Sandy's Camel ride
Luke 17:21 (NIV)
…nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you.
Early Monday morning, and I mean really early we began the adventure of climbing Mount Sinai. We reached our room in the hotel near Sinai at 8:00pm last night, ate a quick dinner and went to bed. Wake-up call came at 1:00am. After the short bus ride to the base of the mountain we were paired up with a camel and camel driver for the first two-thirds of the way up Sinai. I named my camel Chewbacca because he sounded exactly like the Wookie in Star Wars, no kidding. I’m going to ask Mike Rooch, the walking Star Wars Encyclopedia, if that Wookie sound is a recording of a camel. As many of you know, I’m afraid of any animal bigger than me and many that are smaller. So when my kneeling camel, and it was huge, made that loud angry Wookie growl just as I was getting on I wasn’t too sure about this mode of transportation up the mountain. There is no ski lift at Sinai, so I climbed on Chewy and held on for dear life. It was actually a smoother ride than I expected. Chewy was feisty and fast. We passed 8 or 10 camels on the 8 foot wide path that zig-zagged up the mountain. Sandy’s camel had a few problems. She had the youngest camel; he was 4 years old, and the youngest driver, a 15 year-old Bedouin boy. She had to dismount after a short way so the young driver could tighten the cinch. The drivers actually own their individual camels and lead them up the path carrying their paying customers. Sandy’s camel fell far behind our group, but it was dark so no one knew. Ask her to tell you the rest of her camel ride adventure; it’s funny and a bit scary at the same time. This was no little kiddie ride like you’d see at a zoo; this was an hour-and-a-half climb up a steep mountain path. The scariest part for me was when Chewbacca got close to the edge of the path allowing me, or perhaps forcing me, to peer down the sheer cliff beside the path. Chewy and the other camels were sure-footed and everyone made it to walking point 2/3 of the way up Sinai with Sandy arriving about 20 minutes after everyone else.
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