Blog

We just got back from our three day camel course in the desert! We were covered in camel stink and sand and most of us with a few bug bites. We started off the course with some sweet tea and jumped right on the camels. The Bedouins led us through the desert until lunch. The delicious spread of veggies and cheese and fresh bread were exactly what we wanted. We waited out the hottest hours of the day in the shade of a canyon. We kept busy with games, jokes, hair braiding, football talk and napping. Our Bedouin guide walked us through the narrow Claus Canyon which was like a beautiful natural maze. The entire group proved to be steady on their feet while scrambling through the sandstone crevasses. Feeling a bit more adventurous we jumped back on the camels for a sunset ride to our oasis home for the night. Seeing so much green surrounded by the dry desert was almost too good to be true. We relaxed with more tea and snacks before dinner. Hamil our Bedouin guide showed us around the tiny oasis village. We learned all about a “Shake” which is what they used as an unofficial court room and jail house all at once.

The nearly full moon was enough of a night light for this weary group to feel comfortable enough to rest. The next morning we learned more about how to direct the camel, take off and put on the saddle, and to have the camel sit. The Bedouins felt comfortable enough to hand over the reigns for us to take a try. We practiced all day until we got it just right. At lunch we took a break and studied for our Scuba course for a few hours before we rode (some of us galloped) to our next “hotel”. We arrived on the side of a sand dune just in time to watch the sun set and to climb the canyon cliff behind us. The night was full of some of the best food we have had on this trip. All of it was prepared by our Bedouin friends who later in the night showed us two of their favorite games. Exhausted, we rested all night and woke to the Bedouins making fresh bread. After breakfast 4 of them raced for us on the camels. This showed off how fast they were really capable of running. On this final morning we were totally in charge of saddling up, and riding solo with our new camel friend. Everyone did an amazing job. We made a few stops along the way to visit a giant sand dune and to climb through a hole in the side of a mountain of sandstone. By lunch we were emptying our shoes of kilograms of sand!

We said our goodbyes and thanks to all of our Bedouin friends and rode off in a van back to the ocean. The car ride back felt like we were still riding our camels. The last day and a half has been filled with SCUBA studying, practicing and swimming. Today, everyone got underwater to test their skills. So far we’ve seen giant blow fish, eel, rainbow fish, and barracuda!

The next few days we will master our skills and enjoy our final days in the sun! It’s hard to believe the trip is a few days away from the end.

A lot has happened since our last blog report so here we go! Our group is continuing to have a fantastic time in Egypt. We finished up our last day in the orphanage in Luxor on Monday and celebrated our time together by providing McDonalds happy meals for all the kids after playing a final game of duck duck goose. The final evening was filled with laughter and hugs with a donation ceremony where our group presented the orphanage with donations that the entire group had contributed. We also posted up multiple mural paintings that our group had painted with the kids over the course of three days in their educational center and in some of the orphans’ personal rooms. We said our goodbyes to the kids who were all very well dressed for the occasion, and were off on the next leg of our trip, which was climbing Mount Sinai.

After the orphanage we had a travel day to Hurghada to catch a hydrofoil the next morning to Sharm e Sheikh. Little did we know what the travel day would have in store for us! In Hurghada we stayed at the Nefertiti Hotel where we were able to swim in the turquoise blue water of the Red Sea, followed by some epic volleyball games on the beach. The evening entertainment had us all in awe. The hotel had an evening act of great proportions where we witnessed a man laying himself on broken shards of glass while people from our group participated in the evening activity as assistance for him in his amazing acts.

The next morning we caught our flight to Sharm e Sheikh where we then caught a bus ride to Dahab and that evening we rested up for our big trek up Mount Sinai to catch sunrise on top of the mountain. The trek started very late in the evening where we took a one hour bus ride to Mount Sinai in the middle of the night. We arrived there around 2am when we started our three hour trek up the mountain. All the students were prepared with headlamps and lots of water snacks. We were accompanied by other groups of tourists climbing alongside us, some even with camels to help them up the 2,300 meters of Mount Sinai, which is roughly 7,000 feet to the top. We took multiple stops along the way where we were offered and even haggled by people selling hot chocolate and other treats at high prices, but we had come prepared and used the time to snack on the food we had packed instead. As we continued climbing we hit the “Thousand Steps of Pentence” which was a grueling staircase that led all the way to the actual summit of Mount Sinai. There were bed pads and blankets that the students could use to warm themselves at the top of the mountain where we witnessed a beautiful sunrise during which we were able to take multiple group pictures and videotape the event of our summit of Mount Sinai.

On our way down we hurried as quickly as we could because we were very tired and in much need of some rest and nourishment and breakfast. On the way down we did stop at St. Catherine’s monastery which is the spot at which the burning bush supposedly took place. We toured the monastery from which departed to return to our hotel in Dahab and rested up for the remainder of the evening. We are all excited for our coming adventures and have so many stories to tell when we get home!

