EGYPT: The Long Awaited Post!

Yes, friends, I really DID go to Egypt! The internet has been horrible lately, so posting has not been a simple thing. Today, though, I’m with a friend and we’ve splurged on internet at the Sheraton (possibly the swankiest hotel on the continent) to take care of some work stuff, updates, etc.

I went with three friends–two coworkers (Derek and Jim) and another American transplanted to Addis (Corrie) and we managed to squeeze a lot into our 10 days–we saw amazing historical sites and remnants, traveled a good bit, passed through mountains, valleys, deserts and rivers, ate a ridiculous amount of food, and laughed a lot.

We started our trip in Cairo, where we saw the pyramids from camelback, explored the huge Egyptian Museum, saw the ruins (or site of) Memphis, wandered around Islamic Cairo and through a mosque and the shopping district, and, of course, ate. Egyptian food is quite good, but since we were coming from the far-less-developed world we got inordinately excited over things like McDonalds, ice cream, TGI Fridays, and some amazing sushi!

From Cairo we headed south to Luxor via an overnight train. Being mild cheapskates we opted for the “sitting” and not the “sleeping” train. We were told that the seats reclined, but that was a lie. SO, Derek and I didn’t sleep at all, but coffee, sunshine, a swimming pool, and 3000 year old ruins are good antidotes for exhaustion. Luxor was one of our favorite spots–we had a great hotel with a brand-new pool, and we enjoyed just walking around the city. The Luxor Temple was by far one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen! We got there around sunset, and you could almost imagine the original grandeur of this ancient temple. Unfortunately my camera decided to begin dying while we were there, and when I downloaded the photos I realized there must have been spots on my lenses! We spent the next couple of days around Luxor visiting tombs and temples and seeing more hieroglyphics than you can fathom. We took a 2 hour sunset “cruise” on a felucca (sail boat ish), which was incredible.

From Luxor, we took a public bus to another town . . . or tried. We ended up sitting by the side of the road in the Eastern Sahara desert until about 1:30 am . . . which was really not so bad, except that Jim and I were sick by this point! That was only the beginning of our transportation distresses that day, though. We arrived in the town of Hurghada around 3:30 am and spent a couple of hours in the lobby/restaurant of one fine establishment named the “Al-Ehl Bite”. Our whole goal in this ordeal was to make it to the ferry to get across the Red Sea to the Sinai Peninsula; however, when we arrived at the teeming seaside ferry landing, we were told that there were no tickets. By this point all four of us were exhausted and not in the best of moods for dealing with possibly having to change our whole trip plan (the ferry only leaves a few days of the week, so to not get on it would mean losing the rest of the trip itinerary). We proceeded to go to every ferry ticket office, about every 30 minutes, for the next few hours. FINALLY, about 3o minutes before departure time, we got tickets and boarded the ferry along with a couple hundred other people. What followed was the most turbulent ride of my life–the ferry attendants were passing out Dramamine like it was candy! We made it, though, and took a 2 hour minibus ride to our seaside hostel in Dahab.
It was a lovely place (minus the too-friendly Egyptian men!!  My “wedding ring” and male companions helped a little, but it was pretty annoying!), and across the water we could see Saudi Arabia. Again, we ate . . . fresh fish, calamari, shrimp, and amazing coffee shakes. Mmmm. Our motto of “eating our way across Egypt” was not an exaggeration! We spent an afternoon snorkeling–the coral and fish were brilliant and amazing!

From Dahab, we took a late night minibus trip to Sinai. We started our hike up at about 1:30 am. I’m either old or a total wimp, because while the esteemed Lonely Planet said that it was an “easy” hike, I was struggling! I do have a couple of pretty bum knees, though, and the final 350 stone steps up to the peak of Mt Sinai were pretty brutal. It was a beautiful night–moonlight was our guide as we climbed. Even so, it was impossible not to notice how barren the land was. It was probably the most desolate place I have ever seen. It was so surreal being there, and in Egypt in general. I don’t think I will ever read the Old Testament the same way again. Passages kept coming to me–as we saw tiny carved gods, lavish temples, the fertile green Nile Valley, the Red Sea, and finally Mt Sinai. Suddenly, I could understand the children of Israel’s weak hearts and their desire to go back to where it was green. I can’t say I would have done anything different. Grace is an amazing, incomprehensible gift! We arrived at the top around 4am, and huddled under a blanket to wait for sunrise. By the time the sun struck the mountains on the horizen, there were probably a couple hundred people on the mountain and a general cheer of amazement rose up. It was incredible.

The walk down was much easier than the way up, and we spent a little time at St Katherine’s Monastery, built in 527 BC (supposedly on the site of the burning bush). From there it was back to Dahab for a day of lounging and some more good food.

We then traveled back to Cairo and wandered around Coptic Cairo, ate Egyptian food one last time, and went back to the Islamic markets.
The trip was crowned by the discovery of a STARBUCKS in the Cairo Airport as we were leaving–it was Corrie’s birthday, and it was an unexpectedly wonderful present! We were blessed indeed to have seen and experienced Egypt–there’s so much more we could have seen, but that may have to wait for another lifetime:-)