Coming Home

I was a little concerned about getting back home on this trip. Nothing was really going for me. I had two connecting flights, with three hours in between each, giving me a total transit time of 22 ½ hours, not counting the three hours early that I needed to leave from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Speaking of which, I also had to get out of Ben Gurion Airport, which is well known as the most secure airport in the world. In addition, I was getting on a plane in Israel immediately after getting out of Egypt and Jordan. Finally, I had all of this a month or so after the underwear bomber in Detroit, so I had all of the added security on top of everything else. I wasn’t looking forward to the trek.

I got to Ben Gurion Airport about fifteen minutes later than I had hoped, but it still appeared to be in plenty of time. At Ben Gurion, I got pretty much what I expected, which was a vigorous full-body cavity search. Well, okay, it wasn’t that bad, but they did take a special interest in me. Based on all of the questions that I was asked, I think it was because I was all alone and had a recent Egyptian visa in my passport. After my baggage was x-rayed, it was checked pretty thoroughly. The people doing it were polite and not overly-intrusive, but they weren’t playing either. Afterwards, I was led to a special room where I went through a metal detector and had my bag scanned. This wasn’t unlike what you normally go through when you are in an airport, but for some reason mine was done in a room by myself. Afterwards, one of the inspectors walked with me to check in for my flight and then escorted me through regular security (which I got to skip) and into the Duty Free section, so my inspections were over, at least for the time being.

Then I get to Warsaw. I didn’t expect much in Warsaw. I was just switching planes in Warsaw. Nevertheless, they had lots of equipment and were determined to use it. I walked off the plane and directly into a security checkpoint to get to my gate. The assumption I suppose is that I may have picked up something on the plane despite the fact that everybody on the plane had also been checked. As soon as I got through that checkpoint (which wasn’t quick – more on that later), I went to gate A31, where I was checked again, just in case I picked up a weapon on the way from the entry of Terminal A. It’s Poland. I don’t know, maybe it could happen. Surprisingly, I now have been on the plane for nearly seven hours and haven’t been x-rayed yet, but we still have about four hours to go. Then there’s security at JFK. Ugh.

Before I get to that, I will digress. I hate Frederic Chopin Airport in Warsaw, Poland with a passion right now. Perhaps part of it is the excessive checking to go from one secure area in the airport to go to another secure area in the airport. Maybe it’s the lack of usuable WiFi in the airport. Maybe it’s the fact that there is no ATM from which to get Polish currency and the only kiosk that I had access to wouldn’t take a credit card. Maybe it was the difficulty I had getting through the many lines because you evidently couldn’t get a group of Poles in a straight line if you marched them through a 12-inch wide alley. Maybe it’s a vestige of the communist days, but they attacked every entry point as if if was leading to the last boat to Heaven and there were only two seats left. Anyway, screw the Chopin Airport and LOT Polish Airlines too while I’m at it.

Okay, that leads you up to where I am sitting and what I am doing right now. In about four hours, I will be landing at JFK for another security check or two and another three hour wait before getting on yet another plane. I’ll go ahead and update this entry after that happens.

Update: Surprise of all surprises, after all the pains of getting through security in Tel Aviv and Warsaw, New York basically just waved at me and let me through. Nobody even batted an eye that I had just come out of Egypt. (Not that it’s a big deal, but it certainly was in Israel.) My flight left New York about 30 minutes late because of maintenance, but I made it home and the trip comes to an end.

I fly to Paris on February 24 for nine weeks in (primarily) southern Europe. The travel blog will return around that time.

Israel - Finishing Up

Okay, what did I promise you last time, I forget. I think it was Bethlehem, the Sea (Lake) of Galilee and the Jordan River. Let’s go with that.

Even though it was early-February by the time I got to Bethlehem, it still was Christmas time. Right outside of the Church of the Nativity was a tree still decorated for Christmas, with other Christmas decorations still hanging here and there. Of course, we weren’t in Bethlehem for the Christmas decorations, we were there for the Church of the Nativity. (Fortunately, we weren’t there for the coffee. I don’t think I’ve ever seen intellectual property infringement anywhere close to the Stars & Bucks Cafe shop with the green roof and logo. I guess it must be difficult to get/enforce injunctions in the Palestinian-controlled part of the West Bank.)

