Day 5

10/16/10 7pm (10am PST)

Today was filled with all sorts of drama. We awoke to a loud knock at our door at 1am. By that time, I had already slept 5 hours. Talia and I (along with the rest of our group, in their respective rooms) scrammed to get ready to be ready and in the lobby by 1:30am. We were at the beginning of the hike site at 2am with a mass of people and busses at the bottom of the mountain. It was dark and the air was thick, full of cigarette smoke. Pretty gross, if you ask me. It took us a while to get to the top. About 3 ½ hours. Talia was coughing and wheezing the whole way up so we decided to get her a camel the rest of the way up (until we hit the steps, where the camels can no longer “hump” it). That helped a lot. I wanted one so bad but I just couldn’t justify it with being an able-bodied 23 year-old who wasn’t sick. I was just being lazy. So I toughed it out. We made it to the top just in time for sunrise. Oh my goodness. The whole way up I was thinking about how I was tired and sweaty and was tired of dodging camel poop but then we got to the top and I was like “oh yeah… this is why I’m here.” It was incredible. 6 o’clock rolled around and it was time to meet up with our Bedouine guide who I can only assume his name is “Felfel” because that was the name he gave us to respond to and call to when we needed him. We started to head down the mountain and by this time the sun was out and we could actually see where we were going. Although that was a plus (being able to walk without needing a flashlight) it still didn’t help us much as we would have liked it to. We reached the first checkpoint down the mountain but still had many steps to go. There was a “danger” sign and mom wanted to snap a photo of it with the mountain background before we kept going. As she hurried off to the side she took a spill and fell…. Hard. Her camera, of course, smashed to the ground and broke (for now at least). That part was just an annoying inconvenience but she was definitely hurting and it was hard to tell how bad it was until she got up. As she was sitting down, trying to rest before she tried putting weight on her hurt ankle, we were all gazing up at the sea of people, filed in a line coming down the steps of the mountain. We spotted the rest of our group, and as we did, Judy, one of our group members, probably in her 70s fell face first into the ground… there were nothing but rocks below. It made SUCH a loud sound, I was almost positive there was something terribly wrong with her… something along the lines of a serious concussion to the point of a coma, her snapping her neck or hurting her spine… something like that. Thank God after about 5 minutes we saw her moving. To make a long story short, two of the bedouine guides carried her down the mountain. As we saw her passing us, she had a bloody scarf of sorts wrapped around her head and she had a big bloody gash on her cheek. She looked as if she was in shock, with her mouth wide open. It was terrifying. We helped mom down the mountain until we reached the camels. She was crying and whimpering whenever she put too much weight on her ankle. Thank goodness for the camels the rest of the way down. There was a hospital right across the street from our hotel (in the middle of nowhere!) so we stopped there before the hotel. Mom and Judy went into get checked out. Long story short, mom broke her ankle (very minimally, but the doctor said there was definitely some sort of break) but it could have been him saying that so he could charge her for a cast. She refused the cast and was on her way. She wants to get a second opinion in Tel Aviv. Judy wants to sew the Bedouine? Crazy. Anyway, after that we visited St. Catherine’s Monastary; the oldest working Christian Monastery in the world. Built in 542AD, named after a Greek Christian. It was beautiful. In the monastery is the supposed burning bush. It was pretty beautiful. After that, we were on our way for the Israel border. It was sort of hellish getting through but we made it. At the border during customs and passport check we ended up seeing a group of sweet Korean women who gave mom medicine when they saw her fall (painkillers and vitamin C). It was so sweet. Now we are in the southern most city in Israel at the King Solomon Hotel. We drove along the Golf of Aqaba where we could see Saudi Arabia across the water and then what turned into part of the Red Sea where we can now see Jordan across the water. It’s a super nice hotel. Today was so miserable that we definitely deserve this. Mom has a pretty nice wheel chair too J

I already forgot which day. Day 4?

