Egypt

Egypt could quite possibly be the greatest adventure I have undertaken yet, so brace yourself for a long post. What an experience for a girl like me, who has never been outside of the U.S. until this summer, to travel to a third-world country that used to be one of the greatest kingdoms in the world!

Our week-long trip to Egypt was jam-packed with mini adventures. The first day we made some stops. My favorite stop was in the Wilderness of Zin, where the Israelites once wandered. We stopped to hike up the canyon and view was amazing!

After a few stops, we drove to southern Israel, where we stayed at a Jewish kibbutz, which is basically a mini Zion. I had no idea places like this existed! The kibbutz was beautiful, and our hosts treated us so well. After showing us around, our tour guide took us to the nearby desert. Since none of us had known we would be hiking through the hot desert, we weren't too excited about the idea at first, but I have to admit it is one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. The sand was incredibly soft and fine. Our tour guide had us try putting some in our mouths so we could tell just how small the grains of sand were. After running and jumping in the sand, we got some alone time, which was amazing. We spread out around the desert for about 30 minutes. I can't remember the last time I felt so peaceful. That night we had a barbeque and went swimming.

The next day we crossed the border into Egypt! It was my first time crossing an international border on foot. Right next to the border was the Red Sea, and across the Red Sea we could see Saudi Arabia and Jordan. We spent the rest of the day driving to Cairo, where we went to church. It was my first time going to church on a Friday, but it was one of the most spiritual meetings I have ever attended.

That night we had our first experience eating a meal in Egypt. We weren't supposed to eat fresh fruits or vegetables or anything else that could have potentially been washed in Nile water, so it was mostly just starches for me (and meat for everyone else). Because Nile water is so unclean, it would make us sick. We were also supposed to sanitize our hands after washing them with soap and water, and keep our mouths shut when showering. Unfortunately, I still cannot say I have stepped in the Nile River either.

Early Saturday morning we embarked on our first Egyptian field trip . . . to the great pyramids, of course! On our way there we crossed a road that divides the sandy and barren Sahara from the green foliage through which the Nile flows. We got to go inside one of them, which was way cool. Some of the students were disappointed with the inside, but since my expectations weren't high, I thought it was great! It is amazing to me that the pyramids are still in as good of condition as they are, thousands of years after being built. The pyramids were bigger than I was expecting, but the sphinx was smaller.

Saturday night we took an airplane down to Luxor in southern Egypt (it's interesting to note that southern Egypt is actually called Upper Egypt and the north is called Lower Egypt, because it follows the Nile, which is one of the few rivers in the world that flows south to north). We got to stay at an amazing hotel right on the shore of the Nile.

Sunday morning we got up super early to try to beat some of the heat. We went to the Valley of the Kings, where there are the tombs of many of the New Kingdom pharaohs, including King Tutankhamun. King Tut's tomb was the only one we saw that still houses a body, so we got to see it. That was super cool in a slightly distrubing way. We also saw the funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the first female phraraoh of Egypt, and the place where the papyrus scrolls containing the Book of Abraham may have been found.

After spending a warm afternoon in the hotel pool, we got to ride camels! First, we went on a felucca (big sail boat) ride down and across the Nile River to the place where we got our camels. Riding the camel was awesome, yes, but what I liked even better was the fact that we got to ride them along the Nile River through the green countryside as the sun was setting. It allowed us to see the lifestyle of the Egyptians who live over there. A few of them were working in the fields and many others were just hanging out. Many of the children offered us flowers. I took one, but I later found out they did that so we would pay them. Oops.

That night was my first experience at the Souk, an outdoor market full of the most aggressive merchants I have ever seen. The fun part was haggling with them to see how far you could get them to lower their prices. I ended up getting a soccer jersey and a scarf for $10, which was a pretty good deal.

The next day we visited the Karnak and Luxor temples, which contain some impressive architecture. The temples, which are 3 kilometers apart, used to be connect by a row of sphinx statues, but not anymore. But since they are so close, we got to take a carriage ride from one to the other, which was so much fun! Our driver let us take turns sitting up front with him and "helping" him drive, which was scary since they share the road with cars and they don't have the best driving system.

That afternoon I went back to the Souk with another group of friends. Unless we were in the shade or in an air conditioned building, the heat was hard to stand. We later found out it got up to 122 degrees that afternoon! After the Souk we went to McDonald's for ice cream. Mmm . . . so good.

We went back to Giza that night, but this time by an overnight train instead of an airplane. I felt a little bit like I was living in Harry Potter's world and traveling to Hogwarts. When we were tired, the attendant came around to pull our beds out of the wall for us and that is where we slept for the night. It wasn't the most comfortable trip I've taken, but the experience was fun.

Our professors gave us some time to sleep and shower when we got back to the hotel, and then we went out again. We went to a Coptic Christian church and a Jewish synagogue and then to the Egyptian Museum. Unfortunately, I was super tired by the time we got to the Egyptian Museum and we didn't have much time to spend there, but I do remember a few cool things. We got to see all of the treasure that was found in King Tut's tomb. His was the only tomb that wasn't robbed because it was covered in debris from a tomb that had been built right above it. If he was only 18 when he died and he had that much treasure, I can only imagine how much treasure the other pharoah's had! I also got to see the mummy room, where there were actually mummies. Again, cool in a sort of disturbing way.

After the Egyptian Museum we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Cairo. It was like a little piece of home (America), which I missed for the first time that day. We got to do the YMCA with the employees, and then they taught us some sort of Egyptian line dance. It was way fun.

(this was on the stall door in the bathroom:

"no drugs or nuclear weapons allowed")

Wednesday we left the Africa and drove to the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula (it is still part of Egypt, but it is technically on the Asian continent). We stayed at a hotel in the middle of the desert, where we slept until we were woken up at 2:00 in the morning. At 2:30 we embarked on our journey up Mt. Sinai. We got to the top in time to sing hymns as we watched the sunrise. It was such a special experience.

We spent the rest of the day driving back to Jerusalem. We ate dinner at another kibbutz in southern Israel. We were all so excited because we could eat fresh fruits and vegetables again, and we didn't have to sanitize our hands after washing them. It sure made us appreciate some of those luxuries we don't usually think about! And of course, the best part about the trip to Egypt is that our group is all a little bit closer now. We're basically a family :).