Day 5 - Time to Meet Moses

After a tasty breakfast in the “Bedouin Tent”, our guide Rajab met us. He made sure we knew what our itinerary for the day was going to be and made sure we were ready. (Notice Jon said “tasty” breakfast, well it might have been tasty if I had really tasted any. It was covered in flies. Not just one or two but more than I could count. It turns my stomach to just think about them on my food. This trip may just be the weight loss solution I’ve been looking for!)

The Bedouin Tent was a tent set-up as a dining and living room. Now that most of the Bedouin have settled into a single plot of land, they still have a special open building they still refer to as the “Bedouin Tent”.


We took our bags and started to St Katherine’s Monastery. It was built by the Roman Emperor Justinian in the fifth century AD. He selected this mountain as the one where Moses received the Ten Commandments. It is revered by three religions; Jewish, Christian, and Islam. The first stop was the repository of monk bones outside the fortress. There were skulls in one room and the rest of the bones in another. Jon wanted me to put his bones here if he passes away from the excessive heat. He is defiantly not holy enough to be put in there!

We then entered the church. It was absolutely gorgeous inside. The many hanging lamps added to the view. There were several icons arranged around the wall. There was so much to look at, that it was hard to focus on all of them. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures.


Once outside, we saw and touched the “Burning Bush” that Moses saw. It is supposed to be several thousand years old. The Naked Archeologist, Simcha Jacobovici, doubts that this is the real Mount Sinai. It doesn’t meet all of the biblical criteria for Mount Sinai. Yet millions believe this to be real deal. In the end, does it matter if this is really the place? It is what you believe.

Kim saw some Bedouins with geodes and fossils. She was determined to get some and was busy selecting a few while I went off to get some pictures. The young Bedouin boy selling the geodes told Kim that the crystals sparkled like her eyes – then he quickly added “like they did 20 years ago before you got old”. I’m surprised Kim didn’t crack a geode over his head.

We then walked to the place where the golden cow was smashed by Moses. There is a rock that has the outline of a cow. It looks like a cow, well, a severely deformed cow. Just use your imagination!

We have not mentioned anything about the heat yet on this trip. It has been HOT! The past few days have been bearable because we have been touring and then hopping back into an air-conditioned car. We doubt that our camels will have air-conditioning!

We were met by our camels and local guide for our trek to the top of Mount Sinai. Jon’s camel took one look at him and started to make an ungodly noise. He must have been thinking; “I’m not going to haul his big butt up that mountain!” Camels, believe it or not, are not as comfortable as they look. First of all, getting on the beast can be a challenge. You need to swing your leg way up and over the camel’s back, baggage, and saddle. As the camel either gets up or down, you feel like you’re going to be thrown out of the saddle. The camel is not a happy animal either. They don’t like hauling around fat Americans and their luggage. They make horrible gurgling sounds, just like a dog before he throws up. Their teeth are long and nasty looking as they curl their lips at you. We stayed a respectful distance from their gnarly teeth.

After an hour ride, we stopped at a “farm”. We were invited into a Bedouin’s home for lunch. Jon’s stomach wasn’t feeling good, but it was difficult to say no to a lunch that they were preparing for us. It was neat to be in their home. It is a unique experience to see this kind of life. It was a culture shock from the city life of Cairo that we had just experienced. We watched them cook and prepare our lunch. One thing we noticed right away was the need to have hot tea in the middle of a blisteringly hot afternoon. Jon waited for his to cool, but the rest of them drank it right away. How these people can all drink hot tea in such heat is beyond us. Jon apparently doesn’t mind eating with the flies. He says they add needed protein, but I’m still on my “Flies Make Me Sick” diet. The family was happy to have us there because our guide provides the food for the meals. After we eat, the rest of the family comes out to eat our leftovers.

A teenage girl popped her head out of the house and saw the young camel driver; she went back inside and quickly changed her clothes. She made a sweep around the room, made a greeting to the young man, touched his hand briefly and went back inside, not to be seen again. Jon wants to know how a guy knows what he’s getting since their encounters are brief and the girls are covered from head to toe. He says that nice eyes only go so far.

Two of the young children brought out a plastic bag full of beaded jewelry. We knew we were expected to go shopping. Kim picked out a bracelet and paid full price. It would have been awkward to bargain with small children in their home.

This is a point where Jon and I disagree. I would call these families where we stayed very poor. Jon, on the other hand says that I shouldn’t judge them by our standard-of-living. For where they live Jon says they probably have a pretty good existence. They work hard for what they have and seem to get by. To me, sleeping on the ground, having no electricity, and living in a house without doors or even roofs is poor.

After a short nap, we were back on the Camels. By now it was the hottest part of the day. It was as if there were a hundred blow driers all set on high blowing on you. Jon was sweating, even in the shade. We knew that the camels were not going to take us to the very top. There were 750 steps waiting for us when the camels could go no further. By the time we climbed them, Jon was soaked with sweat. We were also at an elevation of 7500 feet. This made the climbing of the steps even more difficult.

At the top, Rajab showed us the sights. There is a small chapel and a mosque. Rajab spent the night in the mosque. Under the mosque is a small cave where Moses stayed during his days on the mountain. Jon had to jump the short fence to have a look and get his picture taken. It is only a resting place for many gnats now.

Except for a man from Maryland who was visiting for a few minutes, we were the only tourists on the mountain. Several young Bedouin boys came by to talk, but after that it was just us.


We were showed to our accommodations that consisted of a concrete roof of a storage building. We had our own toilet below (They reminded Kim of China – just a hole in the concrete!). There were two mattress pads and blankets waiting for us. (Kim- Again Jon is being generous, I wouldn’t call them mattresses. They were more like thin foam pads that had been used many, many times and had never seen a washer.) (Jon – Kim is not really cut out for roughing it in the outdoors) It was at this time that Jon realized that there could be a major problem. We did not bring the bug spray. Kim, who usually hates to use the stuff, would have poured it on herself to keep these gnats away. There were several bug bites by the end of the night. We tried to cover our heads, but it was too hot to stay covered for long. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much that night.