in the middle east

I hope you're not getting bored with all these pictures of Egypt. We've been back in Jerusalem for a month now, but we still have more share with you all. Just two more Egypt posts, and then we'll get back to talking about life here and now.
After Aswan, we headed up to central Egypt, the city of Luxor on the Nile. This was the ancient capital of Egypt for many centuries, and thus there grew up around it dozens of ancient monuments from the royal families. Tombs, temples, statues... it's all here in Luxor. The city is divided by the Nile, and both West and East banks have major sites. So we took two full days here, one on each side of the river. The temples were magnificent, as were the sunsets. We found the town itself to be less pleasant than Aswan or Cairo. The main industry of the town is tourism, and thus every corner and street is full of vendors who are more than happy to take your money. They were quite aggressive: someone wanting to sell you a t-shirt, statue, or boat ride will walk along side you for a block or two. Thus, it was hard to have any quiet moments along the waterfront, or really anywhere in the town. Since our hotel had a nice roof-top patio, we spent quite a bit of our "down time" up there, swimming, reading, and overlooking the town and the Nile. There are many amazing things to see here in Luxor, and we couldn't show you everything. But here is a sample of what we thought were the coolest things: Click Here.

After the pyramids, our adventures carried us to a city in southern Egypt, Aswan (for a map, click here). In ancient Egypt this was a strategic city for the Egyptians to maintain military control over the Nubians to the South (in modern Sudan). Today it is a large tourist attraction, due to the gigantic ancient temples in the nearby vicinity. We stayed in the city for two days, and even went 175miles further South to some magnificent ancient Egyptian temples; at that point we were just 50 miles North of the border with Sudan. Aswan itself sits on the first large opening of the Nile, creating a space for dozens of islands and beautiful desert scenery. It is quite a unique place, and we really enjoyed the quiet and rather serene setting on the Nile. Click Here to see a bit more.

Upon arriving in Cairo, we spent our first full day exploring the great ancient pyramids of Egypt. This is obviously one of the country's major tourist attractions, and even though it was "low" season, we were among thousands of visitors that day. But it's obvious why this is so: the pyramids are simply one of the most astounding things to see up close. The pyramids we saw were built in the 3rd and 4th dynasties of Egypt's "Old Kingdom", i.e. from the period around 2600-2500 BC. They were made as royal tombs for the deified pharaoh's, to give them a magnificent place to rest as they began their journey on the other side of death. We spent the day just circling them, walking around and looking at them from all angles, marvelling at their size. By the end of the day we were pretty spent, and packed up our bags to board an overnight train that would carry us South almost the entire length of the country, to Aswan. But for the moment, our pictures from the pyramids will do. Click Here.

After our adventure in the desert wonderland of Wadi Rum, we hopped on a bus to Petra, about 2hrs North. Petra is, obviously, quite famous; in fact it may become one of the new 7 wonders of the world. It was made most famous by appearing as a set for an Indiana Jones film, but other than that, I really didn't know too much about the place or its history. Petra was a royal burial city for the ancient culture of the Nabateans. This was a people group of Arabian descent (from the Southern desert that is today Saudi Arabia) that came to build a large kingdom in this part of the mountainous desert SE of the Dead Sea. They reached the peak of their culture in the 2nd cent. BC to the 1st cent. AD, when they were taken over by the Romans. Petra was built to house the tombs of their royal leaders, as well as the upper class who could afford such tombs. There are literally hundreds of these elaborate tombs here. But what makes Petra spectacular to visit is that all of these structures were carved right out of the soft sandstone mountain sides. The rock is really unique because you can see the layers and swirls of different colored sand that piled up and made the mountains; thus the buildings are a swirls of red, brown, blue, and purple rock. It is the unique combination of natural beauty and Nabatean massive-style monumental architecture that make Petra such a breathtaking place to visit. We spent a day and half just walking around this massive place. After our stay there we hopped on another bus 2.5hrs further North to the city of Amman, the capital (and largest) city of Jordan. After cruising around the city for a day, we woke up the next morning to board our flight to Cairo. But that's for the next blog. For Petra and Amman, Click Here.

On the morning our Blackhawk friends stepped onto a plane back to US, Jessica and I boarded a bus down to the southernmost coastal town of Israel, Eilat. From there we crossed the border into Jordan, and began our two week adventure. We stayed that night outside of a Jordanian coastal town named Aqaba at an interesting place called "The Bedouin Village". We met some random people there and ended up driving into town with them to buy a cake to celebrate someone's birthday. Random indeed. The next morning we woke up and went to our first destination in Jordan, the Wadi Rum Nature Reserve. It is located in South Jordan and runs up against the northern border of Saudi Arabia. It is a gigantic desert, with large mountains of granite and sandstone that burst up from the sandy floor hundreds and even thousands of feet tall. We did an overnight Jeep tour with a guide from the area, and saw breathtaking desert beauty. It was the most silent place I'd ever been in my life, only the sound of the wind as you look over miles of trackless desert. We got to see and do a number of cool things in the desert, a it was a great way to start our Jordan-Egypt adventure, so take a look. Click Here.

