6 Continents, 5 Months

Today we got up early again! We got up at six in preparation for a big day! We had many deserts to see today! When we got up we climbed into the van we had rented for the time we're here and drove about three hours to a remote town south of Cairo. It wasn't much of a town at all though. It was like a remote getaway in an oasis in the desert. It was beautiful there, the places you could rent were made from bamboo. We drove there to transfer to a jeep that would take us offloading into the desert. First we drove through the black desert. All the desert was under water about 1000 years ago and it is coloured black because of an underwater volcano that spread chunks of lava throughout the desert. After we drove through the black desert came crystal mountain. It is a mountain about one hundred feet tall made entirely from melted sand. When sand is melted it turns into glass or crystal. Lightning struck the spot and that's how crystal mountain was formed. We continued from crystal mountain into the white desert. It was as white as snow and reminded me of the Rocky Mountains. The white is formed because the last part of the saltwater was dried up and formed solid rock that was as white like snow. In the white desert was also mushroom rocks. The are formed by water currents taking out the bottom and after it dried up it left a mushroom form, that were magnificent. We spent that night in the white desert under the stars! We had two other people with us so it wasn't just the six of us left in the desert. We had our driver and our guide from the beginning of Egypt, Simo. They set up camp. Our "tent" consisted of a 2 sided fabric wall, it worked to block the wind. Our guides also made a fire and cooked us all a Egyptian dinner that was surprisingly custom to the western side of the world. They cooked it on the fire and we had potatoes and chicken. I was thankful that we didn't have a roof over our heads because we were so far away from the city so we could see tons of stars. I counted over thirty shooting stars that night and saw all the consolations as well. Before the sun went down it was pretty warm but at about five in the morning I woke up, face frozen, because the temperature had dropped to about five degrees. My parents woke me up to see the sunrise and it was beautiful because the ground was flat as far as you could see. The shadows casted by the mushroom rocks added to the effects of the beauty. It was a great night.