It would seem, my friends, that we have reached a parting of the ways.
My last day of work (yesterday) wasn't too bad. Spent the morning weeding in the camping area and the hanging gardens, and the afternoon ironing and changing cabin linens. Then, in the late afternoon, Lilach had a brilliant idea.
She was like "JANE! You are leaving tomorrow!" and I'm like, "......yeah," and she says "WE SHOULD HAVE A FAREWELL DINNER FOR YOU!" "....okay....." Anyway, she decides we should cook something that is my "native food" so to speak. "What do you eat in Alabama?" "........uh....." "I KNOW I KNOW! WE WILL MAKE FRIED CHICKEN! Do you know how to make fried chicken?" ".........uh, no....." "WELL THEN GOOGLE IT!"
So I did.
In the 18 plus years I have lived in Alabama, I have never made fried chicken. I go to Israel for six weeks and I end up cooking it. Go figure. It was surprisingly pretty easy. I guess I could succeed as a Southern housewife after all. We also had mashed potatoes with it, per my recommendation. Stephen was like, "Isn't this what black people eat?" Oh, Stephen. That would involve greens. Instead we had Israeli couscous.....we'll call it a blended meal. Also enjoyed some of the house wine for the first time, which was excellent, and some leftover birthday cake. All in all a very nice last meal.
Meanwhile, Magdal was rioting.
Magdal Shams is the Druze village about a half a mile from us. I still don't know exactly what was going on except that it involved taxes and some guy who was dealing drugs in France. Kind of crazy. But, as per Lilach's prediction, at 930pm the rioting stopped.
The Mundial was on.
I didn't watch, I went to pack (and by pack I mean spend several hours distracting myself from packing). If you like Spain, congrats; if you like the Netherlands, my apologies.
Eventually went to bed, and eventually finished packing in the morning.
Ended up taking a much later bus than I expected, but it turned out alright. Got into Tel Aviv around 4pm and was planning to take a bus to the hostel. However, I never found the intra-city buses. Remember the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station? The giant one that's like an airport? Yeah, I got lost. Finally I gave up and asked a taxi how much it would be, and the price was reasonable so I opted for that instead. Then the taxi driver got lost, and I had to pull out my map and help him figure out where we were in broken Hebrew. Turns out we were basically driving in a circle around the street the hostel was on. When I got to the hostel I hadn't made a reservation, so I asked what they had available. I was expecting a dorm bed, since I haven't encountered a single full hostel since I got here (and I have now stayed in a grand total of about 10 different ones). Then she says the cursed words to me - "NONE AVAILABLE". I'm about to flip, since I'm tired of carrying all this crap and getting lost in taxis, whens she's like "......but you can have a rooftop mattress for 60 shekels. You just have to be gone by 8 o'clock." I'm like......what did you just say?"
Basically, this hostel is awesome. Not only is it in Jaffa, which is a really cool and nice and not so touristy part of Tel Aviv, it has a flippin sweet roof. Its partially covered, with mattresses for sleeping and lots of tables and chairs and couches, plus a fountain, full bathrooms/showers, a full kitchen, and laundry. No AC necessary, the breeze off the sea is perfect and the view of the city skyline is beautiful. Its also in the thick of the shuk, which is the best shuk I have been in in this country, and five minutes from a gorgeous beach. I'm lovin it :)
After getting settled I went to find food, since I pretty much hadn't eaten all day. I just wanted a pita with any of the staples in it (falafel, schawarma, schnitzel, or kabab), I didn't care which one. I thought there would be a stand near the hostel once I started in the direction of the beach, but I didn't see anything. I kept walking up the promenade into the rest of Tel Aviv, and finally, once I got all the way to the street I stayed on my last time in the city (roughly a mile), I found a place and got some schnitzel (Sidenote: Every time I eat schnitzel I find myself involuntarily humming "My Favorite Things" and I'm starting to annoy myself with it. Damn you, Rodgers & Hammerstein). One of my favorite (and by favorite I mean least favorite) things about Israel is how everyone assumes you want hummus on everything. I didn't really want hummus with my schnitzel, since hummus melts basically the instant it hits the pita, resulting in soggy schnitzel, which I didn't particularly want, but the man literally asked me "Do you want hummus?" as he was putting it in my pita. Urgh.....national foods. I then walked the mile back to the hostel to eat my schnitzel in a less hot environment, and of course, it was soggy. Sigh. Oh, and then I realized there were like, 5 pita stands in a ten foot radius about six steps in the other direction from the one I walked. Jane Fail.