Well, Jessica and I have returned from our three week adventure with friends in Jerusalem and traveling abroad in Jordan and Egypt. We're so glad to be back "home" here in Jerusalem. So, now we have a backlog of things to tell y'all about, so let's begin at the beginning. Our friends from Blackhawk arrived on Feb 2, the Henderson's stayed until the 7th, the Dolson's and Anderson's until the 11th. We had a wonderful time together, made great memories, and became more familiar with the situations of poverty and oppression caused by the conflict here. I've compiled some photos that are representative of their time here, arranged in roughly chronological order. I think the team was able to go home with a more intimate knowledge of the issues that grip this land as well as its amazing and layered history. To see some of our experiences together, just click here.

Our Blackhawk friends are boarding their plane as I write this, and Jessica and I are about to go get on a bus to begin our own mid-year Middle East adventure. We'll be gone Feb 11-25, so we won't be posting any new blogs for a while. Here's a quick overview of where we're headed:
Jordan
> Feb 11 Travel to Jordan
> Feb 12-13 Overnight jeep tour in Wadi Rum (Google this one, it's cool)
> Feb 13-14 Petra
> Feb 15-16 Bus up to Amman and fly to Cairo, Egypt
Egypt
> Feb 16-17 Giza Pyramids outside of Cairo
> Feb 18-20 Luxor, Thebes
> Feb 21 Alexandria
> Feb 22-23 Cairo
> Feb 24-25 Cairo > Amman > Jerusalem

We can't wait to share our adventures with you.
Cheers.

A group from our church in Madison has been visiting us the last few days, and it's been great to be around friends and make new memories. The group consists of Chris and Becky Dolson, Rich and Martha Henderson, and Mike and Gail Anderson, all leaders at Blackhawk. They spent a week before coming to Jerusalem visiting different ministries that Blackhawk supports in Nairobi, Kenya and Amman, Jordan. Their time here with us was aimed at becoming acquainted with the political situation here in Israel/Palestine, particularly issues of social justice and human rights. We visited a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah, and met people whose lives have been destroyed by the conflict, but also others who still have hope and started a youth-community center. Tomorrow we're spending the day with some representatives of World Vision to visit some of their poverty relief and human rights advocacy projects in the West Bank; it should be very good.
All in all, it's been a wonderful time. You can check out their own blog on the trip by clicking here.

The small hill town of Nazareth, Jesus' home town, still occupies the same steep ravines and hilltops that it did 2,000 years ago. It was a small agricultural village - today it has a population of almost 100,000 and has a thriving culture and economy. The oldest part of town, "lower Nazareth" is predominantly Palestinian, Arab citizens of Israel, while the newest part of town "upper Nazareth" is predominantly Israeli, and the line between the two parts is pretty clear (for a quick history of the city, Click Here). A day after Christmas we stayed in Nazareth a few days and used it as a base for our other adventures up north in Galilee and the Golan heights. We stayed in lower Nazareth and had a great time. Very friendly people, great falafel, and way to much traffic for those narrow streets! The most well-known tourist site is the church of the annunciation, commemorating the spot where Mary was told she was pregnant with Jesus. It is a gigantic and awe inspiring church. After Nazareth we went down South in the broad Jezreel valley where the ancient city of Megiddo lies. Here are some pictures, just Click Here. [Note: I just realized that I spelled "Nazareth" wrong in the captions of the pictures! But I don't feel like correcting all of them, so just read "Nazareth" when you see "Nazereth", oops).

While Jessica's parent were here in late December we spent a couple of days up in the North, around the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. When Jessica and I were last here in October, it was cloudy and rainy; so were delighted to have sunny days marked with clouds. These are photos from our day trip up in the Golan heights. It was a spectacular day from beginning to end, with amazing sights and stunning natural beauty. From the snowy foothills of Mt. Herman, to the Dan Spring nature reserve, to the heights of the Golan hills. This really is one of the more beautiful places on the planet (of course there are many, but this is definitely one). This entire territory has been in Israeli possession since the Six-Day war of June 1967. Because the three major sources of the Jordan River come from these hills of Mt. Hermon, it's obvious why it they are a strategic possession for any nation trying to sustain agriculture. This territory is also the primary reason for the tensions between Syria and Israel today; this land was not included in Israel's territory in the 1948 borders drawn by the U.N. decision, yet in 1967 for military and economic purposes Israel seized the area. As we drove about we saw both the striking beauty of the hills, as well as the signs of war that still mark the land in the form of old bunkers, trenches, and minefields; the contrast was as stark as it could be (for an informative overview of the history and territory of the Golan, Click Here). As the day neared its end, we were treated to an amazing sunset as we descended the hills. Our pictures don't do justice, of course, but you can get the idea. Click Here.