Of the various old churches that I visited during my time in the holy land, I think it was the Church of the Nativity that I liked the most. Like other churches in Israel, it was unassuming from the outside. Also, like other biblical sites in the area, the location was selected centuries after the fact and the accuracy of the selection is debatable, at best. Still, once you enter the church, you realize that it has an aura that the other churches didn’t, at least for me. The two most famous places in the church are downstairs through a narrow corridor. There, you will find a silver star in the floor designating the spot in which Jesus was born and across and to the side, a little shrine in a carved out section of the church designating where the manger was located. Even for somebody of limited faith, I was honored to walk through these celebrated halls.

We also visited the Sea (Lake) of Galilee. Call it what you want people, but it’s a lake, not a sea. Anyway, there wasn’t anything spectacular about it but I could see how somebody might walk across it with all of the pollution. (Just kidding. I did see an old tire by the shore, but compared with the Nile in certain parts, the Sea (Lake) of Galilee is pristine.) We stopped by an old town in which one or more of the apostles lived. I’m not completely up to date with all of my apostles, but there was a house there in which an apostle with two names (was Paul Simon an apostle?) lived and it is claimed that Jesus lived there as well, at least for a while. The house has a few remains left that are surrounded by the remains of an old Byzantine church, all of which are surrounded by a twentieth century church. I’m sure someday, it’ll be surrounded by something else. One can only hope.

Okay, now we get to the baptismal site at the Jordan River. Which one you ask? Good question. From signs that I’ve seen, there is a spot on the Jordan side of the Jordan River that claims to be the spot where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. We didn’t go to that one. There’s also a spot on the Israel side of the Jordan River where we were told was the “traditional” (there’s that word again) spot of John the Baptist’s baptism of Jesus. That spot, however, is under control of the Israeli army and access is denied except for certain days to certain people or something like that. Anyway, we didn’t go there. We went, instead, to an “alternate” site designated as a Jordan River baptismal site. Thanks, but big f’in’ whoop. I could go to the Tar River and call it an “alternate” site for lots of things. That shouldn’t make it a pilgrimage site. But we went, so there you are.

That’s pretty much it for the highlights of Israel (along with my other posts on the topic). I have to say that of the three countries I visited on this trip, I liked Israel the least, though to be fair, I only spent five days there, as opposed to the ten days I spent in Egypt, and Jordan is probably the most beautiful country that I’ve ever seen.

While I’m on the plane from Warsaw to New York, I’ll start writing an article on the trip home and I will hope to finish it soon after I arrive at RDU. Then the blog will go back on hiatus until I return to Paris in late-February.

Israel - Jerusalem's Lot

On our second day in Israel, we spent most of the day walking around the old city of Jerusalem. This was my favorite part of the Israeli leg of the trip.

We began the day by going to the Mount of Olives to get a birds-eye view of the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish cemetery. From there, we saw where we were headed for the rest of the day. Our first stop after the Mount of Olives was to go the Garden of something-or-other. (Again, and I can’t stress this enough, I am not a biblical scholar.) Traditionally (it’s almost always “traditionally”), this garden was the site in which Judas fingered Jesus for the Romans. The highlight of the garden is the six olive trees that are supposed to have been around since the time of Jesus. They, in fact, appear to be young olive trees growing out of old olive tree bark, and it’s hard to believe that the old olive tree bark is 2,000 years old, but who am I to argue?

From there we went into the old city to follow the steps of Jesus from condemnation to crucifixion to resurrection. Again, this path is “traditional” and it is (from my understanding) unlikely that he used this actual path, but the path is interesting nonetheless. Along the way are several stations commemorating various moments in Jesus’ walk with his cross to his crucifixion (he fell here, saw Mary there, things like that). At the end, of course, is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This Church traditionally contains the site of both the crucifixion and tomb of Jesus. It is a church that was built on the site of other churches that came before it and commemorated the same spots. The church, from the outside, wasn’t as spectacular as I was expecting, but then I’m not really sure what I was expecting. Inside the church, we followed the last stations on the path of Jesus.

