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Published: October 1st 2009
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Illegal Photos from the Museum
My crazy monk friend had me stand like this deliberately. He explained the symbolism of the icon to me in detail, but my sleep deprived brain did not retain much. However, positioned as I am, I am receiving a blessing, whereas had I been positioned on the other side, I would be receiving judgment (look at the eyes, you see that one has sharper vision). Tonight is my last night in Dahab, and one of my last in Egypt, so I am marking the occasion with banana pancakes on the beach (they are the local breakfast specialty, but I have been getting up so dang early I have never made it to breakfast). I have gone ‘local’ too- dining in flip flops, swimsuit, and cover-up. It is probably a good thing I am leaving tomorrow or, next thing you know, I will be sporting cornrow braids and a henna tattoo.
At any rate, I did figure out how to leave Dahab (Egypt Air flight to Cairo at 8:30 am). The good thing about this arrangement is that 1). I won’t have to take the bus!!!!!, and 2). I will arrive in Cairo in time to spend the afternoon at the Egyptian Museum. My flight to Amsterdam leaves at 3am on Saturday morning (what is wrong with this country that nothing can start after sunrise?) and so I should be back in Saint Paul on Saturday around noon local time.
Seeing the sunrise from Mount Sinai was an experience, although there was a time last night (at about 1:45am, when I found myself sandwiched between two bickering
Bedouins on the front seat of a mini bus doing 90mph on the wrong side of the road, on the way to climb a mountain in the dark) when I wondered if there wasn’t a calmer, more relaxing way to spend one’s holiday.
Now that access to Mount Sinai has been severely restricted (after a group of tourists nosedived off the edge), and the more arduous pathway (the Steps of Repentance) are closed, the one open route up the mountain is not only dark, rocky, and steep, but incredibly congested between the camels (for those who can’t make the hike), the German tourists with their ski poles, and other various and sundry souls who have decided to make the climb. Not having the patience to walk up a mountain at a snail’s pace, I struck out with the required Bedouin guide and two Egyptian university students (the start of term has been delayed due to fears surrounding H1N1). We took a more rugged route and arrived at the summit before 4:30am. That left us with more than a hour to shiver and free in the 8 ̊C air and brisk wind. Or, rather, it left me with more than an
hour to shiver, as shortly after we arrived at the summit one of the hawkers on the mountain sounded the call to prayer and all the natives, including my Egyptian friends, went off to pray. The Bedouin guide disappeared as well, but I am pretty positive that he went to have a tea and cigarette.
After the horde of us on the mountain went ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ at the sunrise, we made the slow descent down to the monastery compound, where we had to wait until approximately 9pm for the gates to open. However, it was definitely worth the wait. I got to see an offspring of the Burning Bush (don’t try and take a piece home!), Moses’s Well and the remains of Saint Catherine. I lit my candles, said my prayers, and then went off to the Manuscript Museum where I found an overly friendly and not-very-obedient monk apparently looking for someone to talk to. He waived my admission fee of 30 EL, gave me a guided tour, AND insisted on photography the whole thing, even though photography is very clearly prohibited in any of the buildings of the monastery, an most particularly in the Manuscript Museum with its
icons and ancient texts. In addition to the icons of Saint Catherine and the Holy Family (all removed from the Monastery Church for preservation purposes), the Museum contains one of the 50 Gospels of Constantine, several illuminated manuscripts, an early Homer, and the usual assortment of Psalters, prayer books, and (remember this is Egypt) writings of the Prophet Mohammed.
I did get the chance to swim in the sea this afternoon, although diving is prohibited for forty-eight hours after visiting Mount Sinai due to the potential for decompression sickness. Now I can hardly keep my eyes open, and better get to bed because my cab to Sharm El Sheikh is coming at 6am.
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Helen Hunter
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Jennifer -- what fun! I felt like I was there. Thanks for all the blogs on your trip. Looking forward to having you home.