Wandering in Sinai...

Although hopefully not for 40 years!

The following is an over-drawn account of my trip to Egypt in October that I wrote in an e-mail to my family when I just got there. You'll notice my Scientific training by the attention that I paid to the most minute, boring points. Enjoy.

I got into Sinai a few hours ago, and let me tell you, this place is absolute heaven. I've been in nice places before. Greece and Italy were pretty cool. Arizona was lovely. And nothing beats my home in Toronto...but Sinai is pretty damn sweet.So for those of you who don't know, I am leaving for an 11 day romp through Egypt. It was all set--I'd be going to Dahab, Sinai with my ex-roommate Marianne (the chick who I went to Haifa, Tiberias and Nazareth with) and Hanna, a super nice Californian girl. And then we'd meet up with my current roommate Lydia in Cairo, where we'd proceed to Giza to look at the pyramids and Sphinx (which I sphinx is a good idea!! Hohohoho)

Sounds like a good idea, eh? Well, we had it all set. We woke up this morning at 5:30. Yes, that's right. 5 freaking 30 in the morning. We took a cab to the central bus station, got on the 7 am bus to Eilat (which almost didn't happen because it was PACKED!) Then we had this horrible, uncomfortable bus ride down. Didn't make it much easier that there was a soldier right besides us and I got nervous being so close to his rifle.Anyway, I don't want to bore you with details (I'd rather bore you with half assed jokes), but because of some weird national holiday the Egyptian Consulate was closed today, and tomorrow is Simchat Torah, so it'd be closed then also. We were stressing that we wouldn't be able to go to Egypt after all. But, with perseverance and patience and some unbelievably long lines, we got a 15 day entrance pass to Sinai, which means we'll have to go back to Israel for our Cairo visa, but it's worth it! It was so nice to cross the border, and see all these cute little Egyptians in their cute little uniforms. There were so many Israelis crossing over that it took us forever (note--this happened the day before the bombings, as I'll describe later)

We got on this skeezy looking Beddouin van that was packed with Israelis. Now I've been in Israel for two months now, and I've seen the worst of Israelis, but I still really love them. They're awesome. Some guys opened up a can of pineapple slices, gave out forks, and we all dug in together. And the skeezy Beddouin driver tried to charge us 5 pounds more, and the Israelis bitched so much that he took it back. It was great.The drive from the border to Dahab, our town, was gorgeous because we were driving along the Aqba coast, so to our left was the bluest water I've ever seen, and to my right were these gorgeous dark brown desert mountains, totally devoid of vegetarian. When we got into Dahab, we had some trouble finding a place (and Leora did some compromising. She wanted to stay in a $1/night tent, but Marianne and Hanna actually wanted a room. So that's what we have. Because Leora's not controlling. And I guess it's only $2/night. But still!) Then we walked along the main street. It is so beautiful here.We had dinner at this restaurant that is literally on the beach. It's about 1/2 metre away from the water. So lovely.

And the food (Hanna's veggie also, so we split grilled veggies, pizza and I had a freshly squeezed mango juice, for those who care) is delicious and CHEAP! I'm not one to eat out when I travel (or at all. I'm a poor student), but I think it's actually cheaper to eat out than in here. Ema, when you come to Israel, I am going to drag you, kicking and screaming, here, because I know that you'd absolutely love it.Tomorrow is a beach lounging day, and then the next day I'm going scuba diving for the first time (paying for it on the Gold Mastercard, Ema, so that I have some health coverage). And we might possibly climb Mt. Sinai, although everyone who I know who's done it says that it sucks. But if it's good enough for Moses... And then, on the 11th, we're off to Cairo! So guys, I'm sorry for this long, rambling e-mail, just decided to send it because internet's cheap here and my cell doesn't work in Egypt. So I'm alive and safe. And have changed my name to Christina (we were reading in our guide book that Jews should avoid revealing their religion. And since Leora, coupled with my nose, just stinks of "Yid", I decided to rename myself. It was either Christina or Ingrid.) So ends my first update from Egypt. More soon.