EGYPT

Our 2 weeks in Egypt were spent with a wonderful tour group--10 people from all over the world, all bent on seeing & experiencing Egypt, and having a good time.

Starting in Cairo, we spent 3 days wrapped up in the vortex that is everyday life in that crazy city...the horns, the pollution, the pyramids (which we got to go inside!!!), the bazaars, the crowds, the stares, the prayer calls, the donkeys, the traffic, the intensity. Wow. I have no idea how to put that city into words. It was like nothing we had ever experienced before, but something that I would recommend any and all should experience at some point (at least for a day or two).

From Cairo we took an overnight train to Aswan where rode camels into the Sahara desert and dinned with Nubians before boarding our felucca sailboat to sail up/down(???) to Luxor. From there we headed over to the Red Sea and spent a few days snorkeling and diving at some of the best reefs in the world. The fish and coral were spectacular! It doesn't take much to understand why the Israelites spent 40 years in that desert--they just stopped in Dahab for a while. That place is gorgeous! You eat all your meals reclined on mats and pillows on the beach looking across the Gulf of Aqaba at the hills of Saudi Arabia (pinch me, are we really here?!). The store owners don't heckle nearly as much as Aswan or Luxor, the mango juice is fresh, the Stella is cold, and the days pass by as they should.

After 2 weeks, our tour ended bright and early with a 3am climb up Mt. Sinai to watch the sunrise. It had been a few years since we'd seen so many stars that bright, and hearing a group of Koreans sing "This is my Father's World" made this a definite spiritual oasis--an experience we won't forget any time soon. And so was our time in Egypt. A great introduction to arab culture and 2 weeks well spent with great people. Now onto Israel... finally, caught up to where we are now....phew!