10/14/10 9pm (12:00pm PST)

Today was definitely a day of mosques and sickness. It was our free day in Cairo and we decided to do an Islamic Tour. I was a little surprised when the folks opted for that but it was a cheaper alternative to 600 dollar/person day in Luxor or a 150 dollar/person day in Alexandria. I didn’t mind it. However, today was the warmest day so far and by george, I grew tired of taking my shoes off and putting scarves on my head in that horrid weather! Plus I was holding a parasol and trying to fan myself while trying to make sure my shoes didn’t touch the ground AND take pictures??? It was challenging for sure. We went to 3 mosques before we said “no more, thank you.” They certainly were beautiful. One of the most interesting “fun facts” for the day was that Christian architects designed the mosques we went to (along with countless others that exist) because they were the best architects and they were also the best carpenters so they did all of the intricate woodwork for the alters etc. After that we went on another walk through the bazaar we visited yesterday but this time FAR less shopping and then went to lunch. After lunch we returned the hotel where we then spent the rest of our Egyptian money at the gift shop inside the hotel and then retired. Talia and Dad woke up sick so Mom and I made sure to NOT share water bottles with them and use an excess of hand sanitizer. Talia is snoring right now and I can hear her phlegm gargling. Ewww. Tomorrow we meet at 8:30am for our drive to/through Sinai. Hmmmmmm….

day 3

10/13/10 6:30pm

So just to correct myself from yesterday… It was not Ramses who ruled between the ages of 9-19… that was TUT! He was the fella. Which definitely confused me because how could a king be that famous when he probably couldn’t be THAT influential if he ruled when he was that young. But it turns out his is the grave that archeologists learned most about because it was actually intact. No one wanted to rob it. Well, maybe they did want to… but they didn’t. So when he was found, they found all 4 shrines, the sarcophagus, the 3 coffins found one inside of the next, the mask and the body!!! Bam. Anywho… we started the day off with some churches. A Christian church and then a Synagogue. Apparently, 85% of Egyptians are Muslim and only 15% are Christian. I believe it. After that we visited Cairo Museum. That’s where we saw the King Tut exhibit. Unfortunately the sarcophagus, and the mummified body itself is at Luxor but everything else is in Cairo. It was awesome but sooooo packed and a little smelly. Don’t use the bathroom there, you’re better off at a public park restroom. Mmmm hmmmm. After the museum we had lunch on this boat restaurant on the Nile. After that we went to Mohammad Ali Mosque. That was an experience for sure. Had to take the shoes off, scarf over the head… The whole kit and kaboodle. It was huge!!! Super beautiful. THEN it was time for the bazaar!!! That was something else. Just as I imagined it. Our tour guide said to haggle the first offered price down by 20-50% So… I did. Some good deals… some not so good. Bought a couple of hats (think Aladdin) some percussion instruments… some scarab type goodies… leather camels. The reg. We all met up at a Shish bar and then headed back to the hotel to change for the Nile dinner cruise. That’s what’s next. I got ready in a flash and now I’m waiting to meet up with the group. I hope it’s good. I know there will be food and belly dancing. That’s sort of all I know. Well… I guess I should head downstairs. Goodnight children. I miss you so. ……
Ok. Back from the cruise. Saqqara beer is the jam. Belly dancers have a lot of endurance and I have a new found respect for them. I’m exhausted. Nighty night.

Day 2

10/12/10 7:45pm (10:45am PST)

FULL DAY! I’m finding that the Ramses Hilton likes to feed us. Started the day off with breakfast at the hotel and met the rest of the group in the Lobby. There are only 11 people in our tour for the next 2 weeks. I’ve been on two other tours in my life and both were over 50 people. That being said, although you may think that 11 people are easier to handle, when a couple pairs of people think they are entitled to make the rest of the group wait, constantly, and somehow NEVER notice when they step in front of other people’s pictures…. Well, it complicates things. It’s all good though. I knew that Talia and I were going to be the youngest in the group, but next to us, my parents are second youngest. Anywhooooo… so we started our journey off to see some pyramids! But not the ones we thought we were going to see immediately in Giza. We went to a place where there was certainly a lot of sand, some tombs, some camels and a pyramid with a lot of steps!! We learned a lot about Ramses II. Apparently he was the most important Ramses. Ruled between the ages of 9 until 19 (when he dies). Tomorrow we’re supposed to find out about the controversies and different theories about his death. Oh yeah, I forgot about this other museum we went to before the step pyramid. There was a mini alabaster sphinx and a very large Ramses II that lied down. Everything there was definitely BC… definitely BC. We learned some fun facts during the drive. 22 million people live in Cairo, alone. The Nile has no been home to hippos or crocodiles since the building of the high damn sometime in the 60s, and it’s 500 km long! Visited a carpet making school, which was pretty intense but awesome. Had some lunch and then it was time for GIZA! We checked out the main 3 pyramids and took some photos and all that jazz, and then it was time for camel riding!! It was sweet. Definitely a lot of laughing. We sort of caravanned during our short ride and took tons of pictures. Mom is hoping that one of them will be our Christmas picture. After the ride it was time to see THE Sphinx. Unfortunately, we saw her during sun down so the pictures were not premium photos. By the by, she’s 70 X 20 meters. After that we went to a papyrus museum and cartouche shop. It’s the piece of jewelry (long necklace charm) where they put your name in hieroglyphics. Man, I’m beat!! We got back to the hotel an hour ago and just had dinner. I would like to be doing more shopping but the street vendors make me not want to do any buying. They’re soooooo obnoxious but still not as bad as China. Pay more in a shop with less hassle or pay less on the street with a massive headache?