Afterward I went out to the shuk, which was pretty much all closed. Picked up a couple things for different people at the places that were open, and then wandered back to the hostel.
In other news, been on a very folksy kick musically the last few days and I'm having the renewed urge to learn how to play guitar. I just found possibly the best song I've heard in the last decade and it turned out to have been written for Hanukkah several decades ago. Go YouTube it, Peter Paul & Mary singing "Light One Candle". Watch the holiday concert from the 80's and you can get a laugh out of whatever the hell Mary's wearing. Is it a trash bag? A solar panel? We just don't know.
My last night in Israel (for a while). Crazy to think. But, as the padre taught me to always say, I'll be back.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
this year in Jerusalem
I've seen the Holy City. My trip is complete.
The tour didn't start til 11, so I spent a couple hours wandering around outside. Around 930 I'm walking along outside then southern wall when I suddenly hear "JANE?!!" and see Marissa Orenstein running at me! Then Mike Gohari shows up, and is all like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??".....yeah, of all the people to run into in Jerusalem, I ran into the UM Birthright group. Again, my world is shrinking, but finding people you know on the other side of the world is pretty entertaining.
I then walked through this open air mall to kill some time, and had the best fresh squeezed orange juice I've ever had. It came out of this totally sick juicer machine that I really want to find on ebay and get Scott for his birthday.
The tour = TOTALLY WORTH IT. I learned a ridiculous amount, and got so much more out of everything than I would have had I gone alone.
First stop: Church of the Holy Sepluchre. Built over Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. Also contains the site where the supposed true cross was found by Helena, mother of Constantine, what is believed to be the site of Jesus' tomb, and where he was prepared for burial. Obviously, nothing looks anything like it did 2000 years ago and the church is very ornate in places, which kind of annoys me, but when you take a moment to remove yourself mentally and touch the actual stone of the hill where it happened and stand where Mary stood as she watched her son die....it's powerful. Regardless of what you believe about Jesus, it's incredible to be there and think how one man, here, in his death, changed the course of human history. And if you believe he was more than a man, well, then its another thing entirely. I won't go into details, but.....it's moving.
[**Interesting things I never knew: (1) According to oral tradition, Golgotha (the Place of the Skull) was called so because it was believed that the skeleton of Adam lay deep below it. When Jesus died, and the earth cracked below him, his blood was thus said to drip down to cleanse the original sin of mankind. (2) Kalif Omar, the second (I believe) leader of Islam after Mohammed, toured the church at one point and while he was doing so the time came to pray. Instead of stopping exactly where he was to pray, which he always did, he walked outside. When his followers asked him why he did this, he said he knew that if he had prayed inside the church, within twenty years they would have torn it down and built a mosque in its place. He recognized how important the site was to Christians and didn't want this to happen, so he left it before praying...and now there is a mosque built in honor of him across from the church.]
We then walked the Via Dolorosa, the route of the crucifxion, in reverse (which was kind of weird, but oh well). Along the way the stations of the cross are marked (Jesus saying goodbye to Mary, Simon being given the cross to carry, etc), which although the historical accuracy probably isn't exactly very good, is pretty cool. Again, this is now in the middle of the market so you have to mentally remove yourself from what's going on around you.
We ate lunch as a tour group at this falafel bar place, which was very tasty and half the price of the lunch I ate in Ein Gedi. Also fun to sit down and actually talk to the people I was spending the day with.
Next was HaKotel, the Wailing Wall. Really impactful; security was ridiculous but I guess you can't blame them. Then we got in line to go on the Temple Mount. Apparently they let non-Muslims up at 730 am and 130pm, and its only a certain number so you have to line up early (again - things I would not have known had I gone by myself). This is the part where all the people who didn't dress appropriately end up wearing random articles of clothing provided by the tour guide to cover up. Very entertaining. Example: two guys about my age wearing hot pink wrap skirts. Guess ya shoulda worn longer shorts, boys. Luckily I came prepared. It was interesting to learn about the history of the Temple Mount, the building and destruction of the temples, and how the Dome of the Rock came to be. We weren't allowed in the Dome of the Rock; since Ariel Sharon's 2000 speech in front of it (which sparked the Second Intifada, if you don't know your Israel history then Google it) non-Muslims haven't been allowed in.
