Hmmm. . . A Travel Story?:
I have been a few interesting places in my life: Italy, Switzerland (for the day), Canada (for an hour), Mexico, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt to name a few. I guess I will tell the story of my hike of Mt. Sinai, Egypt.
Once upon a time, . . . (Hey, I am after all telling a travel story!) . . . Once upon a time, when I was just 20 years old I went to Israel for a study-abroad program with Brigham Young University. In this program I learned many things about the Middle East, and part of the program was a field trip to Mt. Sinai.
We arrived by bus to Sinai very late in the evening, maybe 11 p.m. with strict instructions from our professors to go directly to bed at our hotel because they would wake us early in the morning for the hike. Early in the morning turned out to be 2:00 a.m. We had to set out early enough to witness the sunrise over Mt. Sinai. Now this mountain is famous because it is supposed to be the mountain where Moses spoke with God and received the 10 commandments.
We had an option. If we thought we were not able to climb the mountain for the first two-thirds of the hike, we could hire an Arab to lead us on a camel most of the way up the mountain. Out of 120 students only I and one other person decided they needed the assistance. Now, at the time I didn't know I had a chronic heart condition called Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome, which makes strenuous exercise (including steep hikes) very difficult for me. Well, my mother knew I was born with this condition, and I remember going to see doctors as a child for my heart, but as I grew up I began to forget, and would just pass off my inability to do hard things, like running a mile under 12 minutes (never did it) as me just being out of shape.
But I digress. So I'm riding this camel up the side of a very steep mountain. And when I reach the point where the camel is no longer permitted to go, I am told to (in Arabic) that I must get off. I held on for dear life as that camel knelt down. For those who have never ridden a camel, which I'm assuming is probably all of my readers, let me describe how a camel kneels down. First he bends his front knees to the ground, so I was at about a 75 degree angle facing forward and holding on for dear life. Next he bends his back knees, causing me to drop swiftly, and my heart to fly up to my throat. Well, by this point my legs had completely gone to sleep from the long ride, and I have to ask the Arab to drag my sleeping butt off of the camel.
The Bedouin was more than happy to grab my towards him and get in a little squeeze which I was both repulsed by and also so grateful for at the same time.
Now I had to walk up the remaining third of the hike, which was composed hundreds of flat rocks formed into an uneven staircase to the top of the mountain. It was slow-going because of my heart, and nearly everyone who had walked the entire way passed me on the stairs. Now I'm not an invalid. I just have a lot of trouble breathing when I do strenuous activity. You see my heart has these extra ventricles that like to pump my blood in the opposite direction than it is supposed to go. This is triggered by exercising too hard, and results in a symptom much like asthma-slash-light headed, dizziness, feeling like I'm going to faint, and unfortunately, a VERY red face.
But I made it to the top just in time to see the sunrise. It was magnificent. You know how on that movie The Bucket List one of their goals before they die is to "witness something truly magnificent"? Well it was exactly that. Amazing! And as I reached for my camera to take a picture of the beautiful sunrise, over this mountain where God spoke to Moses. . . my battery died and I didn't get a picture! True story.
Also, on my way back down the mountain, the sun was now up and I passed the Arab who had copped a feel, as it were. He gave me a big toothless grin as I passed him.
And also, on my way down the rock-filled path I tripped on these huge boulders, right after thinking to myself "Now be careful and don't trip!" TRIP!!!
And I was stuck. I caught myself by my hands but my legs were resting on a large boulder three feet higher than the rock my hands were apparently trying to push down the mountain. I was stuck and couldn't move to get up. I had to have three people help maneuver me out of that position. Then the nurse had to scrub the debris out of my bleeding palms and bandage them. Fun times. Fun times.
But I did live happily ever after and I am so grateful for the experiences I had studying in Israel and Egypt.
