We had just spent the last 3 days riding camels. At first I was scared to get on one and the sounds they make was like a prehistoric creature left over from the dinosaur age or maybe a creature from the Star Wars movies. But once I got the hang of it, it wasn't so bad. What a great work out for not doing anything. My leg muscles still hurt. Beautiful and wonderful creatures and you get the feeling that they understand everything that is going on around them, but they just don't care. We laughed a lot as we rode the camels as we referred to them as car models. My engine leaked a lot, if you know what I mean? We all got up early to wrap up our tents and have breakfast to head out again towards the Libyan border. We walked out of camp, which was a beautiful one with straw hut bungalows all around, however, most of us opted to stick to our tents after we noticed huge spiders strolling around the huts. We figured at least in our own tents we were safer and more secure as we zipped ourselves in and zipped out the outside world of sand and critters. I love my tent. It's my only chance of a bit of privacy and in the evening you can see the moon shining outside - but the moon can't see you.

Anyway... in the morning we walked out and saw a field which was very plush with mountains in the background, but the vision that stands out the most was watching 52 camels grazing happily as they stared at the strange creatures (us) staring back at them. We made a quick stop at the natural hot springs where everyone but me, Latif and Mohammad got in for a hot Jacuzzi. It was funny to see all the white bodies with dark faces and arms. I expected to see something bigger than a small concrete Jacuzzi in the middle of an old and very poor village. While we drove off in the trucks, I noticed a family - a father and maybe 3 of his sons shampooing and washing themselves in the hot springs. I wondered to myself if that was their only means for a hot shower in the village? And if so, how do the women shower in the middle of the village? Do they put a tarp around it and shower? Do they have specific days for men and for women, or perhaps each family has their own time slot? Maybe the guy was just taking a dip and that was that. No Matter - we drove off and the image soon became part of an image stored in my mind and used for stories told in the future of my trip through Egypt.

The car ride was tight and uncomfortable as we had a couple of extra new people with us. We have our journalists Lauren and Rafael (Raffi) with us and of course our friendly secret service that travel with us now everywhere we go, they are like the guests that never go home, but then again, I imagine, that's what they say about us! Still, we all get along and pass each other candy and nuts in the cars as we nap, gap, and nag throughout the ride. Heskel shared a ride with us because the participants staged a "closed" meeting beforehand at the rest stop to discuss what to do at the border if we get rejected? We had all agreed that we would stick by each other whatever the outcome but now the question is: Should we cut the trip short or continue to stay in Egypt till our trip is up? This caused a big stir as we all exploded with different answers and our reasons why. Heskel patiently listened to all of us as we bitched, umm, I mean communicated our concerns of the trip so far and as we got off the trucks a couple of hours later, the journalists eagerly asked us of the outcome of our decision. We had all FINALLY agreed on one thing and the jury was in... "We will decide later!"

I looked at Raffi's face who had just joined our group as he looked at Lauren's face who had been with us for a week now. I could only imagine the unspoken hidden message between them both, which must have been something like: "Strap on partner... you're in for a ride with THIS group."

Dinner was chicken and rice for the group but for the vegetarians in the group (me, Galit and Topke) we had a scoop of white rice with a packet of instant soup, sprinkled with crunchy onion bits. I crunched on my dinner and thanked God for a tasty meal, as it turned out to be. We ended our night by sitting around the campfire with lit torches and lanterns under the stars as we each shared our personal story and our desires and purpose of our involvement with this trip and what we wish to see as the outcome of the trip. I dreaded the meeting at first because I was too cold and tired to care, I was just admiring the petrified wood of a forest gone long ago at the spot I was standing on. The wood had petrified and looked just like black stones on the desert floor. Gil explained, that we are standing on what used to be forest millions of years ago! But in the end, as the meeting went on, it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip for me. We bonded with each other a little more and all of this was filmed by the film crew.

Like the Waltons, we all said our good nights and headed to our tents. We have become like a family and just like a real family we have our mini fights and drama, but as we go to bed at night, we look at each other through our tent windows and smile. After all... this family has 17 days left to go.