[**Interesting tidbit: Most orthodox Jews do not go on the Temple Mount, ever. Because the temple no longer stands, there is no way to know where the "holiest of holy" is/was and by not going up there, they avoid walking somewhere that is beyond their level of holiness, so to speak.]
We also went to the room of the Last Supper (again, questionable accuracy but oh well), King David's tomb (not questionable accuracy, cause his body's chillin there), and Dormition Abbey, where Mary died. And a lot of other places a long the way, but I can't remember all of them and I learned more than I could possibly take in. The point our tour guide (who was totally nuts, by the way) kept making at each site was how closely related the three faiths were in their holy sites (not just like, all these things happened on the same place, but things that were similar) and that what causes the conflicts isn't that they are so different, but that they are so alike. All in all, very, very good tour and I highly recommend it.
Thoughts:
-Given the climate of today, and for that matter that of millenia past, this city is important no matter what you believe. Of all the places in this world you can travel, this is one place everyone should see before they die.
-If you are or have ever been a follower of Christ, whether you just found your faith or you're losing your religion, you need to go to Jerusalem. There is so much to be gained, to be found within yourself by walking where he walked and seeing where he lived and died. Incredible. Seriously.
On my last evening in the city Aliza showed back up and invited me out with some of her newfound friends at Hebrew U. It was nice to meet some new people and go out for a change, but two things: (1) I sat next to three of the biggest, most bigoted jerks I have ever heard speak in my life. Seriously, if you listened to them talk too long you would give up all hope in humanity/the world ever becoming a better place. (2) Beer and Ethiopian food is a terrible taste combination. Avoid it at all costs.
Got up early yesterday morning and took the bus back to meet Alla and Tomer at Makhanayim. Pretty pleasant ride, and I actually managed to get the bus to stop at the right stop. The ride from that point through the mountains was, however, again spent trying not to throw up. (Sidenote: I just now realized the bottle of phenagrin I have with me was prescribed to SCOTT PRYJMAK in JANUARY 2007. Oops. No wonder it hasn't been working. Jane Fail.)
Last night Kifa (the housekeeper) and her family came over and we had a traditional Druze bbq. Wow, such good food. We cooked out by the pool and then all of us sat on blankets and ate on the deck, and it was really fun. It was a good thing we put down plastic over the blankets, tho, because food ended up everywhere. Well, we all kinda gave up on being neat after Guy dropped the bottle of Fanta in the bowl of red cabbage and we all got splattered with it. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of vodka involved, which may or may not have been related. All in all a good time, and a very nice Shabbat dinner.
The season has picked up, and last night we had five cabins full of people, so this meant a lot of breakfast this morning. I felt like I was slicing cheeses for hours. Afterward we cleared and re-linened all the cabins since Kifa wasn't feeling well, and then it was time for the birthday celebration.
Oh yes, that's right. Ziv is four today. It was a spectacle.
No, actually it was really fun. I've never seen this kid smile so much. Some of the family's friends came over and the fun part was that everybody got to help her open presents. It was nuts. Basically Lilach gets a ton of inexpensive gifts so that there's a lot to open, and once it starts its like a barrage of small children and paper. I even got to assist. Got some great pictures too.
Hard to believe that tomorrow is my last day in Nimrod. Where has the time gone?
The tour didn't start til 11, so I spent a couple hours wandering around outside. Around 930 I'm walking along outside then southern wall when I suddenly hear "JANE?!!" and see Marissa Orenstein running at me! Then Mike Gohari shows up, and is all like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??".....yeah, of all the people to run into in Jerusalem, I ran into the UM Birthright group. Again, my world is shrinking, but finding people you know on the other side of the world is pretty entertaining.
I then walked through this open air mall to kill some time, and had the best fresh squeezed orange juice I've ever had. It came out of this totally sick juicer machine that I really want to find on ebay and get Scott for his birthday.
The tour = TOTALLY WORTH IT. I learned a ridiculous amount, and got so much more out of everything than I would have had I gone alone.
