Egypt Day 8 - Final Day! Hooray!

Okay, so on September 24, 2009 I woke up at 2 o'clock a.m., boarded a bus, and hiked up Mt. Sinai.

Well, actually...backup. Amanda and I didn't have a clock in our room that was easily accessible....(I was really wishing for that travel alarm clock that we bought but didn't put in my bag...oh well!) Anyway...we kind of woke up to the sound of voices in the lobby, and Amanda said, "Angie....Angie! I think everyone's up and going!" And so we got dressed so we could go out and look and I put my contacts in and everything....I looked at the lobby without them and just saw a group of people...so there you go. So we got all dressed, and got out there, and it wasn't our group! It was only one o'clock! So we went back to sleep! It was really funny though!

Anyway, we got a short breakfast and a little mini lunch/breakfast in a sack, and we got on the bus, and we drove to the bottom of the trail.

Now we got off the bus, congregated, were told that we could take camels up for $16 one way, and then we set off. I was determined to hike that whole mountain, and I can proudly say that I did!
This is our whole group, getting "the spiel" which we get everywhere we go, and don't get me wrong, it's super helpful.

This is me, preparing to hike! The headlamp didn't stay on my head long, I ended up just holding it in my hand, cause I've never really been a huge headlamp person.

It was hard though...I'm not a bad hiker, but I fight a huge mental battle whenever I hike. But I made it! It was dark and the stars were absolutely gorgeous. I passed time hiking by singing songs :), and I looked at constellations, and I thought of all the people wishing that they could be hiking with me, that I wished could be there too. There were camel people along the trail, and they would just kind of appear and then ask if we wanted to ride a camel. there was one little skinny part of the trail kind of near the top that had camels on either side, left and right, and it was so freaky. I had gotten in between clumps of my group at that point, and so I went through what I have come to call the "Camel Valley" all by myself. It wasn't really a valley, it was more of a cliff, but there were camels on both sides. It is funny now, but of course then it was kind of like a haunted house... I'm sure you can all imagine. :)

Anyway, we kept hiking, and we got to the very top portion, and there was a stream of beautiful sunlight on the horizon, and I was so exhausted, and we came to the stairs. Someone said there were something like 700 stairs at the very top. And camels don't go that far. Camels stop at the bottom of the stairs. But anyway....I had a great attitude the whole way up, but those stairs were the point that I had to call in for some heavenly reinforcement. I really wanted to make it up that mountain. I was determined, even though I was exhausted.

And it was so worth it.

Here are some pictures, the ones that you all have been waiting for! :)

This is Amy, Emily, Kathryn, and Me at the top, and we were all SUPER super sweaty :). I took my backpack up, so the sweatmarks are from the backpack straps.

Rising sun!

Me with the sun in the background! It was so so so beautiful! And right in front of us, there was a straight cliff down a couple hundred feet. I was sitting a little further back than some people :)

This is around the time when we left...

After we sat on Mt. Sinai, at the very top, and sang hymns and I wrote in my journal, and we watched the sun rise, we were compelled to go down the stairs again, by our religion professors.

The hike down! You can see how rocky and dramatic the terrain is.

At the bottom of the stairs, we had a testimony meeting, in each of our classes. It was powerful, and I bore my testimony of the fact that places don't make testimonies. However wonderful being on Mt. Sinai was, and it really was an amazing experience, places don't make testimonies. I know that the Spirit and the Gospel led me to this study abroad, and that without it, that experience wouldn't have meant very much to me. It was a great testimony meeting.
The beginning of our testimony meeting!

Brother Manscill and me after the testimony meeting. I was so happy and uplifted. It was an amazing morning!

After that we hiked down a different way, down stairs in the back. It was a little long and we were tired, but we were all really happy and uplifted. It was a wonderful day.
These are some of the stairs and me...don't know why I took this picture. I think I just wanted to commemorate each step, maybe?

We got on the bus, went to our hotel, showered and packed up, and headed for the barn. It was a long drive to the border, and then we had to wait in line for a while, and get back on our new bus. But we were so, so excited to have fresh fruits and veggies again! It was heaven that night at dinner!

But, one last thing, we stopped at this restaurant for lunch, and it was right on the beach of the Red Sea...so of course we all ate really fast and went and rolled up our jeans and our shorts and waded right on in! We hadn't gotten a chance to go in it yet, and we're going back later in the semester, but we just couldn't wait. It was really fun!

This is us in the Red Sea! It's (from the left) Becca, Michelle, Tonya, Kathryn, me, and Allison!

Fun!

So, everyone, this has been my Egypt adventure! I am sorry that it took me so long to get the whole trip documented, but that is that!

I really hope you guys have enjoyed it!

I love you all!