Climbing Sinai
A few weeks ago my friends and I decided to climb Mt. Sinai supposedly where Moses received the commandments from God. We left late from Cairo so we would be able to reach Mt. Sinai and climb before the sunrise which actually turned out to be perfectly planned. The trip took around 7 or 8 totals with stops and what-not which was somewhat uncomfortable considering we had more people than the bus could actually legitimately hold. The bus company had told us that the bus could hold 16 people but neglected to mention that this number included the driver and his navigator. So some people ended up sitting on the floor or on the luggage, but otherwise it was rather fun. When we got to the Mount Saint Catherine Protectorate it was still cold and dark outside. We payed a nominal fee (I think it was 10 LE or so) to enter the Protectorate and drove to a small encampment before the base of the mountains. We gathered our belongings and set out for a long climb to the top. The first part of the climb was a large path that slowly sloped in front of the mountain, twisting and turning back on itself. The path was dificult to navigate in the dark and was extremely rocky. Unfortunately, one girl turned her ankle early on and had to ride a camel to the top of the mountain. However, the second part was even more difficult. It was some half mile of stairs leaning at some points in a near 90 degree angle to the mountain. We made the entire trek in just under 2 and a half hours, in time to see the sun rise over the top of the mountains. It was quite simply stunning and amazing. The sunrise and feeling of excitement of being on top of the mountain and overlooking everything made the difficult climb worthwhile. My advice for anyone wishing to climb Mt. Sinai is that if they aren’t very physically fit, they work out for a few weeks before attempting the climb as my legs were ridiculously sore for the next several days.