After leaving the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we went to visit the Western Wall. After a full day of some of the most holy places in Christendom, it seemed out of place to go to one of the holiest places in Judaism (since we had plenty of time to do so over the next few days), but I guess in a way it makes sense to visit Jerusalem in this manner since it holds such an important place in many religions and cultures and is difficult to separate along strict categorical lines (though many have tried). Of all of the places we visited in Israel, I found the Western (Wailing) Wall to be the most solemn and the most moving. I don’t know the whole story behind it as I’ve never researched it independently and our guide was much more knowledgeable with respect to Christian history than he was with Jewish history. Perhaps additional knowledge about the history would have made it even more moving; though, perhaps not since I find that in Israel, the history of certain sites sometimes detract from the meaning of the site in the context of faith. (For instance, if a person bursts into tears upon approaching a particular site, it really matters little whether or not any particular event actually took place there. At that point, it’s about faith, not about history.)

That was the end of our first full-day in Israel. That was also the high point of our trip to Israel. We visited other cities and other sites, and some were very impressive, but everything else sort of paled in comparison to Jerusalem. How could it not, though, seeing as Jerusalem is, by far, the most historic city on the planet.

I think I have one more Israel post in me after this one. Coming up in the next episode: Bethlehem, Sea (Lake) of Galilee and the Jordan River.

Out of Jordan; In to Israel

We left our hotel in Amman at 7:00 a.m. to head to the King Hussein Bridge to cross the Jordan River into Israel. We didn’t have anything else planned the entire day – that should tell you how long we expected it to take us to cross from Jordan to Israel. We got to the border at around 8:00 and got out of our bus as our Jordanian guide helped get everything taken care of with respect to our passports and the exit from Jordan. Something got stamped, but it wasn’t my passport and we were free to head over to the Israeli checkpoint.

At the Israeli checkpoint, we didn’t have a guide. Fortunately, the entire process was fairly self-explanatory. After giving away our baggage for inspection, we worked our way over to the passport control desk. Each of us requested a Form 17 to avoid having our passports stamped by Israel. (For the uninitiated, most Arab nations will not let you enter if you have an Israel stamp in your passport. For me, it probably doesn’t matter, but just in case I decide to head over to Morocco when I’m in southern Europe, I thought I’d get the Form 17.) The process wasn’t too difficult and by 10:00 a.m., we were out of the checkpoint and in Israel.

Since we got into Israel early, the entire itinerary was destroyed. The tour company had no idea how to deal with extra time and things got switched around every which way. It was decided that the first trip from the checkpoint should be Masada.

If you don’t know the story of Masada, don’t look for it here. I’m not an ancient scholar and from what I understand, the story is fairly disputed. According to Josephus, though, at the top of Masada, almost a thousand Zealots chose to commit suicide than surrender to the Romans. The site itself is fairly impressive, and what we were shown follows the traditional story, so who am I to judge – though as you’ll find in the upcoming posts, I’ve grown accustomed to places in Israel being “traditional” as opposed to “actual” and, well, any story dating back 2,000 years has to be taken with a grain of salt. But I digress.

After Masada, we went back to the Dead Sea, basically to appease one person in the group. Since we had all gone to the Dead Sea the day before in Jordan, most of us didn’t have much interest in seeing it again the very next day. The spot where we stopped was pretty dingy compared to the spot we visited on the Jordan side, but it’s probably not fair to compare things to Jordan, which was great from start to finish.

After the Dead Sea, we went to the West Bank to visit Jericho. (We went back and forth between pre-1967 Israel and the West Bank fairly often during the trip. I’ll attempt to abstain from participating in a political discussion within these pages, but I found that seeing areas that up to now I had only heard about to be very educational.) I’m not sure exactly why we went to Jericho. There was a tree there. Again, I’m not a biblical or ancient history scholar and the significance of the tree never was really explained.

After the tree, we went to an area to view Temptation Mountain, not to be confused with Temptation Island, which would have been a little more interesting. According to tradition (I’m really fighting myself here not to use the word “legend”), this is the mountain in which the Devil tempted Jesus. Again, this is a “traditional” site with a monastery half-way up. Like the majority of biblical sites we visited, it was decided that this was the site in which the events of the Bible took place and celebrated as such. (For the sake of simplicity, when I talk about Israel and I say that an event took place, let’s just assume it actually took place. This is a travel blog, not a theological or historical blog.) We didn’t actually go to the mountain, we just looked at it from afar. I’m still not sure why we had to go to Jericho to do that.

