A One Camel Town

Friday: December 17, 2010

Hello there! I’m currently in the middle of the desert, otherwise known as St. Catherine, Egypt. We left beautiful Sharm El-Sheikh at around 10:30am and drove north through the desert of the Sinai Peninsula to reach our hotel, The Plaza at St. Catherine. There isn’t much in the town, however, 2,000 visitors come to St. Catherine every day. Since it is not connected to the Nile River, there are deep wells drilled to supply the town with water.

In the middle of no where

Prior to our arrival at our hotel, Professor Ghaly and Zach, our tour guide, advised us that this hotel was not on the same level as our previous hotels…and they were right. The Plaza is one of two hotels in St. Catherine and is considered the better of the two…but I’m still going to sleep in my clothes tonight. There was a buffet dinner at the hotel and a bunch of us did some shopping at the little shops in the hotel courtyard. One item that was a must have was a flashlight for our trip up Mount Sinai.

While I say that I’m going to sleep in my clothes, I probably will only sleep for an hour since we are leaving for Mount Sinai (Mountain Moses)—a five-minute drive from the hotel—at 2 am. Tomorrow, we hike up Mt. Sinai and travel back to Africa/Cairo for the final leg of the mini term. Talk to you soon!