Salamo Alakem Everyone! 

We are writing to you from Luxor where we have just arrived via night train.  It was an interesting and cold experience.  Our group slept in cabins of 6 seats each, rocked to sleep by the constant motion of the journey to “Upper Egypt”.  The air conditioning was a change from the warm breezes and ceiling fans we had in Cairo.   

The last week has been an incredible journey.  The group is doing well and everyone seems to have adjusted to the heat remarkably.  Once we had adjusted to the time change and jet lag, we started our volunteer work at the Elabra Orphanage.   It was full of hectic fun.  We split the group into two and half of us played with the children using actions and our limited Arabic (which we learned from our professor, Ashraf, during our classes last week).  The other half cleaned the rooms, painted the walls, and created murals.  We took turns rotating the groups.  The children at the orphanage were mischievous and adorable.  Though the painting started off rocky, by the final day, we had painted 3 bedrooms, took 25 children to the zoo, and created a friendship with everyone at the orphanage.  It was a tearful goodbye as we got our last pictures and hugs with the kids and women at the orphanage.   

Though our mornings were busy at Elabra, our afternoons were filled with Ashraf.  We’ve claimed Ashraf as our trip mascot and renamed “Bob” our traveling duck after him so that he will always remember our Arabic lessons with him.  They were filled with hard work, learning, and the occasional language slip up.  On our final lesson, Ashraf awarded the stellar students with Egyptian papyrus paintings and our names printed in Arabic!  

On the day we went to the Egyptian Museum to view some of the antiquities that make the country so famous, we also watched the World Cup at the Hard Rock Café.  We enjoyed the food and luxury of feeling like we were at home.  Though we missed the last few minutes of the game it was still an enjoyable night and a change up from our usual dinner of Egyptian food at Felfella.  Our last night at Felfella, we feasted on vine leaves, babaganoush, pita, pigeon, veggie soup, and dessert!  

On our last day in Cairo we packed it full of sightseeing.  We started the day off with a long ride to the camel market.  While there was nothing going on at the market, the ride through the small villages was amazing.  From our windows we watched donkey pulled carriages with fresh fruit and veggies, locals slaughter livestock, canals with water pulled from the Nile just filled with garbage, and of course camels. We learned all about where the camels come from and how Egyptian camels only have 1 hump.   

After lunch on the bus we spent the afternoon in the sun with the marvels of the ancient world…the pyramids of Giza.  Our first stop was the great pyramid where we were able to climb into the tomb where one of the mummies used to lay!   It was not cool like a cave, the further down you went the hotter and more humid it became.  We were able to climb around three of the pyramids and learned how to take pictures where it seemed like we were holding them in our hand or picking them up from the pointed top.  Just after that we climbed around the Sphinx.  We learned all of the theories of why the nose was cut off.  We also learned that it existed because the Egyptians were tired and didn’t want to move the massive solid rock.  So they carved it instead into the half man, half animal statue to protect the pharaoh’s pyramids. 

After all of that excitement, we visited a real papyrus and perfumery store.  Some of us tried our hand at making the papyrus but all of us did a smell test at the perfumery.  Alas it was dinnertime.  We headed back toward the Sphinx where we ate Pizza Hut while overlooking this breathtaking scenery.  It was kind of weird.  

Stay tuned for our adventures in Luxor!

So our journey started by the group meeting one another at JFK airport.  We then flew 10 ½ hours to the city of Cairo in Egypt.  The heat and the sun welcomed us, and it finally sunk in that we had arrived!!!   

We then traveled downtown to our hotel and enjoyed some much-needed rest for our journey ahead.  As the sun rose the next morning, we ventured out into the city and played games and ate in the park. 

In the afternoon we took a 2-hour Arabic lesson with our teacher Ashraf.  After our language skills were refined, we took our new grasp of the Arabic language and hit the streets on our way to dinner. 

The delicious meal left us full and tired, so that night we were off to bed.  We cannot wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us as our first official day of service begins! 

Salamo Alekemo!

As we gather around the crackling campfire at Cherry Creek State Park in Denver, our final stop on this Colorado/Utah adventure, let us recall what a whirlwind it has been. Over the past 2 weeks we have come to know each other more intimately than many people become over matters of years. We have toasted the marshmallows of victory and can now proclaim this trip successful, having run the biggest rapids and climbed the highest peaks. We have also learned; not just about our natural surroundings, knots and paddling strokes, we have learned about each other and most importantly about ourselves.

We have triumphed in the face of adversity, in extreme heat, wind and rain. We have learned to work as a team, we have learned how to follow and we have learned how to lead.

And now as our lives return back to normal and we go our separate ways, we will take these new-found skills with us and attack each new obstacle in out paths with a new vigor and understanding.

