There are not many Mexicans traveling to Egypt. In Mexico people are attached to their roots, culture and traditions, thus many don’t travel to far away countries like Egypt.

I will never forget the first day I arrived in Cairo. Those were Ramadan days, and although I had already heard about Ramadan, for me it was something new and completely different. After my friend Zeiko picked me up from the airport at 2:00 am in the morning, the first thing he did was taking me to have the most traditional food in Egypt; falafel. The fact that I was tired from an 18-hour flight and just wanted to get some sleep didn’t really matter. I was both nervous and excited about my new adventure in Egypt, and everything around me seemed strange and new. To be honest I couldn’t believe it was two in the morning, it rather felt like eight in the evening, that was the first impression I had from Egypt.     

During my time in Egypt, one of the best experiences I had was when I was able to travel to Sinai. For a Christian this means a lot, and is something deeply spiritual and emotional. The plan was simple; climb the mountain during the early morning in order to watch the sunrise at the top, and of course that was easier said than done. I was with a group of 60 people, and I knew the way to the top would be tough and slow. We started climbing the mountain around 2:30 am, and the first thing our two guides said to us was “No one goes in front of me or behind my partner, otherwise you’ll get lost”; those words stayed in my mind during all the way to the top, and I still have not forgotten them yet.

At the beginning of the climbing everything was laughs, goodwill and good humor, but as you keep going up, the path gets more and more difficult, and that is when your realize what you are doing and how complicated it may be. I remember some people from the group started to feel tired after an hour of climbing so they stopped – of course there was the option of riding a camel in case you couldn’t continue walking, and many of them took that option. But for me that was not an option, I had decided that I would reach to the top by walking and nothing would stop me.

After two hours of climbing I thought I was about to reach the top. I could observe a beautiful landscape and the sun was almost out, then suddenly I see these stone stairs and the guide in front of me tells me: “now it's only 750 stone stairs and you will be at the top”, I could not believe it and at this point I was far from the rest of my friends because they were behind me or in front of me. For me this was the moment when the climbing became complicated.

I had to make an extra effort climbing five stone stairs at a time, and stop for 10 seconds to catch my breath again; it took me around 50 more minutes to finally get to the top and watch the sunrise. At the end only between 20 or 25 persons made it to the top.

The view at top of Mount Sinai was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The landscape, the view, and the fact that you are surrounded by more mountains in the middle of the dessert leave you speechless; you truly cannot describe it, you have to live it.

This experience was definitely worth it, and I wouldn't change anything about it.  

Cairo, July 12, 2018

Sergio Ponce León

Intern at the Center for Arab-West Understanding between June 6 and July 15, 2018