I’m really glad to see the end of Ramadan. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the rowdy Iftars and private strolls along the Nile at dusk, but Cairo seems a little more put-together. Everybody is a little more cheerful now that their bellies are full. Also, every Muslim who has been fasting morning til night got a week off to feast and celebrate – and so did those of us “Christians” who sipped our water and snacked on Egyptian animal crackers discretely during class time.

Eid el-Fetr gave me a week or so to travel – and adventurous dreams of backpacking Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan were squashed when I cross-checked plane tickets with my bank account. Sad. But, I had borrowed a backpack and a tiny sleeping bag and I ended up embarking on a trip with a gregarious gang of go-getters. I apologize for excessive alliteration, but I think you’ll see what I mean.

We took the 40LE (~8 USD) bus from Cairo to Saint Catherine, gave up our passports at security checkpoints a couple times and arrived in the evening. We had some dinner and drank some tea with the hospitable Sheikh Mousa before climbing this mountain a little after midnight:

Legend accepts Mt. Sinai as the peak Moses climbed to receive the commandments - and by the time you reach the top, you really feel like you deserve some kind of holy reward.

We climbed down, met up with Sheikh Mousa and slept for several hours on some pillows at his camp. We had discovered upon our arrival that due to the recent kidnappings of tourists in Aswan that we couldn’t sleep outside on our own, and even the persuasive persuasions of Mandrew wouldn’t change the mind of the sheikh. That evening Yehia arrived with his sister Mena and several friends who taught us Egyptian slang and tucked us in sweetly for the night.

The hike down was ridiculous! We were exhausted, sore, and several flashlights short but the sky was bursting with stars and the mountains were shadows teetering on both sides of us. Everybody was a little loopy and we sang mangled versions of the Egyptian and US national anthems as we descended.

There are loads more pictures up on my picasa if you’re curious . It was a great trip. I got a ride home from the airport with my friend Karim’s friend Karim. Karim II came a long way out of his way for me and the whole affair was a primo example of Egyptian friendliness. Friendship results in favors and its all very charming, really.

I’m back in Cairo now and everybody seems to be in a post-travel slump. This past week was full of midterms, free pizza, and smoggy skies. I can’t decide if I like this city. More on that later.