So, anyhow, among the coolest things I have done in my life, climbing Mt. Sinai to see the sunrise definitely ranks right up there. A group of us from ALI went, and we started up the mountain at about 2:00 in the morning. A lot of people around us had flashlights, but you didn't really need them because there was a full moon out, so we had plenty of light. I was wearing a t-shirt, a sweat shirt, and a jacket when we started, and I had my backpack so I could carry a couple of bottles of water. 5 minutes into the climb, the jacket came off. 15 minutes later, the sweatshirt came off and the jacket went back on. 10 minutes after that, the jacket was off, and I was just in a t-shirt. Even though it was probably only 50 degrees or so, when you're marching up the side of a very steep mountain, you tend to work up quite a sweat.
By the way, I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, but Aron Kader was almost right. There isn't a little Egyptian kid at the top of Mt. Sinai hocking Pepsi and Coke and Snickers, but there are plenty of folks on the way up hocking all of those things plus coffee, tea, and--near the top--blankets for rent. The blankets, by the way, not such a bad idea. The two layers that I had shed on the way up the mountain went back on before we started up the 700 steps one must climb to complete the full climb to the top. It was COLD!! We got to the summit just as the sun was starting to rise, so there were some pretty good photo ops. There's a mosque and a church at the top of Mt. Sinai as, obviously, Moses is a revered figure to both Islam and Christianity (and Judaism, to be fair). And there were a ton of religious pilgrims making the trek up the mountain. So, we got up there and there was a group of Russian Orthodox pilgrims and they were singing hymns, and then there was a group of Muslims doing their sunrise prayers...and both at the same time. It was a little like a religious battle of the bands.
Two of us got cold enough and thought we had taken plenty of pictures at the top that we decided to start down the mountain before everyone else. Things look a little different in daylight than they do in the dark. For instance, had I known how precarious those steps actually looked or how far down you would fall of the side of one of the steps, I'm not sure I would have make the trek up. Anyhow, the trip down was kind of like the trip up. I shed the jacket, then the sweat shirt and put the jacket back on, then took the jacket off too. We were heading down the east face of Mt. Sinai, so we had the sun right on us. Of course, things look different in the day time than they do in the dark, and we were convinced that we had gotten lost somehow. Just when we were ready to call our tour guide and figure out where, exactly we were, we saw the bus. So unlike Moses, we were ready to ask for directions and did not have to wander in the desert for 40 years. I got one of my favorite pictures ever on the way down the mountain. The sun was just started to peak out fully over the mountain, and the scene is absolutely beautiful.We spend the rest of the morning at St. Katherine's Monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai, then bussed to Dahab on the Red Sea coast for some much deserved fun and relaxation. I have never been as sore for as long as I was after climbing Mt. Sinai. It took me nearly 4 days before I could walk without pain. So a couple of days in Dahab at the Hilton resort were just was the doctor ordered. Furthermore, it was nice to be able to breathe some fresh air for once.
