No guide, no Gebel Musa
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
204
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
St. Catherine's Monastery,
Egypt
Sunday, June 22, 2008
I was just completely peeved at this unnecessary nonsense that would cost us money and for no reason
Katherine village
. Travis got a little concerned. We wandered back and sat on a bench to ponder what to do. While there we were approached by a guy in charge of the tourist police who also said that we had to have a guide, but who also could not tell us why. Eventually he found a tour guide (herding those chubby, middle-aged tourists), who told us that the Dept. of the Interior made a rule that people had to have a guide, but if you knew the way then you didn't need a guide. The fact that we were experienced trekkers weighed little, apparently, because he asked us please not to go alone, so we agreed not to. We had a choice - either get ourselves a tagalong and go up the mountain now or wait until this guide's group left and go with them. The trouble was that they weren't leaving until 1 a.m. We capitulated and got a guide. As we passed out of the monastery he asked us if we wanted him to take us all the way to the top and stay or just lead us a little way. We said the latter (I'd nearly had a crying fit when I found we'd have no choice but to get a tail), and he said we could pay him what we liked (as in, not the 85 pounds the police cited). He took us as far as a fork in the road, gave us further directions (which turned out to be wholly unnecessary because there's only one direction to go), and let us get on our way.
The walk took us almost the two hours LP said it would, but considering that 1) the path was clearly marked, 2) we had 6 liters of water and plenty of food between us, and 3) it was a really easy climb, the guide was pretty much completely ridiculous
our Bedouin camp
. We arrived at Elijah's Basin and went straight for the 750 stairs to the summit to have some dinner and watch the sunset. At the top we met five Canadians and an American. We threw in our lots and camped out at the summit, refusing to pay 10 pounds for a mattress or 20 pounds for a blanket. Of all the absurd prices, and the annoying wealthy, middle-aged tourists just pay it. Five of us slept on a rock promontory below the summit and the other three slept up top, but they were awakened early by praying monks who annoyed them immensely and shushed them as well.
In the morning we were a little worried that we'd positioned ourselves in a bad spot for the sunrise, but it turned out to be perfect, and we all sat on our little promontory and enjoyed a breakfast of bread, cheese, and melon.
Having Sinai to ourselves for the sunset and then having our own little rock for the sunrise was perfect. We barely even ran into the hoardes of tourists that magically appeared in the morning hours. The night sky was stunning. And it was all free.
Back at Saint Katherine we scrabbled together some lunch and sat to wait and see if the bus to Dahab would arrive. Meanwhile the other four guys going to Cairo tried to negotiate a van. The antics were diverting. The bus came and we along with two Canadians hopped on and were off on yet another adventure.
Erin
Comments
gebel musa
So how much did you pay the Bedouin who left you at the fork?