That was pretty much it for the first day. After Jericho, we went to our hotel, which is an old French pilgrim’s hotel and appears to still be run by the Catholic Church. (There were photos of a visit by the current Pope in the lobby of the hotel.) It was comfortable. There was no television, but unlike the most of the hotels in Egypt, there was beer. There may be more on that topic later.

Jordan vs. Egypt (No Contest)

I’ve moved on to Israel, but I don’t think that I’ve written enough about how much I enjoyed Jordan, so I want to do one last entry in which I discuss how much Jordan rocks. One way to do that is to compare it to the country I visited immediately before Jordan, Egypt.

Here is some advice that nobody will take: If you have an opportunity to visit either Egypt or Jordan, choose Jordan. Nobody will take this advice because everybody wants to see the pyramids and the Sphinx. As somebody who was just there, let me tell you that Petra is much more impressive. The sandstone carvings into the mountains, high into the mountains, are breathtaking throughout the city, whereas the pyramids are large collections of stone. The pyramids are huge, but they have very little else going for them. The structures in Petra are absolutely beautiful. Point – Jordan.

The capital cities also stand in stark contrast. Cairo is a megalopolis of 40 million people (counting Giza and the surrounding area), while Amman is much smaller, but still a good-sized city of 2 million. The biggest contrast, though, is that to say Cairo is dirty is to insult “dirty.” If you’ve followed this blog at all, you realize how much I love the bigger cities. Cairo, however, is just a sty. Despite some impressive landmarks, the whole city is crawling with garbage. Amman, on the other hand, is a very clean city with white buildings, sidewalks that are actually walkable, and is not suffering from severe overpopulation, as Cairo is. I’d like to go back and spend more time in Amman. I can’t say that about Cairo. Point – Jordan.

I do have to give Egypt some credit. Once I got outside of Cairo, it was a beautiful country, at least along the Nile. The Nile cruise that I was on was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Still, Jordan wins this battle. Jordan may be the most beautiful country that I’ve ever seen. From the port city at Aqaba, looking out over the Red Sea, to the red sands and mountains of Wadi Rum, the clean cityscape of Amman and all of the mountainous landscapes from the roads in-between, I’ve never seen such consistent beauty. Point – Jordan.

If Egypt has anything going for it, it is that the country is much cheaper than its neighbors to the northeast. Still, Jordan is not very expensive, as I came to appreciate once I crossed the Jordan river into Israel. Still, economically, I guess it’s a point to Egypt.

Don’t get me wrong; I think that Egypt is worth visiting, with the possible exception of Cairo, and the farther south that I went in Egypt, the more I liked it. Still, and I can’t stress this enough, if you can choose only one, you definitely should choose to visit Jordan.

Jordan - Jerash/Dead Sea

On our final full day of sightseeing in Jordan, we went to Jerash and to the Dead Sea, so that will be the topic of this entry.

Jerash is an ancient Roman town that is located in northern Jordan, about 45 minutes (according to my guide) from the Syrian border. I’d like to say that the site is well-preserved, but it would be more accurate to say that the site is well-restored. To be honest, however, I prefer that the city be restored to give us a better idea of how it once appeared than to be left in tatters for the sake of preservation.

Anyway, with all of the restoration, Jerash is a fascinating site. At the time I’m writing this entry, it has been about three days since I visited the town. The feature that struck me the most, and that I remember best, is the outdoor, stone theater, which seats around 6,000 people. While we were there, a band comprised of retired Jordanian soldiers gave us a brief musical performance, which gave us an idea of how good the acoustics are in the theater. It also was interesting to see how organized the theater was, with numbered reserved seats dating back a few millennia.

Of course, as with any ancient Roman city, there were columns and temples and other great stone monuments. While we were touring the site, our guide kept telling us about several earthquakes that damaged this temple or that monument. By the end, I think that everybody in the group was convinced that the earth was shaking and that the columns were going to come down on us.

After Jerash, we took a two-hour bus ride to the Dead Sea. We were all excited about getting in the water and testing the buoyancy that we had all heard about. The only thing that our guide told us was that we shouldn’t drink the water. Umm . . thanks for that, I guess.

Before I tell you about my experience, let me start off by saying that I can’t swim. I have never been able to. Normally, I don’t let this dissuade me from going into the water; I just don’t go in very deep.

