Vacation: Sinai Penisula

Before classes started, some friends and I decided to take a vacation. We went to Dahab, a beach town on the Red Sea. After an eight hour bus ride from Cairo, we were overjoyed to arrive. Dahab is very different from Cairo- it is like part of California was transplanted in Egypt.

In Dahab the air is clean, the sea is blue, and the the people are relaxed. It was really nice to wear shorts and not get hassled by men. We spent our time snorkeling, drinking mango and hibiscus juice and having a great time. We also went horseback riding on the beach, on half-broken Arabians, which was both terrifying and fun!

One evening we went on a camel ride with local bedouins. We rode up to their camp, where they made bread and delicious bedouin tea. It was pretty late when we finished and the car that our hotel was supposed to send for us had not arrived yet, so our guides took us to their family's house. One of the men had two wives and the difference between these two women was astounding. The older wife sat apart from the group, playing with the kids, and spoke no English, while the other sat next to us. When she first arrived, her father-in-law said in Arabic, "No women here" because we, as guests, were allowed to sit with the men. She ignored him and greeted us in near-perfect English.

The next day we walked around the town and prepared for our next excursion. We left the hostel at 11 p.m. in order to climb Mount Sinai and arrive at the summit for sunrise. This is where Moses received the Ten Commandments. It was a really long hike and we reached the top at 4:30. The sunrise was spectacular and definitely worth the climb. On the way down we stopped at St. Catherine's Monestary and saw her relics and an ancestor of the Burning Bush.

While part of my group headed back to Cairo, several of us continued onto Jordan- see my next post for this!