Let the Travels Continue

Ah, back in Israel. Not much has changed, except that I'm now jobless, and enjoying life too much to actively look for a job...

I've been hesitant to restart the blog, because I know many of you found my entries too long. However, after receiving epic e-mails from other friends traveling, I've decided that I'm okay with that. Read what you please and enjoy the photos. As it is, these entries are abbreviated tales of my adventures, and I find saying "I did this and and this and this" meaningless without some sort of reflection...

Anyways...

I quickly resettled into my apartment and reconnected with old friends, which led to an impromptu decision to go to Sinai for a few days with Ilan, a new friend from Providence, RI, whom I was introduced to through Adam, a mutual friend. Of course, Adam's reasons for us meeting was that we both grew up around Boston (Ilan actually went to high school in Brookline), and we both went to university in Canada (Ilan studied at U of T). Regardless of these superficial similarities, Ilan and I got along great.
It's hard to describe my experience in Sinai. When I described it to my parents, they said it sounded like I didn't have the greatest time. This is entirely untrue. I had a wonderful time, but was also in a constant state of shock. The experience was eye opening and interesting, to say the least.

The most remarkable thing was how drastically obvious it was that we entered a new, far poorer, country upon crossing the border. The only locals in sight were Bedouins, people traveled by donkeys and camels (not everyone... but enough to that it was noticeable), women were covered in burquas, trash was thrown along the streets and beaches, police check points were abundant and technology was limited. In fact, at police checkpoints, the blockade arm was actually operated with ropes. Welcome to Egypt! We also quickly learned that everyone smoked pot, no one tried to hide it, and there seemed to be a staff member at every location asking if we wanted to buy some...

Surprisingly, though, most of the Bedouins had far better Hebrew than English. And here, we thought we'd be better off playing the American card... not so much...

Our first night we stayed at Castle Beach, a place supposedly known to be an Israeli hangout. We were informed later on in the trip that this is where Israeli's go to let loose for a few days. In the high season, drugs, sex, and happiness fill the air. In the off season that we saw, it was mostly empty. So we set up tent outside of the bungalow they forced us to rent, and enjoyed the fresh Sinai air, and AMAZING stars.

The next day was spent venturing along the beach in an attempt to get to the City of Nuwieba, which was significantly farther than we had though. After about 2 hours we walked towards the road and hitched a ride. It took all of 30 seconds on the side of the road before a man drove by screaming "Taxi?!?!". So we hopped into the back of his Jeep and he drove us to town (picture below, note the Jeep is lined with colorful tapestries) where we ate like kings.
When we mentioned that we wanted to go to St. Katherine's Monastery the next day (at the foot of Mt. Sinai, also know as Jabal Musa - where Moses received the Ten Commandments), he drove us over to his friends place to meet a guy who would take us. This is how it works in this country. Everyone is connected. Every car is a taxi. And everyone has a friend who will give you a "good deal." The deals are rarely good, but Ilan was an excellent haggler and I played along with his games.
So there we were, picked up at 11pm, and driving over to Jabal Musa. We arrived at about 1am, and with the help of a guide, hiked for 2 1/2 hours in the pitch black in order to see the sunrise from the top. Of course, when the guidebooks recommend that you start at 1am, they are assuming you're going in the summer when the sunrises early. We had to wait 3 hours at the top of a COLD COLD COLD mountain before seeing the glory of the sun. But it was totally worth it. Because we started so early, we had the beauty of hiking up alone. Though, most people go up via camel, we wanted the full adventure. We didn't encounter any other tourists the whole hike, and were the first to the top. Our guide led us to the best viewing point. To get to this view point however, an old iron gate had been put up sideways and used as a ladder (picture below). It was rickety and trembled under the weight of me and my pack. The whole experience was surreal. Especially when light broke and we realized Mt. Katherine, just next door, had snow on it (photo below), and ice patches marked our path down.
Don't be deceived from the photo where I look happy. I had been cocooned in my sleeping bag all night, laying on top of Ilan to try to keep him warm. I let my head out of the weather shield for the photo only....

Bedouins set up "coffee shops" throughout the trail. There was a "village" of them at the top of the mountain, as seen in this photo above. I haven't decide yet if it was a service to us to heat up, or another trap for them to cheat money out of us. Ilan and I held strong and kept only to the water we brought...

After sunrise, we hiked back down via "the stairs" which was really just a continuous jumble of rocks that somewhat resembled stairs every now and then. I've included one photo where you can't even tell there were any "stairs" (most of the treck) and a sample of the brief decent where it seemed we actually had steps.
Saint Katherine's Monastery, however, was a complete disappointment (Photo taken at first sighting during decent). They asked us to pay extra to see the library, and the ossuary was locked. And the monastery itself also wasn't very nice. Despite this let down, the hike and sunrise was most definitely worth the trek. On our drive back Ilan mentioned that this must be what Mars looks like... red and rocky. I can't say that I totally disagree...

And so it was, brilliant sunrise in mind, that we headed back towards Nuweiba, this time staying just south of the City at Zoola Beach. There was another group of 4 Israelis, and one Israeli in his 50s staying there as well, but it was otherwise empty. The staff was very friendly, and we enjoyed this location MUCH more than Castle Beach, even though the accommodations were pretty much the same. The staff was friendlier, seemed less conniving, and the huts were authentic. Just bamboo wind shelters. We slept on the earth, with only brightly colored carpets separating us from the sand. We had originally planned on going on another hike the next day, but decided instead to enjoy the beach, and explore the City of Nuweiba. Exploration of the city took all of 10 minutes, as there really isn't much there. But it was a nice walk along the beach, and a relaxing day of reading was delightful.


On the drive back to the border we passed this top heavy vehicle. Or drive told us that any van that looks like that is on the way to Cairo. Good luck to them!

4 days in Sinai. Relaxing, hilarious, dirty, cheating, an abundance of tea, but all in all thoroughly enjoyed.