Every once in a while, you know you're in just the right place at the right time

"Outrageous" has been the word of the weekend... in a good way.

At 1 AM Thursday morning, seven of us caught a bus to Dahab, passing under the Suez, through Sharm al'Sheikh (a popular Red Sea resort town for tourists), and through the rocky desert that is the Sinai. Truly some the weirdest rock formations I've ever seen. We got to Dahab in the afternoon and, flustered and exhausted from lack of sleep, found a nice hotel sitting right on the rocky Red Sea coast. We could see Saudi Arabia from our rooms. Mmmm... not quite Lamu, but pretty damn nice. And good sea food! The view from the Jasmine Pension:

At midnight that night, we took a taxi up to St. Catherine's monastery at the base of Mt. Sinai. At 2 AM we set out on a very cold, fairly steep three-hour hike with our Bedouin guide. The first quarter of the climb felt a little like death. You could ride a camel to the peak for about $20, but it was oddly satisfying to climb. Once we'd gotten our second winds, we were able to marvel at the stars and enjoy the breathless quiet. Clear desert air and no cars, no city lights, no smog. More stars than I've seen in my life, including that night safari on Maasai Mara in Kenya. The last portion of the climb was 750 stairs up a near vertical rock face. Moses must have been in damn good shape for his age, let me tell you. The cold desert air and long climb hit my lungs like a ton of bricks... worst asthma I've had in my life.

We got to the peak of Mt. Sinai (highest point in Egypt at 2600 meters) around 5:30 AM, rented a couple of blankets and a mattress pad, and stationed ourselves pointing East. It was cold. And I mean COLD. None of us had brought coats to Cairo... for obvious reason. For about an hour, we huddled together and watched the sun's glow pour into the desert valleys and dissipate the mist. Other tourists from every place imaginable trickled in. At 6:30, the sun rose, and it was all worth it. No Mom, no talkative bushes. It was breathtaking to be on top of the world at that moment, though, in a place considered holy by billions of people. Even believing what I believe (or what I don't believe), it was moving to look out over that desert. It's obnoxiously cliche, I know, but I've never felt so alive.

As the shade was ridiculously cold, we napped in the desert sunshine for a couple of hours until St. Catherine's Monastery opened. The monastery was built in the 5th or 6th century once folks identified Mt. Sinai as... you know, THAT one. That is OLD. There are still twenty monks living at the monastery, so visiting hours are very limited. The chapel has some incredible old Coptic paintings, lamps, and wood carvings, but cameras were a no-no. I did snap some great shots within the compound... I wish I could post them all. The huge spidery bush in this picture is considered the descendant of the Burning Bush.



So back to Dahab. We weren't even tired at this point, so we went swimming/wading in the Red Sea for a while, visited with Momo, the awesome maitre'd at our hotel, and sat around watching the light fade. It was wonderful to be in the sun and salt again, although our salt water showers were a slightly unpleasant surprise.

We made friends with a couple of shopkeepers who shared shisha (light flavored tobacco smoked in a water pipe... everywhere, all the time, by everyone who can breathe) and tea with us. It was great to sit down for a few hours and talk about culture and politics and just laugh. Humor always translates surprisingly well. Steve met a long-lost friend from his childhood, apparently. ;)

So... after soaking up all the sunshine and beauty and fresh air, we hopped a bus back to Cairo this morning. I'm a little sore and am looking forward to catching up on some of my sleep before heading to AUC for my first class (Arabic!) tomorrow morning. What a great start to the semester. I'm not excited about hitting the books, but I'll be having sweet dreams for months. Sorry for making all of you jealous. My life gets a lot less fun now, but I feel like my heart will explode if I don't share this.