After lunch at a Dead Sea resort, we went to the Sea. It is winter in Jordan, but the day was about 65 F, so it was pretty comfortable. I stepped in and found the water to be a tad cold, but not bad at all. My friend, who was already floating, told me to just sit down. She told me it was impossible to sink, so I gave it a try. After floundering for about 15 seconds, I finally found by balance point and floated.

Let me tell you about floating in the Dead Sea, which is around 1/3 salt. I swear it was like sitting in an adjustable, reclining lawn chair. I sat back, stuck my legs out and my head, chest and legs stayed above water. To move in our out, it was just a matter of pushing out with my arms. When I got tired, I could put my hands together under my bent knees and just rest. It required no work at all to lounge in the water. Despite not being able to swim, I paddled my way out as far from the shore as was permissible because there really wasn’t any reason to fear drowning (provided I didn’t drink the water – thanks again for that one, guide).

After about thirty-five minutes, I paddled back to the shore, showered and my trip in the Dead Sea was over. I have to say that it was an experience that I’m not likely to forget. We ended up going back to the Dead Sea in Israel the next day, but I didn’t want to go in two days in a row, so I’m left with my one experience that will end up being one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Jordan - Petra. 'nuff said.

Before I started my trip, I have to admit that the only thing that I really knew about Jordan was Petra, and about that I knew little more than the famous Treasury façade. Even though I learned a lot more before heading to Petra, I still was viewing it at the highlight of the trip as we were on our way to the ancient city.

Before arriving in Petra, we stopped in Wadi Mousas (Moses Valley) to see the rock that Moses struck in the desert, producing water for the Israelites. (See Exodus.) Of course I have no faith in it being the actual rock, but it makes for a good story and a great photo op.

We arrived at our hotel in Petra, but our rooms were not yet ready. A group of us went to a restaurant called Burkara and ate there. The meal I ordered was called “Chicken From The Machine.” Basically, it was rotisserie chicken and it was really good. It came with a cucumber and tomato salad and only cost around $4 American, so I felt like I accomplished much.

In the evening, a few of us attended Petra at Night. The path to the ancient city, through a narrow natural path between sandstone mountains, was lit by candlelight and the entire area was further illuminated by a beautiful full moon. The walk, approximately 1.2 kilometers, led us directly to the famous Treasury, which also was illuminated by candlelight. My first view of the building, carved into the side of a mountain, through the slender separation of sandstone directly opposite the landmark was one of the few literally stunning visions I have ever encountered in my life. The Treasury was much more stunning and impressive to me than the Great Pyramid, which I had seen only a week before.

Upon arrival at the Treasury, we sat on mats laid out before the building as we listed to live performances of traditional Jordanian music and listed to lectures about the history of Petra. After the performances, we returned to the bus and the hotel to get a few hours of sleep before returning.

I knew that even though many people have seen nothing of Petra but the Treasury, there was more to Petra than that single façade. I did not know, however, the extent of the excavation of the ancient city. We were told that it would take three or four days to explore everything that Petra had to offer and after our day there, I have no doubts. We returned to Treasury and then advanced through the Street of the Facades, to take in hundreds of tombs and other carvings into the soft sandstone mountains.

I don’t know the names of most of the things that I saw and I won’t pretend to have a ton of knowledge, but I will point out a few of the highlights – with photos, of course. One of the highlights for me was an ancient amphitheater carved into the mountains, first by the Nabateans and then expanded by the Romans. Eventually, it was able to hold approximately 7000 people, though I don’t know how comfortable the sandstone seats would have been.

We also visited what we were told was the home of somebody rich that was across the, we’ll call it street, from the amphitheater. We had to climb up some semi-steep steps to get into the house (I use the word “house” loosely since it is actually a home carved into the side of a mountain) and enjoy the view. An adorable Jordanian girl that couldn’t have been more than seven followed us up there and managed to sell stuff to the dozen or so people in the home because nobody could say no to her.

Besides the Treasury, the biggest highlight for me was the Monastery (Ad-Deir). This structure is also carved into the side of a mountain, but this one is carved very, very high into the side of a mountain. We had to climb a flight of 800 stairs in order to get to the Monastery. Across from the Monastery was a café that included seats and a souvenir shop set up inside a cave (former tomb?) that sits across the courtyard in front of the Monastery. From this altitude, we were able to see fantastic valley and desert views of the surrounding area.

