the time being.
After being let off by the camels we waited for a group to catch up to begin the ascent of the rest of the mount. The rest of the hike consisted of 750 steps. But they weren't really steps, they were more like rock slabs balanced on one another. It took a good long time to get up them but once we did we hunkered down to wait for the sunrise.
And this is the part that most people tell me to leave out: it wasn't all that worth it. The sunrise was great I admit but I could have seen the same thing on the beach on the east coast. The one thing that I thought was cool were the random groups of people who were praying and chanting. I guess what I mean to say is for a pilgramage it's awesome, for a hike...not so much.
After the sun rose and we filled our cameras with many a pictures we begun our hike down. It took forever. About 2 and half hours to be exact. And the Professor was none to happy to see our leader when we got down because we were a half hour late. Without any rest we headed into the monastery of St. Katherine, which is at the base of Mount Sinai. Honestly I was so tired I don't remember much about it.
At about mid-afternoon we piled back on the bus and began our final trek to the Red Sea. The final place we visited was the monastery of St. Paul at the Red Sea. It was a fun monastery and it was within those divine walls that a declaration was passed. A monk was showing us around and at this point we were all kind of tired and loopy so we were joking around with the good-natured monk. After the tour we sat and had tea with him. He came up to me and asked me my name. I told him and he told me that I was funny. Funny! That's practically from the mouth of God that I Elyse Lynn Fosse is hilariously funny! Clearly this was my pilgramage.
After saying good bye to the monk with the fantastic sense of humor we plopped ourselves down at the resort we were staying. I laid on the beach at the Red Sea for an entire day, I even enjoyed a pizza and beer there. Then at 2am we begun our trek into Cairo and our flights home.
It was an amazing two weeks and I think this blogs shows just how much we did. I was glad to come home and not have to worry about drinking the water or accidently dipping my toothbrush in the faucet but I truly enjoyed Egypt. The people I met were welcoming and the educational vacation was interesting.
Now it's back to homework and job searching, but more on that later.
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