Mt. Sinai

Took a little mini tour bus to Mt. Sinai along with some other tourists. John came along with us and we met an amazing couple....Adel and Rose. Rose is Spanish, Adel Syrian and they are probably in their upper 50s but are some of the most worldly and best travelers I've met thus far. They research and know a lot about the places they go, and aren't worried or fazed by unclean and unplanned circumstances. They were so kind and interesting and we spent most of the day chatting with them. I hope when I get older I'll be as open minded, easy going, and enjoy life as much as them. We went to St. Katherine's monastery, which was unfortunatley jamm packed with tourists. Ate lunch at Fox camp, a bedouin camp where Louise and I spend the night. A cat ended up stealing most of my chicken....there are cats and dogs everywhere and they have gotten to be quite sneaky. (most restaurants in Dahab gave you a spray bottle filled with water to fend them off;) Climbed up Mt. Sinai tonight and watched the sunset...it wasn't a spectacular sunset and the best part was getting back down;) It was cold and extremely windy at the top. We took refuge in the mosque at the top though, which helped. Ran out, watched the sunset, then booked it back down. I gave Rose and Adel my flashlight as they didn't have one and Rose has vertigo and had a bit of trouble. Louise and I pretty much went down the rocky path mostly in the dark....John had a flashlight that helped a bit, but it wasn't so bright. Luckily we managed to make it down without any sprained ankles. Had a bit of a fiasco at the bottom as two young supposedly security guards wouldn't let us go back to the bus, and made us sit by the monastery. They almost didn't let us go to the bathroom, argued for a bit then let us, then asked for $ for the bathroom, then said nevermind, then the electricity went out, they took John's flashlight and we were stranded in the dark, then we finally got upset, grabbed the flashlight and told them we were leaving which they reluctantly let us do. Crazy but we finally made it ok. Spent a cold night fending off the crazy bedouin camp guy and woke up at 5:30 am to take the bus to cairo. Made it to Cairo around 1 pm, and we immediately boarded a train to Alexandria, with the help of a very kind, older army guy who helped us get the tickets and showed us to the train. I think he enjoyed it and kept teasing us about getting an extra ticket for him too;)