I took a bus back into the city. I had no idea where I was going, but it didn't stop me. I'd read in my guidebook that buses left for St. Catherine's monastery at 10:30. I rearranged my plans, postponed Israel a week, found the bus station, and headed off to the unknown. I survived my complications and headed off for a new adventure.

When the bus stopped at St. Catherine's, two Egyptians guys also stepped off. That's when I met Ahmed and Mohab. They were going to spend the night on top of Mt. Sinai -- I didn't know that was an option. I planned to stay at the monastery. Later that night, when another group climbed the mountain, I stuffed two blankets in my packpack and put on three shirts, very excited about spending the night on top of Mt. Sinai.

I was so struck by the holiness of the place, but the walk was hell! This was long, steep, hard and cold. I seriously considered stopping to sleep on the way up. I would never have made it alone. Eventually the top arrived. There was no joy -- only exhaustion and relief. I went to sleep. Well, I actually did sleep some, but most of the night I was too freezing to sleep.

I had my head covered with the blankets and occasionally peeked out to see if it were still black. When it finally started to get light, I was too tired to care. I had to convince myself to get up for the sunrise. It was a hard hike, and a long night, but I was so glad that I really spent the night there.

Ahmed and Mohab were amazing. They brought tons of food with them. For breakfast we had pizza. The trip up the mountains was a long winding path, but we took the steep steps down that were built by a monk long ago. We toured the monastery and saw what they claimed was the actual burning bush of Moses.