Home Again

After 23 hours of travel time I arrived back in Atlanta. Not quite home, but close enough. Mom picked me up from the airport around 3 P.M. and by 5 I was back on the road again. We were heading to the Blue Ridge Mountains to visit Grandma Deenie and Grandpa John. Kyle, Morgan and the whole gang are in full force here. Bar-B-Q, Wal-Mart, and country folk certainly makes me feel a long way from where I spent my last two months. My experiences in Israel and Egypt are memories that I will never forget. It is truly facinating to have a first hand look at one of the worlds most historically rich and politically charged regions. I definitely feel like I became more Jewish after living in the Jewish State. Not necessarily more religous, but a deeper connection with the Jewish people. I felt at home when I was in Tel-Aviv or any of the other Israeli cities. I will definitely be going back to Israel in the future. As for Egypt.....I can't really say much. I mean the pyramids! Who doesn't dream of going to see the pyramids? It was a truly surreal experience touring all of the ruins of ancient Egypt. I would recommend anyone to go and see them sometime during thier lives. Make sure you take the donkey ride above the Valley of the Kings if you go! I really enjoyed writing my entries during this trip. They give me an opportunity to reflect on what I am going to do and what I have done. In between now and my next adventure I will be completing my final year of college. I will tentatively graduate in May with a degree in Anthropology. After that, I really don't know. Definitely some more traveling. Then I will just take it from there. Opportunities arise, friendships are forged. Its not what you know, but who. However, what I know is also very important. And there is one thing that I am sure of. Everything will work itself out. A positive outlook can do amazing things for yourself. So stay positive and stay tuned to find out where in the world I am!

Mt. Sinai, the beach, Tel-Aviv.......HOME!!!

From Dahab we took a taxi 2 hours inland to Mt. Sinai in St. Catherines National Park. The scenery there was beautiful. Jagged mountains rose out of the desert everywhere. On the way there we could feel the air getting cooler and more pleasant. It felt like a cool autumn day in the middle of summer. After arriving we toured St. Catherines Monestary. One of the oldest in the world, St. Catherines was quite and peaceful. Inside the monestary is a church dating from 330 A.D., also one of the oldest, along with many other ancient relics. The burning bush where God spoke to Moses is also located within its' walls. When we where done touring we headed to a local restaraunt to fuel up for our 3 hour hike to the summit. When we where ready to go it was about 4 P.M. so we had to hurry in order to make it for the sunset. The locals insisted that we hire a guide to show us up the mountain. It was funny because there are two routes, one of witch is a camel path and the other is known as the steps of repentance. I don't think you need a guide to show you where the next step is or witch way a large path winds. In Egypt there are not a lot of job opportunities. Tourism is the main source of income for many Egyptians. So this was certainly not the first time we where asked to cough up a few hundred Egyptian Pounds for something that did not seem very neccessary (I.E. my hour long trip around Luxor in a horse and carriage to get nailclippers that ended up being gold and from the shop of the drivers friend....ect...ect...) So Julian, one of the French brothers, and I were adamant about paying him. Another one of the guys in our group insisted he would pay for the guide to be on the safe side. I beat the guide to the top of the mountain and he certainly did not do much guiding for the other members of the group. In fact he disappeared soon after I reached the top. Taking the steps up the mountain was amazing. The steps where laid many years ago by a monk in order to show repentance for his sins. As I was climbing it was really hard to believe that someone had put all 3,750 steps in themselve. On the way up the air was cool and I did not cross a single soul. I seperated myself from the rest of our group and it was just me and the mountain. About 2 hours later I reached the top, legs burning. The view was spectacular. By now the sun was slowly making its way behind the mountains. The sun and the mountains began to play a dance with colors and shadows. About 45 minutes later the rest of my friends made it to the top. Here we rented mats and blankets for our night under the stars. With only 5 or 6 other people at the top, we pretty much had the mountain to ourselves. The sun set, the air cooled, and the stars began to shine. After eating a nice dinner by our candlelight we laid down and watched the sky. There was no light polution so the entire Milky Way sparkled brilliantly. Around 4:30 A.M we were woken by the Muslim prayer calls from the mosque at the top of the mountain. Mt. Sinai is a holy place for all 3 of the worlds major religions. Pilgrims from all over the world flock here everyday to watch the sunrise or just to visit the mountain. The sky changed wild colors until the sun finally peeked out from behind the distant mountains. The warmth from the sun was a huge relief because it was freezing!! I would guess that it was around 45 degrees at its coldest. This is pretty cold when you have been in 95 + for the last two months! After the sun was shining with full force we began our trek down the mountain. This time we opted for the camel path. Somehow we managed to find our way down the path without paying a guide to "show" us the way. Once at the bottom we loaded up and headed to Ayyash Camp back at the coast. Here we ate delicious bannana pancakes, snorkelled, and relaxed. This is one of the camps that I had previously gone to with Kyle about 4 weeks ago. I think that it is one of the only places where you can sit down to eat breakfast, read, take a nap, wake up, eat lunch, read, take a nap, all without ever getting up. Absolutely one of the most quite and relaxing places I have ever been. After three days there we packed up and headed about an hour to the Taba border to enter back into Israel. It felt like I was coming home as I came back into the Jewish State. It was a really nice feeling, although I could have stayed at the camp forever! Now it was back to the harsh reality of everday life. Waiting in lines, waiting for buses, cars, buildings, people! 9 hours after I left the camp I arrived back in Herzliya with my friends from here. Today I am going to go to the beach one last time and then I leave for the airport around 10 PM and arrive in Atlanta around 3 PM tomorrow. I hope you all have enjoyed reading about my trip as much as I have enjoyed being here! One more entry soon to come upon my arrival home : )

