Egypt Trip

Here in amazing experience called IBEX we get 10 days off of school to travel to wherever we want (obviously within reason, I don't think our professors would approve of us going to the Gaza strip or Baghdad or some other such place) So Abby, Jen, Joe and I went to Egypt. There were 12 people total that went to Egypt, but we split into groups of 4 for convenience purposes (have you ever tried to decide where to go or eat in a group of 12 different opinions . . .) This trip was planned completely by the students and done by the students. In other words, our professors did not go with us and lead us around by the hand and tell us what to do and what not to do. So, the planning for our group consisted of well we have a sheruit picking us up at 6 am on Saturday morning and is taking us to the border, but after that we had no hotel reservations or any other planned transportation. This was purposeful on our part because in Egypt you never know what is going to happen and so you have to be VERY flexible. The first day of our trip was spent traveling down to Cairo. We were picked up by a sheruit at 6 am which then took us to the border between Eilat and Taba, this took us about 4 1/2 hours. We went across the border with relative ease, it took us about 2 hours to get all 12 of us across amidst security checks and having to show our passports to 25 different people. Once we were across the border it was kinda like, "Alright, well what do we do now?" We knew we had to get a sheruit to Cairo, but we didn't know where to go to get one, we don't speak Arabic and we have NO clue what the going rate is for a sheruit ride from Taba to Cairo is and in Egypt, you have to barter for EVERYTHING and the first 5 prices that they give you are pretty much ridiculous. So, we ended up getting a sheruit, by the grace of God for a very good price. The sheruit ride was about 6 hours from Taba to Cairo. With the help of a very nice Egyptian Tourist Policeman, we were able to find a nice hotel in Cairo and check in. By this time it is about 8 pm, but we hadn't really eaten anything since that morning so we went on a hunt for some food on the streets of Cairo. That was a very interesting experience. Cairo is loud, dirty, crowded with lots of nasty men staring. We were unsuccessful in our quest so we ended up coming back to the hotel restaurant where we had a great traditional Egyptian meal. We then played cards until it was time for bed. The next day we found our way to the Cairo Museum where we were able to see all sorts of amazing artifacts. We went into the mummy rooms and saw many of the different Pharaoh's that we had been learning about in our classes or had heard about from our history classes. We were also able to see all of the King Tut artifacts and much much more. We then caught a taxi ride to the Giza pyramids. Taxi rides in Cairo are . . . interesting . . . You pretty much fear for your life and crossing the street is definitely taking your life into your hands. Well, we got to the pyramids where we rented camels for 3 hours and took a camel ride around the pyramids with our guides. It was amazing to see the pyramids. They are HUGE! With a little bakshsish (bribe) we were able to climb part of the way up one of the small pyramids. We then went to TGI Fridays for dinner where we met up with one of the other groups. We ended up hanging out there for quite a while. After much laughter and some great food we navigated our way to the train station where we caught the all night train down to Luxor. I thought the train ride was pretty cool, but like everything in Egypt it was quite an experience, we took the first class cabin and even in first class we had mice running around at our feet and in the bathrooms . . .well let's just say that the floor moved with every movement of the train. Anyways, we arrived in Luxor at about noon the next day. With the help of another very nice Tourist Policeman we were able to find a 3 star hotel (by Egyptian standards)to stay in. The hotel was also quite an experience, that night Abby and I slept without moving and without the covers because we didn't want to touch them. Once we had checked into the hotel we walked to the Karnak temple. This was AMAZING! The temple covers 60 acres. In one part there are 135 columns, each of which would take about 10 people spreading out their arms to reach all the way around. We were able to explore the temple and managed to get yelled at by the people at the temple for climbing on something that we shouldn't have, but there wasn't a sign and the door was open . . . Once the Karnak temple closed, we split up and a few of us went to McDonalds for dinner. It is incredible how good McDonalds tastes when you haven't had American food for about 2 1/2 months! After dinner we went to the Luxor temple. It was dark by this time so they had the temple lit up and it was beautiful. We spent a couple of hours exploring and taking many pictures and again managed to get yelled at for climbing. Abby, Jen, Joe and I then went back to the hotel again and played cards until bedtime again. The next day, we took a motorboat across the Nile and got a taxi ride to the Valley of the Kings. That was really awesome as well. We were able to go into 3 different tombs and see all of the beautifully painted heiroglyphics. Once we were done exploring we hiked over the mountain that seperated us from Hatshepsut Temple on the other side. We then spent the rest of the morning there exploring and taking more pictures. We then walked from the Hatshepsut temple to Hatshepsut restaurant a couple of miles away where we had lunch. After lunch we went to Medinet Habu, which is another huge temple. There we again explored and took many pictures. We then walked to the Colosse which are two massive statues. Once we had seen them we walked back to the Nile where we took a Felucca ride (kind of like a sailboat) on the Nile during sunset. It was beautiful! That night we caught the all night bus from Luxor to Suez. This was a crazy experience! First of all, the bus is filthy, none of us wanted to touch anything. Second, the bus driver put on this 'fascinating' Jean Claude Van Dame movie. Third, the driver was all over the road, (we were going around blind corners on the opposite side of the road) also he would lay on the horn, which was super loud (so forget sleeping), all the time. Lastly, we would make frequent stops where everyone else who was on the bus would get off and smoke a couple of cigarettes. We finally made it to Suez safely at about 7 am. From there we caught a sheruit down to Mt. Siani. Once we were there we bought some snacks at a 'grocery' store and then proceeded to climb Mt. Siani. We found out later that this is the hardest hike in the Middle East because it is 3,750 steps straight up to the top. It was insane, but we made it! We watched the sunset from the top of the mountain and then hiked down a little ways to a bedouin 'campground' where we rented blankets and matresses. Mt. Siani is FREEZING, literally, so we needed these blankets and matresses for the night. However, these matresses were nasty and the blankets were, well they pretty much took them off the camels and gave them to us. So that night we all slept huddled together to try and preserve body heat because it was so cold. We slept so close that Jen was pretty much laying on top of me for most of the night, we literally couldn't roll over. The stars are incredible from up there though, so it was worth it. The next morning we watched the sunrise and read the passages from the Bible about Moses receiving the ten commandments and of Elijah running to Siani. We then hiked down the mountain and caught a sheruit to Taba where we crossed the border back into Israel. We were all excited to be back in Israel. After 3 days of not showering, 2 nights of not much sleep, smelly camel blankets and being fed up with the nasty men and tired of being hassled wherever we went, we were all excited to be back. That afternoon we caught the bus up to Jerusalem and then the bus back to the Moshav. So that was our crazy, exciting and tiring trip to Egypt. We saw the Lord's grace every day in keeping us safe when we had no idea what we were doing and bringing people in our path to help us. All the glory belongs to Him. Well thanks for reading I hope that I was able to communicate well the insanity. If you want to hear more, I would be happy to talk to you when I get home, which will be in one week. For now I have to go and study for finals. YIKES!