Over Dreams Terrain Changed

Photo left: on the way to St. Katherine Protectorate; photo right: unloading our backpacks

My last entry was still Day 8 in Cairo. For those of you who emailed me saying there was no update... Sorry. Day 9 through 11 were spent in the mountains and by the sea therefore no Internet.

Day 9 , Dramamine is great! I closed my eyes on the big bus at 6:20 AM, every hour or so I opened them till we arrived in the St. Catherine's Protectorate at 12:20. I slept six hours without feeling any commotion. We checked in and had a huge buffet lunch at the hotel. There were one storey houses along the hill each holding two rooms. The entire compound was tucked inside the mountains.

Photo above: Julee's gazillion straps and with papyrus tucked in under the 'bad' arm; below: our mountain hotel room

At 2 PM, we headed out to the foot of Mount Sinai. I had four layers on, brought 2 litres of water, a flashlight and three more layers in my backpack. It was tough as the rocks became thicker and steeper. My yoga instructor would have been very proud of me since I breathed in and out each breath without any rush and that really helped me get acclimated. I never climbed any high mountains so I was not sure how I would react as it got higher. Kirsten, the Australian girl was behind most of the time especially since she and I were the 'coughers' of the group. She was feeling difficult to breathe. Our local guide told us he had been climbing Mount Sinai three times a week for twenty years. All of us gasped in admiration, immediately starting to calculate "umm, three times a week, 52 weeks a year, 4000 steps each time and how many step for 20 years?" Every step under his feet seems so easy. For me, I had to stop every 15 minutes to breathe. We were whining to Daniel, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

Kirsten and Daniel at the end of the trek

Still not even half point yet!

Snow on the ground as we climbed higher

Photo left: 750 step point where there is this toilet sign carved in rocks

Sandy and Dora took the less steep camel route on camel back and got to the 750 step joining point sooner than the rest of the group. At the 750 point, there was a shabby tea house and a big black cat. When we started again, I saw him following us and meowing along the way. Daniel said the cat usually followed a few steps and would stay.

Kitty trek. There must be something about our group that made him follow the entire 750 steep rocky steps...

When we got to the summit, it was cloudy. We hurried to take the good spots for sunset view, took group pictures and chewed on any leftover snacks. Then suddenly I heard a meow and saw the cat swiftly come up the rocks. He came sit in between us and stared up to the sun hidden in clouds. We were all so dumbfounded we started petting him and yelling all sorts of praises. He stayed the whole time watching the sun coming out of the dark clouds, the sky turning orange and red, and sun falling below the Mount Catherine peaks right across from Mount Sinai. We did it! And the cat too! It was worth every step of the way.

Almost there!!!

Mount Sinai summit view of the snowy mountain top. All 2286 meters (7500 feet), and 3700 "Steps of the Repentance" below our feet.

Hota (Arabic for cat) made it too! What amazing feat for the short four legged creature! It was the craziest feeling to have him pur on my lap at the top of the mountain... kept me warm for a while. :)

The world's greatest cat "when is the sun going to set?"

Sunset over the highest peak in Egypt, Mount Catherine

I live for this moment

On the way down it was getting darker by the minute then we had to use a flashlight. We used the camel route and the group split into the fast, medium, and slow ranges. Closer to the end of the trail, Kirsten and I could not see anything for a while and we heard a guy that sounded like our local guide yelling and flashing his torch in the opposite way. A few steps further, we saw a different guy approaching us with a lantern. He said "come, come, come". There was a hut behind him and a few guys in traditional Bedouin headdresses. Kirsten said "la la la" and pushed my arm nervously and motioned the other way. I grabbed her arm and dragged her off the course towards the dark sandy field. As I flashed my torch around, I saw camels lying around us. We mistakenly stepped into the middle of the camel camp. We started running, screaming, and climbing off the rocky side of the hill and got out without being nudged by any of them.

Day 9, another nap in a mini van, I woke up to a bicycle race. A convoy of bikes, buses, trucks, police cars formed the dark cloud at the horizon and came closer. We had to get off the road for the racers to ride by. They all wore neon color tight outfits and paddled by in a frenzy. A few stragglers then came by. Then the a huge truck load of their luggage. The last appearance was an ambulance with one cyclist on each side, holding on to the front windows and paddling the same time with the ambulance. We were all wondering why they would not just bother to sit inside the ambulance?

By the time we got to Nuweiba, Daniel got off to buy the ferry tickets to Jordan. I hopped off too and threw up by the side of the road. I have been doing good. Only one incident so far thanks to all the medication, sea bands and such. When I finally raised my head, I was told that across the stretch of Red Sea in front of me, I was looking at Saudi Arabia. I comforted myself that at least it was a nice pretty spot where my incident took place.

First look at the Red Sea