A Return to the Holy Land

Egypt was ill.  Ill in the sense that the modern teen may use the term, rather than the original meaning, in which it is most commonly used.


 The pyramids at Giza was our first stop in the ancient land.  We arrived in the evening, just in time for the "Light and Sound Show".  It was actually way sweet!  Something like you might see at the Bilagio Hotel in Las Vegas.

 

 I had to do it.

 The next day we kissed the Sphinx and made friends with some mummies in The Great Pyramid.

 In the Valley of the Kings, we saw the tomb of King Tut and his MUMMY!  I was seriously blown away at this guy!  He is about 4500 years old and amazingly well preserved--you could still see each of his toes! (This is in front of Hatshepsut's palace).

The rest of our Luxor stay, which was a vacation, within a vacation, of a vacation; was repleat with a faluka sailboat ride on the Nile, camel rides, carriage rides, and bargaining our way through the city.

Day 3:  We flew south to the city of Luxor, which is about the distance from SLC to Las Vegas.  We stayed at the glam (short for glamorous) Sheraton Hotel.  Picture this, white beautiful limestone building, the Nile River, and a sunset that will add 10 years to your life.  Anyway, way cool.

On the ten hour night train ride back to Cairo we jammed 24 of us into a boxcar room and had the dance party of the year.  We instantly made friends with the porters who provided us with delicious meals.

Climbing Mount Sinai was epic!  We started our ascent at 3 AM and summited about 4:45 AM; in time to watch the sunrise over the Sinai Desert.  Sinai is 7,500 ft ascent.  We took the "Steps of Penitence" trail down which is a series of 3,750 steps--ultra cool.

Locale of Mt. Sinai.

Sunrise on Sinai


In the time that we left and came back to Cairo the the government was about to be sacked and riots were raging.  But to be completely honest, we wouldn't have even know that it was happening if we hadn't watched the news.  We were super blessed and far from harms way.  When we got back to Jerusalem Brother Jackson our Program Director read us some emails that were sent to him in regards to our trip to Egypt.  Among others, President Samuelson and Elder Holland said how glad they were that we all got home safely.  It was cool to know that so many people were concerned about us.  I love the church!