Egypt was a riot!

Picture 1-the view from the top of Mt. Sinai
Picture 2-the beautiful sunrise
Picture 3-freezing on top of Mt. Sina

Ha ha – get it? Egypt was a riot? One of my friends coined the phrase and I thought it was funny.
Throughout this whole trip, we were being updated on what was going on concerning the riots in Cairo. We actually barely missed those by going to Luxor. Our whole day in Cairo we had no idea what was going on because we were never anywhere close to them.
Sadly we had to change our Friday and Saturday plans to make sure that we steered clear of the chaos and danger in downtown Cairo.
So, we went to the Red and Bent pyramid Friday and then stayed in the hotel Friday afternoon. We didn’t get to go to the Egyptian Museum, which was quite the disappointment, but we got to do some AMAZING things, and no BYU JC crew has ever gone to the Red or Bent pyramid before, so we were a special case. We were very well taken care of though, and I never felt like I was in danger. The internet was shut off, along with cell phone connection starting on Friday, so we were basically cut off from the world for awhile. We watched updates on the news just like everyone else and couldn’t stop thinking how crazy it was that we were in the same-ish area as the demonstrations. It was kind of cool to be there when Egypt was trying to make a statement and see some changes in their government. I don’t understand everything that is going on and I don’t know what will happen, but I do know that everything worked out for us perfectly. If these things had started happening any earlier or if our trip had been scheduled for just one week later, we wouldn’t have been able to go and I never would have had the most amazing experience of my entire life! I loved every minute of my trip – even though a few things were cut out of our agenda. I hope you all know that I was safe from harm the whole time and we could feel your prayers and are grateful for all that you did!

Now, I have to tell you about our Mt. Sinai experience. That’s right – I HIKED MT. SINAI. We drove from Cairo to Mt. Sinai Saturday afternoon and got to the hotel at the bottom of the mountain before sunset. We tried to go to bed early because we woke up at 2:30 am and started hiking up the mountain at 3:45am. It was the hardest hike of my entire life. First of all, I literally hiked from the bottom to the top of a mountain. ¾ of the way were switchbacks, then the last ¼ were stairs that monks built long ago. These aren’t nice wooden stairs though – the stairs consisted of rocks strategically placed in a step-like fashion. Basically, my legs were on fire near the end and I couldn’t breathe. It’s also extremely cold up there. We were told to bring a lot of layers along with gloves, hats, and scarves to keep us warm. Hiking up wasn’t too bad, but once you stop moving and rest at the top, you get SO COLD. And boy were they right.
I brought a few hand warmers which basically saved my life (thank-you mom!). Enough of the coldness though – we made it to the top of the mountain just in time to watch the sunrise. I’ve never seen a more beautiful sunrise. Because we hiked in the dark, we had no idea what our surroundings were. But once a little bit of light started appearing, we could see that we were in the middle of a vast and endless sea of mountains. I took a ton of pictures, but nothing can compare with the feeling I got when I was up there. I don’t think you can get closer to heaven.
The hike down was beautiful because we could finally see where we were going! I loved the whole thing and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I loved my experience in Egypt and I didn’t want it to come to an end! I felt at home and enjoyed every moment. ☺