Walk Like an Egyptian

Well, I’m going to try to write about the rest of my adventures in Egypt tonight! I might even catch up what has been going on around the center during the past couple weeks. Ok, here we go!

After our camel ride in Luxor, I went with a group of friends to the local bazaar to go shopping. I hadn’t done much shopping in Jerusalem yet, so this was my first try at haggling, and it was so much fun! I loved talking with the merchants trying to get a good deal. It was seriously addicting! I ended up with several pretty scarves, shirts, and necklaces for myself, my sisters, and my mom. It was a fun environment just to walk around in!

The next day, after we had finished our tours of some of the temples, I went with a group of friends for a carriage ride around the area. Carriages are so cheap in Luxor. We had five in our carriage, and we each paid a dollar, and it was a nice long ride! After the sun set, our driver went to break his fast, so we just walked around the Nile till he came to pick us up. While we were waiting one of the locals came up and started talking with our group. Our group consisted of me, three other girls and one guy. So the local comes up to the guy in our group (his name was John) and asks him if us girls were his wives. John told him no, so the local suggested that they split us and he would take two and John could take two. One of the girls in the group (Sandee) quickly snapped “No!” to which the local quickly (and jokingly) responded he didn’t want her, he wanted me and the other brunette in our group! Sandee then began to haggle with him and asked what he would be willing to pay to buy us. He offered half of Luxor for me! It was really funny; however, Sandee asked if he really owned Luxor and could pay it. He admitted he couldn’t, all he had was his horse and carriage, so he offered the horse for the one girl, and the carriage for me! He was really funny, and plus I now can now brag that I’m worth half of Luxor!

So our trip in Luxor sadly came to an end. It was one of my favorite places I’ve visited, and I’ll really miss it! That night, we headed to the train station to head back to Luxor. It was pretty dirty, but it was so much fun! After dinner, about 30 of us squished into the tiny hallway in one of the cars (it was about two feet wide, and played games! We tried building pyramids and even had some of the people body surf from one end of the car to the other. It was really funny! After a while, we headed to our cabins for the night, because we knew how early we would have to get up in the morning. It was nice to fall asleep to the rocking of the train. It might have been kind of sketchy in terms of cleanliness, but it was one of the most fun ways I’ve traveled!
Back in Cairo we spent the day at the Egyptian Museum (which was huge! I saw so many interesting things! I would love to go back and spend more time there!), we went to several mosques, and had lunch at the hard rock café! That night we played in the pool of the hotel. We built pyramids that went about 5 people high standing up! All the tourists around the pool were laughing and taking pictures off us, we had become a tourist exhibit! It was so much fun! After playing in the pool, we changed into the clothes we all bought in Egypt, and had an Egyptian night over dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was so much fun and yielded several exciting photos!

The next day, we said good bye to Cairo and started our exodus home, but we took a detour by Mount Sinai! We got there in the evening, went to bed early, and woke up at 2 am to climb the mountain! It was really dark, and the stars were the most beautiful I’ve ever seen! I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many stars as I could see on Mount Sinai! The climb was long but it was worth it when we finally got to the top of the mountain! We sang hymns as a group and watched the sun rise. It was really inspirational up there. We had a cool inspirational thought about Moses by our religion teacher, and a couple actually got engaged up there! They were good friends before coming to Jerusalem, dated some this summer, and were always together the first couple weeks, so it was really cool to share their excitement on the mountain! Mount Sinai was definitely one of the high lights of my trip. It was hard to leave, and it made me thing about what Moses thought and felt as he climbed down the mountain. It really was enlightening to be up on the mount, and have a great perspective of the world around you, and then to come down from this spiritually high and discover idolatry going on with the very people you wanted to share this spiritual experience with.., it would be emotionally devastating. The whole experience helped me empathize and put myself in Moses’ shoes. It was a very cool experience.
So, after the hike, we went back to the hotel for a quick lunch, dip in the pool, shower, and then back on the bus to Jerusalem. I slept most of the way. Egypt was exhausting, and one of the best vacations I’ve ever been on!