Just as the ashes from this final campfire wander skyward in the Colorado breeze and deposit themselves back to the earth from which they came, we too will be wandering back to our homes.

We now wear a strand of the same rope on our wrists, to signify the common tie that bonds us together no matter how far apart we may drift.

We have enough pictures, stories and memories to last a lifetime and even as we go our separate ways, we know that our new-found families’ bond will no doubt stand the test of time.

The group has been rafting along the rapids for quite a while now and we will be finishing up our adventure tomorrow afternoon. The 5 days we have spent on the river brought us all so much closer because of all the challenges and excitements we’ve faced. Every night we’ve spent sleeping under the stars between canyons enjoying each others company. Although our amazing rafting trip is coming to an end, the smelly group is anxious for the first shower of the trip. We will soon be loading back up into the van for our second scenic road trip to Telluride. We are all excited to ride in the gondola up to the mountaintops. A week has already flown by and we can’t believe we will all be home shortly. All of us send our love and can’t wait to tell you our stories of the raging rapids!

Hello from beautiful Moab, UT! To end up here has been quite an adventure. We spent our first day traveling to Colorado and getting to know each other at Cherry Creek State Park in Denver. There we played many icebreakers and saw some interesting people!

The second day was our biggest journey yet – we traveled for 7 and a half hours, ending up at Arches National Park in Utah. We celebrated our arrival watching a beautiful sunset on top of a big rock!

The next day we went on a 5 mile hike continued by a 3 mile hike in the evening to watch the sun set at the famous Delicate Arch.

Today we begin our five day whitewater adventure!! So excited!

We just rafted over 100 miles on the Colorado River and right now we are on our way to Telluride. The mood is awesome, psyched for telluride, and groovy. The leaders of the day today are Alexa and David.

Some highlights from the past few days have been sleeping under the stars for the past three days on the beach, celebrating Rachael’s fake birthday with a peach cobbler, and getting our letters in the mail. Our favorite meal was spaghetti and cake. Our funny moments were Hannah falling off the boat while saying she wouldn’t fall off, hearing Nick sing, and the beautiful warm weather on the Colorado River. The next activity will be exploring Telluride!

We are all having a blast! See you in a few days!!

As we push westward and reach the vast high Colorado plateau our expedition members have bonded and rallied, paddled and climbed, laughed and screamed. We have topped 10,000 ft passes and have swam rapids at the bottom of towering gorges, but as the trip continues, we are starting to explore that vast uncharted terrain that is inside each of us; forging new partnerships and challenging our own fears. And so with the sappy stuff over we turn to words of our own expedition members to tell the tale of our voyage to date.

Activity just finished: Rafting the Arkansas River from Cotopaxi to Cañon City through the Royal Gorge.

Our Current location is: Moab Utah!

The group mood is: Rough, Buff and Tough

The highlight of the last section was: White water rafting and rock climbing!

The favorite meal was: Pizza and the pancakes

A funny moment: Talking with each other in our tents, when we went rafting and the guide who looked like Alan from the Hangover.

The weather is: Sunny, rainy in the evening, but quite enjoyable

Our next activity is: Hike in Arches National Park and white water rafting on the Colorado River down Cataract Canyon. WE ARE ALL STOKED!

Also…

Everyone is already best friends and we are all having so much fun. Nick has taught us some cool stuff about music and bands. Ry-ry (Ryan) is making us crack up and we love Alexa’s funny stories. Clay is great at giving piggy back rides. Ian is amazingly funny and Fin as always (we love him)! Hannah and Rachael are discussing bug bites and bracelets. We love Jarrett’s and Clay’s accents. David is a great singer and knows the words to every song. KenKen (McKenna) is listening to music and we love her United Unaccompanied Minor pin. Will gives hugs and always has a funny comment. Zodie is a great athlete and has inspired us to work hard. Morgie (Morgan) is 100% awesome.

That’s all for now! We will blog again after our raft down the Colorado!

The Colorado/Utah Multisport Adventure extravaganza has commenced! We just finished our first two days of the trip rock climbing in the beautiful mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park. Now we are on the road to central Colorado for two days of whitewater rafting.

Here’s what the group is most excited about!

• The rushing wind through my hair. I am also excited for rafting.
• I am excited for white water rafting.
• I am excited to drink black tea because I haven’t had any in awhile.
• I am excited to go to Arches National Park and start rafting.
• I am super-duper excited to go white water rafting.
• I am excited to go to Arches National Park.
• I am excited to see Telluride in the summer because I have only seen it in the winter.
• Rafting
• Y’all, I am excited to see Telluride.
• I am excited for rafting, a hot shower and warm weather.
• I was excited for sour cream and onion Pringles, but now I am excited for cataract canyon.
• Rafting!

Stay tuned for more from the great wild west!