Have you ever had a dream that you were walking
through a desert and happen to stumble upon a pyramid?
As a child, Mandarin High School’s very
own, Mr. Bonteski, had that very same dream. Mr. Bonteski is one of our
beloved math teachers here at MHS and the sponsor for the school’s weather
club.
Mr. Bonteski’s dream came to life on
Friday, November 16, 2007, when he arrived with a group of 16 people in
Egypt, home of the world’s most famous pyramids.
When the opportunity came around for Mr.
Bonteski to take this trip, he “had to go”; there was no question
about it.
Hearing about all of the things he
experienced was so interesting; he had so much to say. He and his group
traveled to all the main cities along the Nile River. There are only deserts
outside of those cities; he declares that “the Nile is the life of Egypt.”
The temperatures were low, to his surprise.
In the evenings the temperatures would be in the low 50s; during the day it
stayed in the 70s- except for one day when Mr. B. recalled it being 80
degrees F. He described how he liked the city of Cairo, but “traffic was crazy,
there were no traffic lights!” One negative, the cities air was polluted;
but, what do you expect the environment to be like in the most populated
city in Egypt? (Cairo’s population is approximately 15 million)
Among the many pyramids he visited were the
Sphinx, the Great Pyramid and King Tut’s tomb. Mr. Bonteski described how
recently King Tut’s mummy was returned from the US to its original home- the
Valley of the Kings in Egypt. His head has been unwrapped so that tourists
can take a gaze at the 4,000 year old mummy; “his face was completely black”
Mr. B. described.
He and his group boarded a boat for 4 days
that took them up the Nile, taking detours along the way to see other
temples and pyramids. One of these was the temple in Edfu, which is the best
preserved temple in Egypt. They made other stops along the way; he explained
how they went to the lighthouse in Alexandria, which has long since been
re-built into a fortress. He walked around through the City of the Dead-
this name was given to the city because of the fact that it was built over
hundreds of graves. Last, but not least, another of many monuments in the
city was the library at Alexandria- the first ever library built in Egypt;
which was also re-built because the original structure was not stable or
able to be preserved and/or viewed by tourists and other natives.
During the days, he and his group walked
around the bases of the pyramids, the major one- The Great Pyramid,
approximately 2 ½ by 2 ½ football fields length and width. After the long
walk and after the “beautiful sunsets”, there were light and sound shows
that lit up the pyramids with an interesting array of colors.
Mr. Bonteski’s entire trip could be made
into a list of “firsts”, but there are a few he was particularly glad to
mention. For one, it was his first time riding a camel. He “loved the
beautiful sunrises and sunsets, they were unforgettable.”
Finally, after 11 days in Egypt, he
returned to the US- with 450 pictures on his digital camera and tons of
souvenirs, including: papyrus and stone carvings. That’s not all he returned
with; he has the memories and more things to add to his list of places he
has visited around the world.
When asked if he would return to Egypt
someday, he gave a simple answer, “no.” I couldn’t believe it, after all he
had to say, and all of the wonderful things he experienced. He had this to
add “I’ve dreamt of going there my whole life, for me, it was the kind of
place that I’ve visited and already have enough memories to last a
lifetime,” not to mention, he said “it was a trip that wore me, I’m still
re-adjusting to everything.”
An interesting fact:
Jacksonville is exactly east 30 degrees N
(longitude) of Cairo; the only reason Florida is not a desert, is the fact
that our state is a peninsula, which means it is surrounded by water on all
3 sides- for those who don’t know- therefore preventing FL from being a
desert like Cairo, or Texas for example.
You can find other information on Egypt at the
following websites suggested by Mr. Bonteski.
