More Cairo, an Oasis, and Dinner in a Bedouin Tent

Thursday, December 15, 2011
We felt much better after a full night's sleep.  We got up by 6:30, showered, packed up our suitcases, and had a big buffet breakfast with made-to-order omelettes, pancakes with strawberry, maple, and chocolate syrups, croissants, meats, fruit, yogurts, etc.  We couldn't drink the water in Egypt, which meant we had to buy bottled water and bring it with us wherever we went.  We had to remember to not rinse our toothbrush in the sink and they even told us to avoid singing in the shower.  At mealtimes were were told to avoid fresh fruits unless they had a peel (bananas or oranges) and fresh vegetables.  They had wonderful looking fruits and salad bars at the buffet, but we couldn't eat them. 

Our first stop of the day was at a souvenir shop.  The store had lots of King Tut replica items--some for thousands of dollars.  Our group was the only ones in the store--I think they opened early for us.  The kids had fun sitting in all the fancy thrones.  They are holding cards that translate letters into hieroglyphics.

As we drove through Cairo, we saw people standing in long lines.  Our tour guide told us that people were waiting to vote.  He himself, had waited in a line for nearly two hours earlier in the week.  These elections were a big deal since people really hadn't had the opportunity to vote. 

 Our next stop was a papyrus shop. 

We had a demonstration on how papyrus is made.  It was very interesting.  She cut strips of the inside of the plant, rolled it flat, and then let it soak in water.  It needs to soak in water for a week until it turns a darker color because of the natural sugar found in the plant.

After a week, the strips are laid overlapping between two pieces of linen or carpet, and then put between a press for another week.

 At the end of the second week, the papyrus will be hard and dry, but still very flexible.  Very cool. 

 They had beautiful work in this shop.  I started to take pictures of some of the pieces, but then got told I couldn't take photos.  We found a beautiful painted papyrus that had room for seven names, so we bought it and had all of our names put on it in hieroglyphics. 

We left Cairo and started east towards the Sinai Desert.  We went in a tunnel under the Suez Canal, but we couldn't actually see the canal from the bus window.  Our first stop was an oasis in the desert called Marah, which means 'bitter water.'  The tradition is that Moses stopped there and sat under a certain tamerisk tree and turned the bitter water sweet. 

This was an absolutely amazing place!  Definitely not like any place I had ever been before.  The Bedouins lived here and as soon as we got off the bus, these little boys ran up to greet us.  I think we were as interesting to them as they were to us.  I thought they were so cute.

Ben, Sarah and Rachel at the Well at Marah

 This well has been here for thousands of years.


Date Palms at Marah

Our guide told us that this tree is thousands of years old (incredibly, the plants there live for extremely long periods of time) so it is possible that Moses sat under it. 

The Kids on the Moses Tree

 Past the oasis, there was lots of sand and the Gulf of Suez off in the distance.


A view of the Gulf of Suez from Marah



The women there were very taken with William and Kate, but especially William.  I don't think lots of tourists come with kids, and this little blonde headed boy attracted a lot of attention wherever we went.  These women wanted to take pictures with the kids. 

 The Bedouins had these little shops set up to sell trinkets to the tourists. 



The Moses Tree at Marah

  I thought all these date palms were so beautiful!

I love this picture with the little Bedouin kids following my kids around.  As I said, they were just as interested in us as we were in them. 

We drove for several hours across the barren Sinai desert.  We had another stop later in the afternoon in a valley where supposedly the Israelites fought the Amalekites and Moses stood on top of a hill and held up his hands.  His arms eventually got tired and when he put them down, the Israelites began to lose.  When he held his hands up, they prevailed.  So Aaron and Hur held his hands up so they could win the battle.  (See Exodus 17).

This is the hill.

 This is the valley where they would have fought.

 There are Bedouins that live there.  I couldn't tell if people live in this or not, but I thought it was wild.

By dinner time we arrived at St. Catherines, near Mt. Sinai.  Instead of eating in our hotel, we had dinner in a Bedouin tent.  It was cold!

 We watched them cook the flatbread over the fire. 

 Then it was time to eat.  There were lots of good choices. 

We sat at these low tables to eat our food.  There was loud music playing.  The hardest part was protecting our food from the stray cats.  One of the cats jumped up and stole Kate's chicken right off her plate.  Then another cat came along and the two of them fought over the chicken.  Kate was pretty distressed about the whole experience.  Even though the food was good, we ended up eating fast and heading inside to our hotel rooms--