trip to Saint Catherine

Original Itinerary: Depart campus at 8:00pm. Drive to Sinai. Arrive at the base of the mountain/ St. Catherine's monastery. Hike the mountain and get to the top by sunrise. Hike down the mountain and visit the monastery. Drive to Nuweiba, check in at the hotel. Enjoy day at the beach. Next day breakfast at the hotel, check out, and drive back to Cairo. Well those plans changed! This itinerary left a lot of stuff out, I even added some of my own information to clear it up for you a bit. Notice how seldom meals are mentioned. I got this itinerary from school. But here's how it really went: Meet outside the dorms at 8:00pm. Wait for a bus. Find one 20-person bus for the 24 students going. Wait for a second bus. Give up on waiting and half the crew leaves at 9:00pm to get to Sinai on time to hike it and see the sunrise. Drive and drive and drive. 2:00am and still driving so we change plans. We'll hike it tomorrow. Drive a few more hours to the village of Nuweiba. Arrive just in time to see the sky barely light up from the impending dawn! Sleep for a few hours. Breakfast at the hotel. Enjoy the day at the beach. Dinner. Depart the hotel at 10:00pm for Sinai. Arrive, hike, see the sunrise. Visit the monastery. Breakfast. Depart back to Cairo.

The change of plans worked out. None of us got much sleep on that 6 hour bus ride but the 3 hours in the hotel room were good enough right? It was a restful day at the beach for the most part. I think only one person there felt sufficiently rested up for a 4 hour hike up Moses mountain. The beach was somewhat enjoyable and pretty. There were no waves and there were a lot of sandbars meaning you could walk far out into the sea without getting very deep. When I went back to shore, however, I was greeted with hives growing on my arms and legs. I had no idea what to do. I rinsed off at the beach showers and waited for the hives to go away. They eventually did. I'm still not sure what the reaction was to, if anyone has any ideas feel free to share them with me. Next time I'm bringing Benadryl. Hiking Mt. Sinai was amazing. I really loved it. The stars were perfect and amazing. So bright and numerous! Every group that hikes this mountain is required to have a "guide." Our guide was particularly annoying. He wanted us to go faster all the time and kept yelling at us "AFRICAAA!!" That was apparently our group name. I have no idea why. We only had two Arabic speakers in our entire group. Who's idea was that?! The "chaperones" didn't even speak Arabic. Oh well. The sunrise was beautiful and breathtaking. It was a little chilly but I was more than prepared for that minor detail! In the midst of taking way too many pictures of the sun rising my camera died. There was one point during the hike where I tried using my camera as a flashlight, that probably contributed to it dying at a crucial point in the gorgeous sunrise! The monastery was at the bottom of the mountain and was uninteresting. That might seem rude but considering how much sleep we had gotten and how many hours we had been hiking and how the temperature was rising and the food intake was depleting, nothing could hold my attention. I saw the "burning bush" though. It was a lot bigger than I though it would be. And my instincts were telling me "FOOD" before they were telling me "enjoy this fascinatingly historical shrub." I took one good long look at it and left. The next part of the trip is the part I have the largest complaint about. Ugh. I apologize for my attitude. Well, we decided to go to a restaurant vs "grab and go." I was concerned about getting nutrients instead of cookies and chips at a gas station (which is what I assumed "grab and go" meant). After 30 minutes of our bus being lost and confused about where this restaurant was, we made it to our friends and those on the other bus at some very secluded restaurant. It was a "buffet." Rolls, cheese, tomato slices, cucumber slices, cold potatoes, cold beans, warm juices, and hot tea. Does this sound buffet to you? Well, I tried to get those nutrients. After some complaints we managed to get the kitchen to make us "omlettes." These were just egg folded in half, no cheese! No veggies or nutrients!

The 6 hour drive home commenced. A couple hours in our tire popped. We stopped and got more snacks (I guess the brunch wasn't substantial) and got the tire fixed. Half an hour later and we were off! I slept a lot more on this stint than the others, reasonably so. 8 hours of hiking and 4 hours of sleep the day before = sleep through practically anything. Unfortunately, about 1.5 hours from campus and the tire popped again. We drove slowly all the way back to campus and made it by 7:00pm. These trips are so poorly planned, I can't stress that enough. There wasn't even a chaperone on this bus! It was so cool to see this sunrise and the mountains though. I really really enjoyed the stars the most. Huge sky and bright stars. The moon was a tiny sliver. I'd like to go if the moon was full and do it all without flashlights, I'm sure it's doable. Our eyes can adjust to darkness after about 20 minutes, did you know that? We can have night vision comparable to that of a cat!

Spring break is just around the corner, but before my trip to Jordan can happen, I have to get passed 3 midterms and 1 ginormous project. I love you all. Wishing you the best!