Day 1

10/11/10 8pm Cairo (11am PST)

So I’m exhausted. Today was full of travel but not in the way where you really got to see that much. Our flight out of JFK was a bit delayed. It was delayed in arriving and then once we finally got on the plane, there was a passenger who collapsed before take off. I had an isle seat and he passed out right in front of me but closest to my dad. My dad sort of caught him so he didn't hit the heck super hard and didn’t bump his head. It was scary. Poor guy. It delayed our take off by a good chunk of time. Took a happy sleeping pill right before take off…. I woke up with an hour left in our flight. It was brilliant. However… freezing and uncomfortable. Eh well. We arrived at 3:45 Cairo time. Looking out of the window before we landed, the building all looked like neutral, earth-toned legos. There was also a noticeable amount of sand J Picked up our Egypt VISA and got our passports stamped and we were out of there! We got picked up by our tour leader (not to be confused with tour GUIDE) and he took us to our hotel. There’s where I am right now… Ramses HILTON! Outside of our balcony is the Nile River. More noticeably, there is some serious hustle and bustle going on out there!! Had a complimentary dinner just now and exchanged some doll hairs for Egyptian pounds. It’s about 5.6 to our dollar. Tomorrow = pyramids time J Apparently the family goal is to find four fancy camels and some how manage to take a picture on them in front of the pyramids. That shouldn’t be too hard, right? Listening to some Beirut, Talia’s taking a shower… I’m afraid to use the electrical outlets for fear of destroying my computer. I have adapters but I just haven’t the CAJONES. I’m missing loved ones already. Can’t exactly pick up my cell phone and use it, at this point in time. Snicklefritz. XO

Day 1

10/11/10 8pm Cairo (11am PST)

So I’m exhausted. Today was full of travel but not in the way where you really got to see that much. Our flight out of JFK was a bit delayed. It was delayed in arriving and then once we finally got on the plane, there was a passenger who collapsed before take off. I had an isle seat and he passed out right in front of me but closest to my dad. My dad sort of caught him so he didn't hit the heck super hard and didn’t bump his head. It was scary. Poor guy. It delayed our take off by a good chunk of time. Took a happy sleeping pill right before take off…. I woke up with an hour left in our flight. It was brilliant. However… freezing and uncomfortable. Eh well. We arrived at 3:45 Cairo time. Looking out of the window before we landed, the building all looked like neutral, earth-toned legos. There was also a noticeable amount of sand J Picked up our Egypt VISA and got our passports stamped and we were out of there! We got picked up by our tour leader (not to be confused with tour GUIDE) and he took us to our hotel. There’s where I am right now… Ramses HILTON! Outside of our balcony is the Nile River. More noticeably, there is some serious hustle and bustle going on out there!! Had a complimentary dinner just now and exchanged some doll hairs for Egyptian pounds. It’s about 5.6 to our dollar. Tomorrow = pyramids time J Apparently the family goal is to find four fancy camels and some how manage to take a picture on them in front of the pyramids. That shouldn’t be too hard, right? Listening to some Beirut, Talia’s taking a shower… I’m afraid to use the electrical outlets for fear of destroying my computer. I have adapters but I just haven’t the CAJONES. I’m missing loved ones already. Can’t exactly pick up my cell phone and use it, at this point in time. Snicklefritz. XO

It's all happening

Tomorrow morning... 6:30am... I'm leaving on a jet plane. It's super stress provoking to go on "vacation" when you're in school, but seriously... I need this so much. Although my life is sort of like the elevator business right now, I really feel like stars are aligning. Very slowly, but I can see it happening. God has dropped some amazing people into my life, along with scooting some of them closer to me. I'm almost done packing. It's going to be an amazing trip. Egypt, Jordan and Israel. I was at a house show last weekend and a good friend told me he thinks I'm going to come back a different person. I know he didn't mean for it to sound dramatic and I didn't take it that way. I understood. Yes, I'll still be me but I feel like it would be impossible for me to NOT come back a little more enlightened and inspired. At the very least, I will have ridden a camel. I've never done that before :) Hmmmm... It's all happening.