When Ali Was in Egypt's Land

I've been here in Jerusalem for a whole month now, and it just keeps getting better and better. It is totally surreal to be here. Our trip to Egypt last week was the coolest thing ever! So much awesomesness was packed into the week that a comprehensive description is pretty much impossible, so a bit of a week summary will have to do. 

Sunday, September 21- Still in Israel

I woke up early for 5:30 breakfast and loaded the buses at 6:15. We visited some cool sites in Israel along our drive. First was the ancient city at Tel Beersheba. We got to walk through the ruins and had to wear hardhats, which made it all seem very official. Then we stopped at the Wilderness of Zin Overlook and David Ben Gurion's Grave. The Wilderness of Zin is where the children of Israel wandered. After seeing it I think I can say that I definitely would have been murmuring too. David Ben Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel and he is super important here, so it was just interesting to talk about the things he did. Our next stop, at Tel Avdat, was the coolest. It began as a Nabatean city on the trade route through the desert from Petra. Most of what we saw was crusader ruins. It was big and so cool! Everything is so old. We stopped at Kibbutz Yotvata for a tour and dinner. Yotvata was the first kibbutz in Israel and is about fifty years old. It was interesting to see all the farm land and here about the kibbutz lifestyle. They basically apply socialist ideals on a small scale with people who choose to join. There are about 300 members of the kibbutz and it takes close to two years to get in. You have to go through a huge process. We stayed the night at Kibbutz Eilat. They get most of their income from tourism. 

Monday, September 22- Riding on a Bus Through the Desert

In the morning we got to deal with crossing the border into Egypt. We actually made it through in less than two hours, so we were lucky. There was some concern about how it would go because of Ramadan. We have learned that Ramadan changes everything. Things open late, close early, and are just a little crazy in general. Also, since Egypt is an Islamic country they had already turned back their clocks. We drove through the Sinai all day. I don't think I have ever seen so much nothingness. It is just desert everywhere you look, and we drove like that for I think about seven hours. We had two rest stops, but those really wouldn't even count as towns. It was sweet to see camels by the side of the road and a few Bedouin tents along the way. 

Driving into Cairo that evening was such an experience. The poverty there was unlike anything I've ever seen. I had thought that things were pretty bad here in East Jerusalem, but it was nothing like Cairo. All the houses/apartments were unfinished and I only saw a couple with glass in the windows. There seemed to be huge piles of trash and waste everywhere you looked with people walking through them and mangy animals roaming around. Actually seeing it is so much more powerful than the pictures and even videos. It was really humbling to see that, and seemed a little wrong to pull up to our 5 star hotel that night. 

We stayed at the Oasis Pyramid Hotel, and it was really nice. Water, fruit, vegetables, and anything not cooked are off limits in Egypt, so we mostly ate at our hotels and always at places that were very clean. I thought the food was delicious and I ate a ton! Luckily, I seem to have an iron stomach and didn't get sick like some people did. After dinner at the hotel we went to the Sound and Lights show at the pyramids! I like to call to it Egyptian Fantasmic. It was actually pretty cheesy, but so totally awesome at the same time. They just shined lights and pictures on the pyramids and went through some history of ancient Egypt. It was just fun and so exciting to be there!

Tuesday, September 23- Pyramids!!

The obvious highlight of this day was going to the pyramids! Everyone was so excited- we were difficult to contain. We took so many pictures and just walked, no- bounced, around them. We even got to go inside! That was really intense for me because it was tiny, but it was way too cool to pass up. The shaft going down was probably about four feet high so I had to crouch, and there would be people coming up at the same time. Luckily they had spots that opened up so I could stand for a minute. When we got to the room at the end there wasn't really anything to see, but it was just so awesome to be INSIDE a pyramid! Inside it was like a sauna. The heat was seriously oppressive and the air was sort of heavy and almost hard to breathe. Crazy! Going inside made the heat outside feel pretty pleasant. Just being at the pyramids was a total dream! Then we headed down to check out the Sphinx, and of course take the classic Sphinx-kissing picture. 

We ate a yummy lunch, complete with pitas cooked in a fire/oven contraption by a very native-looking woman, at Saqqara Restaurant before heading to see Zoser's complex at Saqqara. Zoser's step pyramid was the precursor to the great pyramids at Giza, so that was pretty cool to see. Next was a stop at ancient Memphis. The main event there was a huge statue of Ramses II. It is amazing how well-preserved it is. The face on it looks flawless! There are a lot of huge things around related to Ramses II. He was really into himself

The next event was the perfect conclusion to an absolutely fabulous day, fulfilling one of my transportation dreams! We made our way to the Cairo Airport to catch our evening flight to Luxor. The security there was ridiculous. We just had random boarding passes with names from various people in our group and no one checked our ideas. Security was pretty much a joke. Our bags were scanned and we walked through metal detectors, but I don't think anyone even paid attention. We all carried on 1.5 liter bottles of water too. It was so weird. The coolest thing was that we got to go out and walk up the stairs to the plane. I have seriously wanted to do that for so long. That's maybe a little lame, but I loved it! Getting off in Luxor was the most fun because when we walked off the stairs we were cheering and waving to no one. =) 

All in all, this day is just one example of why Egypt was basically the coolest week of my life!!

To be continued . . .