These last three days have been quite the physical test! Two days ago our group was in St. Catherine, a small tourist town located right at the base of Mt Sinai. So at 2:30pm we started our trek up the famous mountian! The first 80 minutes of the walk were really simple. They were always up, but wide smooth paths the whole time. Then it started going up--straight up! We had steps for the last 20 minutes to reach a summit that was completely worth the climb! Desert mountains as far as the eye could see! A small church was constructed at the top and served us very well in blocking the wind. Our visit was unique to all the other cross-culturals yet because we were met with snow at the top! Snow in the desert is not a common sight, but we were blessed with the chance to witness it! Our weather has been like that though. Rain is quite rare in Egypt and we had rain in both Luxor and Cairo. Jordan was also wet when we arrived. I've enjoyed the weather!
Yesterday was a travel day as we caught a ferry to Jordan and a bus to Petra. Today we hiked around ancient Petra for 9 hours! The valley is beautiful! I've only seem the movie once and I don't remember it well, but apparently Petra was in Indiana Jones: the Last Crusade. A lot of us here want to watch it but can't find it anywhere. So someone watch it for me and tell me what you think. I'd guess that we hiked around 7-8 miles today up and down canyon walls. We saw more facades than I can count and I was constantly amazed at the dexterity of donkeys.
Tomorrow we head out into the desert to spend parts of 2 days and a full night in tents with Bedouins! A part of that time will be camel rides. That's a bit freightening, but I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun!
I have really enjoyed getting to know what I refer to as my "family" these last 2 weeks. It's one big happy family of 30 students and 2 fantastic parents! It's been a blast sitting and talking with different people on the bus and walking with different people during our tours! As Sarah said today, it's really interesting to see who you are with by the end of the day! Then you can trace the events that made it happen. It's such a great family--I don't care who I spend the day with!
Reading/summarizing the story of the Exodus on the top of Mt Sinai was eye opening to be sure! I'd been in Egypt and saw it's splendor and beauty. Then I drove out into the desert and was tired of the sand and mountains very quickly. And finally I climbed Mt Sinai and saw that the desert continued as far as I could see. From that spot going back to Egypt looked very tempting! I knew Jordan awaited me so I kept going. The Israelites had the promise of a land and signs of a God who loved them, but continuing on into the desert was quite the step of faith!
My hour is up. Thanks for all those that read and post comments! I love to read them!
5 comments:
I'm picturing what you may have seen at Petra because on Tues your mother showed Shane and I her holy land pictures from Jan 1976. Love you!
sounds incredible...wish I could have been there :). Have fun in the desert!
it's interesting that you're experiencing unusual weather--you're getting precipitation where there usually isn't any, while when i was in england, we DIDN'T get any, and there usually is lots. strange.
i hope you enjoy your time with the bedouins! i bet that will be fascinating.
also, i think you need to get in more pictures. a few are now posted on the emu web site, but the only ones you're in are group shots. i say try for something a little more creative, huh? :D
Have you ever ridden a camel before? Hang on is the best advice i have, it's bumpy! =-)
I think Petra was my favorite place! I looked up Wadi Rum - looks like another fun place to be and look around. Did you talk to any geckos? I agree with Rachel - get yourself on some of those pictures. You have to prove you were there somehow. :)
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