That takes me to right now, sitting in the lobby of my hotel, writing the past few entries and wondering when I will finally get an opportunity to actually put them on to the website. Maybe in Amman . . .

Jordan - Pleasant Surprise in Wadi Rum

After ending our brief stop in Aqaba, we headed to Wadi Rum, a nature preserve in Jordan. None of us knew exactly what to expect. We knew that we were going to spend the night in a Bedouin camp and that it was going to be cold, but we weren’t told too much else about it.

One thing that we definitely didn’t expect is that, despite being desert, it was among the most beautiful places on Earth. We started off at the Wadi Rum visitors center to learn a little about the village. From the center, we had great views of the mountain known as the Seven Pillars of Wisdom (named after a T.E. Lawrence book) and the surrounding desert. The scenery was entrancing, but it was only a smidgen of what was to come.

From the village, we were taken by four-wheel drive to a Bedouin camp. The trip took us through desert and a beautiful, light brown mountainous region. Photographs were difficult because of all of the motion, but don’t worry – I took plenty of photographs after we stopped.

The Bedouin camp was definitely touristy, but that didn’t take away from the natural beauty in which it was situated. As soon as we arrived at the camp, we were taken to an area in which camels were awaiting us. We were all given an opportunity to take a short camel ride and we all took advantage of it. As a matter of fact, I took advantage of it twice because I found it to be rather fun. We didn’t go far – both trips combined were only around thirty minutes – but a great photo op and an entertaining new experience.

After the rides, we got situated in our sleeping tents and then a group of us climbed to the top of a nearby granite hill in order to see the sun set behind the mountains in the near distance. We were promised a beautiful sunset and we were not disappointed. I know that pictures will never do it justice, but I snapped a few if only to remind me of the beauty that I saw.

If you’ve never spent the night in the desert, be aware that as soon as the sun goes down, the temperature starts to drop significantly and quickly. After the sunset, we congregated around a fire in a large Bedouin tent. Our guides gave us Bedouin wine (it was hot, sweet tea – the Bedouins are Muslim and do not drink, though they assured us we could drink out of plastic cups without offending them) and sang and danced.

Afterwards, we saw dinner pulled out of the ground. Our Bedouin barbeque consisted of chicken, potatoes, tomatoes and squash, all cooked together in an underground pit. The food was probably the best meal I’ve had on this trip. After dinner, there was more singing and then the Jack Daniels that we purchased in Aqaba was brought out and after a few drinks, we called it an early night.

At night, it got down to about 40 degrees, but the tents were well-equipped, with warm blankets and a mattress, so I ended up sleeping pretty well. An early night resulted in an early morning and most of the camp was awake early enough to see the sunrise. Unfortunately, because of a few clouds, the sunrise was not as spectacular as the sunset, but the fresh air, far away from any city noise or pollution, made it a great morning, nonetheless.

After breakfast, we hiked for a few kilometers to another mountain in Wadi Rum to see a mountain spring and then we hopped back into the four-wheel drives to go to other sites in Wadi Rum, including various sites associated with Lawrence of Arabia. Since I’m not well-versed in Mr. Lawrence’s story, I can’t do justice to the places that we visited, but if you watch the movie Lawrence of Arabia, perhaps you’ll get a better understanding of the beauty that I encountered because it was filmed in Wadi Rum and Aqaba.

After visiting the sites, we returned to the visitors center and boarded our bus to Petra and the next blog entry.

Exodus

Well, it looks like I have time to draft a few more entries, though I’m not sure exactly when they will be posted. We will, however, do what we can. This entry is about the trip from Egypt into Jordan.

First of all, Moses had fewer problems leaving Egypt than we did. The original plan was simple and painless enough. We were going to take a 2-hour bus ride from St. Catherine’s to Nuweiba and then hop on the one-hour hydrofoil to Aqaba in Jordan. We left at 8:00 am to get to the ferry station in plenty of time, as required, and that part worked out perfectly. Then things went awry.