Back in Sinai

The 17 hour bus ride was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I must say that riding in an Egyptian bus across the country is quite an experience. The scenery is beautiful, mountains and desert in all directions. You also get a free 17 hour carnival ride. You think the roads and drivers are bad where you live. Well, you havn't been to Egypt. Traffic lights and crosswalks, although they are there, don't seem to exist. 110 degree weather during the summer does not help the pot holes either. We made it safe, so thats all that matters. From Na'ama Bay we took a boat out to Ras Mohammad National Park. I have never seen fish and coral so bright and colorful. It was a really nice day on the water. After one night there we traveled 2 hours north to the coastal city of Dahab. Here we are doing some more snorkeling and chilling out. In a couple of days Catherina, my self, and two French brothers that I have befriended are going to Mt. Sinai. Yes, the Mt. Sinai where the Bible says Moses gave the 10 commandments. We are going to hike the mountain and spend the night at the top to watch the sunset and sunrise. Mt. Sinai is also home to St. Catherines Monestary, one of the oldest in the world. Apparently it gets pretty cold up top so I will have to rent a blanket from the hostel up there. Should be a fun experience. Its hard to believe I will need a blanket in a place just 2 hours away when I am in 110 weather here! After that we are planning on going to another beduin camp to chill out for the last couple days of my trip. We might rent camels for 15 Egyptian Pounds, or 3 U.S.D. to explore the desert surrounding the camp. Not something you can do everyday in St. Pete, FL.

Donkey Time!

We woke up at 5:30 this morning and crossed the Nile for some donkey trekking. I got to say that riding a donkey is a whole lot more exciting and adventerous than it sounds. Those little guys are strong animals. We took them through the sugar cane fields by the river up to the first ridge of the Nile Valley. We had amazing views of The Valley of The Kings and Hatchupsut Temple. It was one of the best experiences I've had in Egypt. Nothing compares to riding a donkey galloping at 15 mph, the wind in your hair with ancient ruins all around. But seriously, it was awesome. I got to go because we are about to get our 17 hour bus to Dahab. Wish me luck : ) My donkies name was William Shakespear and he was a BEAST!! Hauled all 200 lbs of me up a mountain! Check him out!

Egypt Baby!!!

So we took our 12 hour train south to Aswan soon after my last entry. The train took more like 14 but it was Ok because I slept most of the way. In Aswan we were quickly escorted by our travel guide to our 5 star Nile Cruise Boat, The Queen of Hansa. From the boat we traveled north stoping at different temples and monuments. It has been incredible. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I have been on a few cruises from Florida and none of them come close to this. It is obviously a lot different. First of all I was on the worlds second longest river. The scenery is always changing as we slowly made our way from one ancient site to another. Most of the sites are just by the river because the Nile was used to transport all of the massive stones used for thier building. 95% of Egypt is desert and then you have the Nile cutting a life line through its' center. It's really beautiful to see desert sand for miles and then lush green as you approach the river. The cruise ended in Luxor, formerly Thebes, today. Tonight we are staying in a hotel here and taking a donkey ride to the top of The Valley of The Kings tommorow for sunrise. I figured I should take the donkey so that I can pretty much complete the cycle. In the past 2 months I have been on planes, trains, automobiles, boats, camels.....so the next logical step is a donkey! Today we already toured the Valley and entered some of the tombs. One you have probably heard of is that of King Tut. Tut was actually a very insignificant king. It was only because his tomb was not looted by grave robbers that he gets so much attention. After seeing his gold coffins in the Cairo Museum I realize why he has close to the same celebrity status in Egypt as Hanah Montana has in a 3rd grade girl scout troop. Tommorow at 5 we are taking a 17 hour bus ride to Dahab in the Sinai where I will probably just chill out for the rest of my stay overseas. Enjoy the pics... Obviously the big triangle shaped things are the pyramids....The big statues I'm sitting in front of is the temple of Abu Simble. Each statue is over 60 ft. high. You can also see the camel traffic jam on the way to the pyramids. The Sphinx, or "Father of Terror" in Arabic. The other pictures are from different temples and views from the cruise : ) These temples are massive, look at the size of the people compared to the monuments. I can do handstands now, so I figured I'd start doing them in front of ancient temples. You get bored in between touring millenia old ruins...... The one with Kyle is at the airport before he left. The guy in the middle is Dan. He is the Israeli kiteboarder...and yes he is as funny as he looks....lol.. Hope you enjoy!