Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Tantas millas caminadas


It’s hard to say goodbye to hiking boots that have accompanied me on so many miles, so many adventures - Machu Picchu, El Cielo, the Sahara Desert, and now Mount Sinai and the Giza Pyramids, not to mention the countless hikes with the Boy Scouts and the Venture Scouts. Maybe they have just a few more miles left before retirement.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Coptic Cairo

March 19, 2010

In Luxor

March 18, 2010
Temples of Karnak
Luxor Temple

Where we found rest

March 16, 2010

We enjoyed our rest and reflection time in Dehab before continuing on to Luxor via a 15-hour bus ride.



Nura, Fatima, and Nura did their best to sell us some of their mother’s handmade jewelry.

The name Nura in Arabic means “the light of Islam” and Fatima means “prophet’s daughter.”

Sunday, March 21, 2010

From the top of Mount Sinai

 
March 15, 2010
___________

“The mountain opens its secrets only to those who have the courage to challenge it. It demands sacrifice and training. It requires you to leave the security of the valleys but offers spectacular views from the summit of those who have the courage to climb.”
- Pope John Paul II, 1993
___________

We walked in the dark up a mountain, Moses’ Mountain, along side hundreds, to summit before sunrise. Flashlights and headlamps helped us navigate through the uneven rocks and make way for passing camels.

During the three-hour trek I could have used a few more rest stops. I also considered paying for a camel ride, which would have made the hike so much easier, but somehow taking the easy path was not in my program.

An hour or so before sunrise, we reached the final 700 Steps of Repentance. Immediately upon reaching the summit at 7,455 feet, our tired bodies could feel the chill with nothing to block the wind.

This holy peak attracts hundreds, so a quiet space was rare this morning. But surrounded by the mountains, where God spoke to Moses, we know words are not necessary here. God hears our hearts, knows our intentions. The immensity of the world stands before us, and it is God who makes it all possible. He not only leads us through the desert, he helps us find he beauty in its midst.
 

 

After sunrise, we make our way back down the mountain, and get a better view of the trail we first walked in the dark.

Monday, March 15, 2010

A Pilgrimage in the Desert

March 14, 2010
As we wait for our midnight transport to Mount Sinai, and to begin a two-hour drive and three-hour hike, I reflect on the pilgrimage aspect of our  time in Egypt. We arrived this morning in Sharm el-Sheikh after driving all night through the desert. In the dark we could not see the miles before us, but this morning on our final two hours into Sharm el-Sheikh I imagined walking through such vast territory of barren land. After the second flat tire on the bus, we could have been stranded in the middle of the desert surrounded by mountains.  Luckily another bus going in the same direction rescued us. We crowded in and stood the rest of the way.

On another bus to Dahab, bringing us closer to our goal of visiting St. Catherine’s Monastery and Mount Sinai, another hour of winding through the desert and mountains, land absent of green,  I thought about the Exodus, about spending 40 years in the desert looking for the promised land, about Christ’s 40 days in the desert, about our own 40 days of Lent.

Our journey in the desert provides time to think, time to listen to God’s call.

Originally we planned to go directly from Sharm el-Sheikh to the monastery and to Mount Sinai, but we ended up in Dahab, a popular draw for backpackers and divers. This unexpected stop, in what once was a Bedouin fishing village, works as a perfect place to arrange the next step of our pilgrimage. The added bonus - the quiet and tranquil environment the area provides for reflection.

In Cairo at the Pyramids of Giza

March 13, 2010

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Packed and ready to go...maybe

Destination: Egypt
A 10-day sabbatical open to the unexpected.

Alain de Botton in his book “The Art of Travel” begins with a chapter on anticipation. While I have researched and set a tentative schedule for our time in Egypt, I prefer to travel with a spirit open to the possibilities.

At the moment what I most anticipate is time, time away from deadlines and commitments, time with my family, and time to write.

After leaving work tonight and accepting the reality that some projects could not be finished before my departure, I’ve placed guilt about what waits temporarily on hold, and I am now looking forward to this brief escape.

So my new Osprey Kestrel 38 sits packed and ready for what may come.

No sabemos lo que espera, y por eso voy.