Egypt!....in a really large nut-shell....

I’m back! Being home in Jerusalem feels wonderful, and I didnt get any food poisoning….which is more than I can say for some people in the group... it was pretty bad.



Traveling to Egypt we stopped and visited some sites of ancient cities( Be’er sheva) and got to wear hardhats and go into an ancient cistern. Then we hiked through Wadi Avedat which is a stream valley that’s dry except during periods of rainfall and one of my favorite things we have done so far.



The best part of this little stop was that everyone was wearing clothes to bum around on a 6 hour bus ride, not hike through a river valley and then hike out of it. It was pretty intense, we were just walking along this little stream but then to get out of it we had to scale this cliff with ladders and monk-carved steps……but it was beautiful, and I loved it.



Driving through Israel was cool. I saw camels grazing like cows, active mine fields, and lots of sand and rocks. That’s how it is here……there’s absolutely no life…until you find water and it just bursts. An oasis, in every meaning of the word.


We stayed the night at a Kibbutz which….is a form of communal living that combines socialism and Zionism. It’s sort of a utopian community where they have town meetings, everyone has a given job in the community and they all share paychecks, cars, food, etc. It was interesting to visit, and they are very nice people, but I don’t know if I could live like that…..the man in charge of guiding visitors took us out to the sand dunes.


This is where the Sahara makes its sand. ;)


We played around/had a little bit of contemplative alone time to think while sitting on the top of a sand dune…..very jedi.


Finally making it to the border was sweet. And hot. REALLY hot. From the Taba border you can see four countries, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt all at once from across the Red Sea. We got through security relatively easily and loaded a bus to drive another couple hours to the city. My first impression of Cairo was how huge it was. REALLY expansive. It’s also a very dirty city. The separation of classes is very obvious. Not much of a middle class, just poverty and wealth. There are a gazillion of skyscraper apartment buildings where most of the 18 million Cairo inhabitants live. Everywhere the tops of buildings are unfinished and will probably stay that way because unfinished buildings don’t pay taxes.

The next couple days was completely filled with sites and awesomeness for which I will condense because this is getting kinda word-y.


1. Pyramids! We saw them the night before driving in. You really just can’t miss them. They are SO big. We were able to go into the tombs of the biggest one and I honestly almost couldn’t handle it. I never really thought I was claustrophobic but the tunnel is small. Really small. And there were all these Asian tour groups going every which direction, going in while you’re trying to get out. I had to sing a song to not think about how far underground this tunnel was leading me and how much weight was above me. It was something really psychologically disturbing to me that I almost couldn’t handle. But phew! I made it. And it was quite a relief to be above ground afterwards. (BUT, when I was inside the burial chamber I laid down in the stone sarcophagus, which was probably not allowed, but I did it, assumed the mummy pose and jumped out. Bucket list, anyone?)





2. The sphinx and step pyramid were way cool too. I really liked seeing all these places but I don’t like touristy atmospheres….which is exactly what the sphinx and pyramids were. Oh well.
3. Walked through the Sahara….climbed into more claustrophobic tombs.



4. Saw Queen Hatshepsut’s temple…did you know that they think she was obese? We were able to see her mummy which apparently reveals evidence of being pretty heavy. Kinda puts a wrench in the idea of a beautiful Cleopatra-esque image of a woman pharaoh, huh? All her hieroglyphics were scratched out by her son…..Oh, Thutmose III….so bitter.
5. Valley of the Kings. Dozens of tombs of pharaohs…all robbed. Except for King Tut. You’ve all heard the story. He was a little guy….and his mummy is very creepy.


6. Took a quick flight to Luxor. When we were there we had a beautiful view of the Nile. Sailed down the Nile and across to ride camels, then sailed back again and ran into some Egyptians sailing alongside…which resulted, consequently in a dance party. That’s right. Dance Party on the Nile River.
7. Taxis in Luxor, shopping in the market place, quite the interesting experience.

ok...im sorta obsessed with how beautiful it was....so....here are pictures taken at sunset while sailing down the nile.






8. Temple of Karnack and Luxor….one of the man-made wonders of the world. UNBELIEVABLE. Columns that take 11 people to circle with hieroglyphics from top to bottom. Secret rooms, obelisks, images of rituals and ceremonies…..just so awesome. 2 mile road lined with sphinxes….all at a whopping 120 degrees!!! Yes, it was THAT hot.



9. Overnight sleeping train back to Cairo……it was fun at first because you pretend it’s like Harry Potter….but…it was the most disgusting and tiring night I have ever had in my life.
10. Egyptian museum. SO. INCREDIBLE. Mask of Tutankhamen, Narmer Palette, mummies galore, statues of Ramses II….everything you ever remember seeing about Egyptians….i saw it. Except for the bust of Nefertiti….the British won’t give it back.



11. I was able to get into a mosque. We paid a man (bribed, basically) to let us in, because you can only go in if you’re Muslim, or someone’s guest….well, he offered. So we covered our heads, took our shoes off (hoping they wouldn’t get stolen when we came out) and went in and it was really cool. We saw Coptic churches and Egyptian Jewish synagogues (one of the only ones left)
12. The Citadel and Muhammad Ali mosque…..really huge. I got into this one too!

All of that and a lot lot more was what I did in Egpyt…had some pretty interesting conversations with Egyptians and a lot of in between events that I have NO TIME to elaborate on, oh well, lots of stories.

Coming out of Egypt we went by way of the Sinai desert. We slept and woke up at 2am to do a sunrise hike of Mount Sinai which was the hardest hike I have ever done and by far the coolest. We made it to the summit about 5ish, starting the hike at about 3…so…approx 2ish hours…..we sang in pitch black and waited for the sun to rise…and then it did. And it was beautiful.




Coming down the mountain was a lot easier because we could actually see the trail…and it’s downhill…duh. But instead of going straight back down we went to a monastery intertwined in the mountains and it was way cool. They have this giant bush there that they claim is THE burning bush Moses encountered…..interesting. I don’t take much stalk in things like that…the official rock or bush…or even mountain…..for all we know we’re all probably way off. But the spirit of our little pilgrimage is what counts.



The SAME day. (we were all dead and exhausted…especially after that stupid train) we started driving back to Israel and crossed the border, this time with more difficulty. I was lucky enough to be chosen to be interrogated about my activities…ridiculous. They even took my camera to look at my pictures to make sure that I was indeed a tourist/student. We waited for everybody to get through and passed the time by dipping our feet into the Red Sea. Beautiful. On the way home we did a rest stop at the Dead sea….and I put my finger in and tasted it….it was salty and gross…but im excited to go back when we do.


I had an amazing time and I still can’t believe that I’ll be out here for 3 more months! Time has flown by and I feel like I have been here longer than I have. Jerusalem really feels like home after Egypt, for which I am grateful. Otherwise I would feel pretty homesick right now. This is the farthest and the longest I have gone without seeing any member of my family. And I don’t like that so much. But this whole experience gets better and better and I cant wait to see more new things.