Heading North to St. Catherine

This entry is about Day 17, Friday 12/17

This morning we woke up from our last night in Sharm el-Sheik, which I will surely be missing. We headed towards St. Katherine at 10:30am for another lovely 3-hour drive North (we’re basically going to be in the middle of the desert). Once we arrived, we soon realized what Professor Ghaly and Zach meant by this not being the nicest hotel we would be staying at, but apparently this was the nicest one available. I am not looking forward to going to sleep tonight to say the least; bringing a blanket from home was such a good idea. Getting little sleep tonight is to be expected though because we will be leaving for Mount Sinai at 2am! We’re leaving this early so that we make it to the top to catch the sunrise. We were told to get flashlights for the hike, so I bought one for $3 at a shop outside the hotel (very pricey, I know). This hike is sure to be an adventure; hopefully I’m up for it!

Continuous Relaxation in Sharm el-Skeikh

This entry is about Day 16, Thursday 12/16

Today was another beautiful day on the Sinai Peninsula, enjoying the warmth and not having a problem in the world (that is unless you count Mosquito bites of course). Instead of going to Naama Bay for a second time we went to the Old Market, or Old Sharm. It was an older, quieter market, but haggling was of course still in the realm. I bought a few little things; Ben bought me a perfume bottle in the shape of an elephant, which I was very happy about because I’ve been wanting one :) Tonight is our last night in Sharm, and tomorrow we are heading to St. Katherine. I don’t hear good things about this hotel so it should be interesting.

Enjoying the Beautiful Weather and a Night out Exploring

This entry is about Day 15, Wednesday 12/15

Today we woke up to a day of shear relaxation. We had a delicious breakfast buffet; the most memorable part of this buffet was the pancakes, which were delicious (for some reason the pancakes in Egypt have been very weird). For the rest of the morning we relaxed by the pool and got up to date with the outside world with free internet! The weather here is absolutely beautiful; the sun is so warm and enjoyable.

For lunch a few of us went to a restaurant in the hotel called Acapulco Joe’s where we had Mexican food; Ben and I shared a plate of chicken fajitas which were pretty tasty. There were so many flies in the restaurant, which was very irritating, but we didn’t let it ruin our time.

Soon after this I passed out by the pool (in the shade luckily) and then moved my nap to my room where I slept for the rest of the afternoon until dinner at 6:30pm. Dinner was pretty uneventful because my stomach has been hurting since yesterday, so all I ate was some bead and cheese; definitely not the most nutritious meal but it is really all I can handle.

Later that night we went to Naama Bay, which is like an outdoor mall/market, which was clearly a hot spot for tourists. We got to Naama Bay by taxi which was an experience in itself; for 5 of us, it only cost 25 Egyptian Pounds to get to our destination which was about a 10 minute drive (5 pounds for each of us is less than a dollar each). This was the first citing of American places; Pizza Hut, Baskin Robins, Hard Rock Café, Pizza Hut, etc. I got my first caramel Macchiato from an Egyptian Starbucks, which was very exciting for me. I didn’t but many things here but it was a very fun place to be. We’ll probably go back tomorrow night because it will be our last night in Sharm el-Sheikh before heading back to Cairo.

Hello Sharm el-Sheikh!

This entry is about Day 14, Tuesday 12/14

We started off the day by eating Breakfast and getting ready to leave our hotel in Hurghada. Fortunately our next destination was Sharm el-Sheikh, which is only a 45 minute or so plane ride from Hurghada. So we left the hotel around 10:30am and drove to the airport which was pretty close by. Eventually we made it to Sharm El-Sheikh in 20 minutes! It was seriously the fastest plane ride imaginable.

We learned that Sharm el-Sheikh means “sector of the elder” in Arabic and that the city is very up and coming because it was all desert when it was under Israeli control about 40 years ago. I found that my first impression of the city was that it reminded me a lot of Aruba; very tourist-friendly and TONS of hotels (I have officially spotted Starbucks in Egypt!). Sharm el-Skeik is geographically part of the Sinai Peninsula, which is part of the continent of Asia (So I am officially in Asia for the first time ever! So cool!)

After about a 30-minute drive from the airport we arrived at our hotel, The Marriot Renaissance Sharm El Sheik, which we will be staying at for the next 3 nights. The hotel is very beautiful and we have a view of the Red Sea from our hotel room! Unfortunately there have been shark attacks in this area of the Red Sea so as of now we can’t go to the beach; we will likely be spending these days relaxing at the pool with our free wifi! Finally! My stomach started acting up again today as well so we’ll see how that turns out in the next day or so. Dinner was so great because there was a cheese station (yay!) and for the first time there were strawberries at the dessert bar! This was the clear favorite by everyone. Needless to say, I stuffed my face with chocolate covered strawberries and will be going to be very content this evening.