The first problem was with the hydrofoil. Although we got to the station in plenty of time, the hydrofoil didn’t. Not only was it not there on time, it wasn’t coming at all because of bad weather in Jordan. Even though we could see Jordan from where we were waiting and we could see absolutely nothing wrong with the weather in Jordan, the hydrofoil wasn’t coming.

Plan B. We did have a Plan B. Plan B said that we would hop on the cargo ferry, which usually takes around two hours, and then head on to Jordan. Plan B looked good considering the fact that the ferry was sitting there in the Nuweiba harbor, ready for us to board. And board we did, settling in at around 12:30 pm. The plan said we were going to cross into Jordan, check into our hotel in Aqaba and spend the afternoon checking out the town. The plan didn’t go exactly as it was supposed to go.

When we boarded the ferry there already were plenty of people on board, but we were able to find seats in order to wait for the trip to begin. Our seats were in booths in one of the upper classes and they were quite comfortable. This proved to be fortunate. We waited for the ship to depart. One hour. Two hours. Three hours. Four hours. Finally, at around 4:30 pm, the ferry finally departed Nuweiba. Good enough. A two- or three- hour trip would put us in our hotels in plenty of time to have dinner and drinks and a good night’s sleep before heading out to Wadi Rum the next morning. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a two- or three- hour trip.

Throughout the night, we kept receiving messages over the intercom that I assume were updating us on the status of the trip. Unfortunately, the messages were in Arabic and none of us spoke Arabic. Starting at around 8:30, eight hours after getting on the boat and four hours after leaving Egypt, we started getting updates here and there from other passengers that we had another hour to go on the trip. We got these messages at around 8:30 pm, 9:30 pm, 10:30 pm, 11:30 pm . . . . Finally, shortly after midnight, we got our first, last, only message in English on the trip. It was along the lines of “welcome to ship, water choppy, cannot dock, enjoy trip.” Okay, screw it, we’re not landing. I put in some earplugs and slapped on a sleeping mask and decided to go to sleep. There was not going to be any dinner or any drinks, but at least I would try to get to sleep.

Finally, at around 2:15 am, the ferry finally docked in Aqaba. We still had to go through immigration and customs and it was around 3:00 am before we got to our hotel. Once there, we learned that our morning activities had been cancelled for the next morning so we could get around five hours of sleep and walk around Aqaba a little bit before heading out to Wadi Rum.

The tragedy of the entire debacle was that we missed our evening in Aqaba. We walked around in the morning for a few hours and it was a beautiful city. At least I think it was a beautiful city. After seeing all of the grime and garbage in the cities of Egypt, it probably wouldn’t have taken much to impress me. But with that proviso, Aqaba certainly did impress me.

A friend and I walked around town, stopped by an ATM and then went to a restaurant called Ali Baba for some coffee and to take advantage of the free WiFi. We also did a little shopping, particularly at a few of the many, many liquor stores in Aqaba. Jordan is a relatively dry country, but Aqaba is a duty-free port city connecting Jordan with Egypt and Israel and the liquor stores were plentiful and cheap. We bought some Jack Daniels and Coke to enjoy on our trips to Wadi Rum and Petra. Sadly, that was pretty much the extent of our trip to Aqaba. From there, we bused to Wadi Rum and yet another blog entry.

Egypt - If Moses Could Do It . . .

Because it’s there.

- George Mallory.

“We came. We saw. We kicked its ass.”

- Dr. Peter Venkman

We had to get up early again on Sunday to head out of Africa. It was time to head to Asia, the Sinai Peninsula and Mt. Sinai. It would take an eight-hour bus ride and a trip under the Suez Canal, but it will be an experience I will never forget.

The bus ride itself was fairly uneventful. It was eight hours through desert. Lots of desert. Crossing under the Suez Canal was simple enough and once that was completed, we were in Asia. For a while, we drove down the west coast of the Sinai Peninsula, parallel to the Red Sea, which made for some pretty seaside views. Other than that, the bus ride gave me an excellent opportunity to become reacquainted with my iPod.

We stayed at a crappy resort hotel in St. Catherine, which also is the name of the monastery that sits in front of the entrance to Mt. Sinai. I guess saying “stayed” there is a little premature. As soon as we got to the resort, we had time to drop our bags and head to Mt. Sinai.

