Egypt: We made it!

After months of debating whether or not Westmont would let us go to Egpyt because of the Revolution and perceived violence, we were ecstatic when we went through that border crosser. We finally made it! Driving through the Saini to Dahab, we got our first glimpses of Sarah's country--bright blue Red Sea on one side, huge rocky reddish brown mountains jutting up on the other. Once we arrived in Dahab, a small beachy resort town, we had an awesome Middle Eastern style dinner, on rugs on the floor perched on the edge of the sea. Our Octopus Hotel in Dahab left some things to be desired...like maybe no cockroaches next time, or air conditioning that doesn't sound like a Storm Trooper invading our room, or fresh water instead of salt water for the sink and showers. But nothing could bring us down, we were in Egypt!

Our first day was another amazing beach day at a nearby resort. Swimming, beach volleyball, I even tried wake-boarding...the weather was hot and the water was perfect and clear. It was like a vacation in Hawaii, except everything was cheaper and you said "shokran" instead of "mahalo" to thank people. We stayed all day on the beach and then headed back to our rooms for about three hours of sleep.

12:30 GET UP! It's time to hike Mount Saini! Onto the bus, trying to fall back asleep, then off the bus again and into the cold. It's 3:00 AM, time to start the hike. We follow our Bedouin guide, stumbling in the dark up, up, up. Scrambling over loose rocks and sliding on sand, trudging past huge black rocks--oh wait, those are sleeping camels. Higher and higher we go, and finally at about 4:15 we reach the last section of the climb: the dreaded stairs. Flashbacks of the difficult Masada climb whip through my brain as me and Reyn push ourselves up 700-something stairs, not letting each other fall behind. Around 5:00, totally out of breath and swearing to tell Coach Larralde about this when he claims I didn't work out on my semester abroad, we are rewarded with a gorgeous view of the sunrise and surrounding mountaintops and valleys. Group photo time. We read about Moses and the Ten Commandments, given atop this holy mountain thousands of years ago, drinking Bedouin tea and trying not to freeze in the cool morning sun. Another hour or so of stairs down the mountain, and we reach St. Catherine's monestary, a historic old place where we eat breakfast. Then it's a six-hour bus ride to Cairo--I mean Giza.