Egypt

We got back from Egypt on Sunday night after being gone for 8 days. It was such an exciting trip! We left on busses last Sunday and started driving south through Israel, stopping at some sights along the way. We went to Beersheba, where Abraham's family lived, and then to David Ben-Gurion's grave. That overlooked the wilderness near Kadesh-Barnea, where the Israelites camped for 38 of their 40 years in the wilderness. There were wild ibexes all over the place, and you can see two of them in this picture, as well as the wilderness in the background. 

Then we drove south to the Machtesh Ramon, which claims to be the largest crater in the world. It's not a volcano crater--the geology of the area just happened to form the land into a large crater shape. It looks similar to all of southern Israel, extremely desolate and dry. 

Later that day we went to the Kibbutz Yotvata for a tour. It was so exciting! I remember learning about the kibbutz in 7th grade, and I never thought I would actually see one. This kibbutz grew date trees. It was so hot and sandy there that it was hard to imagine anything being able to grow, but then there were fields of date trees everywhere. They look just like palm trees to me, so it felt very tropical. We got to try the dates, too, which were huge and super sugary. After that, we drove to another kibbutz to stay the night. It turns out a lot of the kibbutzim run guest services--it's part of how they sustain themselves. Later this summer when we go to the Galilee, I think we're going to stay in a kibbutz the whole time.

The next day, we crossed the border into Egypt, and then we spent most of the day driving across the Sinai Peninsula. It was very desolate--a lot like driving through Nevada. And then when we got to Cairo, it was still desolate, except for the area right around the Nile River. I was so excited to see the Nile! The river itself is not that impressive compared to the Mississippi, but just knowing how long it stretches makes it exciting. 

Cairo is kind of a mess. Our guide told us the population was 14 million, though I've also heard higher numbers, and most of the people live in huge, dilapidated apartment buildings. It's dirty, and noisy, and everything throws their garbage in the minor channels connected to the Nile, so there were some spots that looked more like sewage than river. The merchants in Egypt are also super aggressive, even compared to the ones here. I don't mind Jerusalem merchants at all anymore. The Egyptian ones will grab your arm, and if you even look at what they're selling, they'll assume your interested and start following you around. I was walking with a group into town one day in Luxor, and one of the Egyptian carriage drivers rode up to us and offered to give us a ride for 5 pounds. We told him no, but then he kept following us for at least 5 minutes, saying the same thing over and over again. It's very difficult to decide to buy anything, because the merchants never leave you alone once you're inside their shop. 

Besides that, though, the sites were amazing! On our first night in Cairo, we went to a sound and light show on the Giza Plateau in front of the pyramids! It was pretty outdated, and for some reason, they got bagpipers to play the music beforehand (surely that's not Egyptian, right?), but it was fun anyway. My favorite part of the Giza Plateau was definitely the Sphinx. The pyramids were exciting too, though! We got to go inside one of them. The shaft inside is narrow, so we had to bend over and then climb up into the center of the pyramid. It was actually kind of scary, just because we had so little room and there was not a real staircase. Then the tomb inside wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I knew that tomb robbers had already cleaned out all the pyramids, but I guess I thought the walls inside would still be decorated with hieroglyphics. It actually just turned out to be a bare stone room. Still pretty cool, though!

Later that day, we went to the Cairo airport and took a domestic flight to Luxor. I was excited to see the Egyptian airport, but it actually turned out to be pretty similar to all airports. When we got to Luxor, it turned out our hotel was right on the banks of the Nile! And it was really fancy, too--a fun place to stay. Unfortunately, about 1/2 the students got sick while we were in Luxor, so they weren't able to enjoy it. I was lucky not to get sick the whole time, but I had to be so careful--no fresh fruits or vegetables, no tap water, no meat served room temperature, etc. 

While we were in Luxor, we saw the Valley of the Kings, which is where most of the Egyptian pharoahs were buried. That was impressive. All the walls were covered in hieroglyphics and artwork, and some of it even still has color. I saw King Tut's tomb! His mummy is in there, but all the other treasures are in the Cairo Museum (which I also saw).

This picture is from the Karnak Temple Complex in Luxor--acres of ancient ruins just sitting there. We also went to the Luxor Temple, which is where women would have gone to worship, and we saw the Colossus at Memnon--that's the picture here of the two huge statues.

One other cool thing we saw is the cave where they think the mummies with the Abraham scrolls were found--Pit 33, near Queen Hatshepsut's temple. The professors had to bribe the guards to let us take pictures there, but I'm glad we saw it!

We took an overnight train back to Cairo, which was amazing! We had very comfortable sleeper cars, and they knocked on our doors in the morning and brought around breakfast. I wish I could have seen what the Egyptian countryside looked like out the window, but it was too dark. Then in Cairo, we went to the Cairo Museum, which was incredible, and then shopped around a little.

The next day, we saw some old Christian sites, including a church built around a cave where they say the Holy Family stayed when they fled to Egypt. I loved that, but they didn't let us actually go inside the cave. And then the next morning at 2:00 AM, we hiked Mt. Sinai to see the sunrise! It was so cool, one of my favorite parts of the Egypt trip. It was amazing climbing up there in the dark and looking around at the horizon--just jagged, shadowy mountain peaks everywhere. There were some places where I couldn't even see level ground at the bottom, and I felt very high up. There are also Bedouins who live up there and offer you camel rides, even right at the top of Mt. Sinai. 

Then we got back to Jerusalem late that night. I am so glad to be back! Israel feels very comfortable and safe compared to Egypt.