We weren’t going to see Mt. Sinai. We were going to climb Mt. Sinai. Well, six of us were anyway. With little sleep, little food and immediately following an eight-hour bus ride, six of us were going to climb this 2200 meter mountain in the winter. That lasted about ten minutes and then we were down to five. The one who fell off was a 70-year old in fairly poor shape and we couldn’t see making much of an attempt to begin with. The remaining five of us, however, kept hope alive.

In hearing about the trek up the mountain, I was led slightly astray. I was told that there is a path leading most of the way up the mountain and then 750 steps to the top. I was told that the steps could be difficult, but that if I made it up to them, I could feel some sense of accomplishment and see a great sunset. The “path” however was an obstacle course of steps and large stones and small stones and dust storms and camel poop and, since this is a mountain climb, completely uphill. In parts of the “path,” the walk wasn’t so bad, but other areas of the path were tremendously steep. Since my legs are much better than my lungs, I generally took the lead and got several meters ahead of the rest of the group and would then wait until the group caught up with me in an attempt to catch my breath.

The five of us continued up this path, about 1700 meters up the mountain and then we reached the “steps.” Again, “steps” was applying a very generous definition to the term. Actually, they were large stones of varying sizes and shapes that ascended very rapidly, zig-zagging up the top of the mountain at a very steep pace. On top of this, the temperature had gotten down to about 30 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was gusting over 50 miles per hour. It would have been a miserable time to walk around the block in this weather and I was trying to climb up this steep mountain. But the other four of my group kept going and, since I was the youngest of the group, I kept going with them.

About halfway up the 750 “step” finale of the trip, we lost one more of the five. A sixty-year old woman named Carol had come up over 90% of the mountain before she finally gave up, but the rest of us marched on. I think Moses was like 350-years old or something like that when he ascended the mountain to get the Ten Commandments. I couldn’t let Moses show me up. We kept going.

And then, tragedy almost struck. About twenty-five steps from the top, within view of the summit, a gust of wind caught my coat and took me with it. I ended up off of my feet and landing a few steps below where I started and landed on my right hand and right knee. I think I broke my right pinkie finger (I’m still not sure; it’ll be a few days before I’m in a town in which I can get it x-rayed) and I couldn’t put any weight on my right knee. Still, I was determined. I got up, hopped over to a rock wall to block off the wind, and tested my knee to see if I could “walk it off.” I could see the summit, and at this point, I was going to reach the top if I had to hop up the last 100 meters.

After taking about twenty steps in place, I determined that my knee wasn’t hurt too badly. I decided I could walk up the steps. As for my mangled hand, the cold and the wind had completely numbed it, so there was not much pain, although I knew that there would be plenty of it once I thawed out. I decided that I was in good enough shape for the final ascent. The rest of the group was close behind me and we kept going.

From this point forward, I did not waste any time or energy. I did not look up; only down at where I was placing my feet. I did not rest. I did not even pause. I went up the rest of the steps quickly and positively and reached the summit in about three minutes. On top, in the cold and the wind and the pain, I felt a sense of accomplishment that I have very rarely felt. The final three members of my group made it to the summit and we all celebrated together with pictures and pride. As I attempted to photograph a married couple who were members of my group, another burst of wind grabbed me and threw me down again. This time, I landed on my more fleshy parts and there was no additional injury. More importantly, I managed to fall without damaging their camera, with which I was trying to take the photograph.

After about fifteen minutes at the top of the mountain, it was time for the second part of the trip – climbing down. We retraced our steps, but we were in a race against time. It was sunset and coming down the steps in the dark would be pretty dangerous. Obviously, we made better speed going downhill than we did going uphill and we were fortunate enough to reach the bottom of the steps just before dark and having to use our flashlights. Once we were out of sunlight, we maneuvered through the confusing path in the dark. It wasn’t easy, but again, it was much less troublesome because were heading downhill. In all, it took us around 2 ½ hours to reach the top and another 1 ½ hours to reach the bottom. There, we were met by our Egypt travel guide and taken back to our hotel for a well-deserved, if horrible, dinner.

That’s all there was to it. Yesterday morning, I had never even come close to attempting to climb a mountain. Today, I can say that I’ve climbed to the summit of one of the most famous mountains in history. A few hundred people do it every day, but that doesn’t take away from my sense of accomplishment. For now, this is the high point of my trip to the Middle East. So far.