First stop: Church of the Holy Sepluchre. Built over Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. Also contains the site where the supposed true cross was found by Helena, mother of Constantine, what is believed to be the site of Jesus' tomb, and where he was prepared for burial. Obviously, nothing looks anything like it did 2000 years ago and the church is very ornate in places, which kind of annoys me, but when you take a moment to remove yourself mentally and touch the actual stone of the hill where it happened and stand where Mary stood as she watched her son die....it's powerful. Regardless of what you believe about Jesus, it's incredible to be there and think how one man, here, in his death, changed the course of human history. And if you believe he was more than a man, well, then its another thing entirely. I won't go into details, but.....it's moving.
[**Interesting things I never knew: (1) According to oral tradition, Golgotha (the Place of the Skull) was called so because it was believed that the skeleton of Adam lay deep below it. When Jesus died, and the earth cracked below him, his blood was thus said to drip down to cleanse the original sin of mankind. (2) Kalif Omar, the second (I believe) leader of Islam after Mohammed, toured the church at one point and while he was doing so the time came to pray. Instead of stopping exactly where he was to pray, which he always did, he walked outside. When his followers asked him why he did this, he said he knew that if he had prayed inside the church, within twenty years they would have torn it down and built a mosque in its place. He recognized how important the site was to Christians and didn't want this to happen, so he left it before praying...and now there is a mosque built in honor of him across from the church.]
We then walked the Via Dolorosa, the route of the crucifxion, in reverse (which was kind of weird, but oh well). Along the way the stations of the cross are marked (Jesus saying goodbye to Mary, Simon being given the cross to carry, etc), which although the historical accuracy probably isn't exactly very good, is pretty cool. Again, this is now in the middle of the market so you have to mentally remove yourself from what's going on around you.
We ate lunch as a tour group at this falafel bar place, which was very tasty and half the price of the lunch I ate in Ein Gedi. Also fun to sit down and actually talk to the people I was spending the day with.
Next was HaKotel, the Wailing Wall. Really impactful; security was ridiculous but I guess you can't blame them. Then we got in line to go on the Temple Mount. Apparently they let non-Muslims up at 730 am and 130pm, and its only a certain number so you have to line up early (again - things I would not have known had I gone by myself). This is the part where all the people who didn't dress appropriately end up wearing random articles of clothing provided by the tour guide to cover up. Very entertaining. Example: two guys about my age wearing hot pink wrap skirts. Guess ya shoulda worn longer shorts, boys. Luckily I came prepared. It was interesting to learn about the history of the Temple Mount, the building and destruction of the temples, and how the Dome of the Rock came to be. We weren't allowed in the Dome of the Rock; since Ariel Sharon's 2000 speech in front of it (which sparked the Second Intifada, if you don't know your Israel history then Google it) non-Muslims haven't been allowed in.
[**Interesting tidbit: Most orthodox Jews do not go on the Temple Mount, ever. Because the temple no longer stands, there is no way to know where the "holiest of holy" is/was and by not going up there, they avoid walking somewhere that is beyond their level of holiness, so to speak.]
We also went to the room of the Last Supper (again, questionable accuracy but oh well), King David's tomb (not questionable accuracy, cause his body's chillin there), and Dormition Abbey, where Mary died. And a lot of other places a long the way, but I can't remember all of them and I learned more than I could possibly take in. The point our tour guide (who was totally nuts, by the way) kept making at each site was how closely related the three faiths were in their holy sites (not just like, all these things happened on the same place, but things that were similar) and that what causes the conflicts isn't that they are so different, but that they are so alike. All in all, very, very good tour and I highly recommend it.
Thoughts:
-Given the climate of today, and for that matter that of millenia past, this city is important no matter what you believe. Of all the places in this world you can travel, this is one place everyone should see before they die.
-If you are or have ever been a follower of Christ, whether you just found your faith or you're losing your religion, you need to go to Jerusalem. There is so much to be gained, to be found within yourself by walking where he walked and seeing where he lived and died. Incredible. Seriously.
On my last evening in the city Aliza showed back up and invited me out with some of her newfound friends at Hebrew U. It was nice to meet some new people and go out for a change, but two things: (1) I sat next to three of the biggest, most bigoted jerks I have ever heard speak in my life. Seriously, if you listened to them talk too long you would give up all hope in humanity/the world ever becoming a better place. (2) Beer and Ethiopian food is a terrible taste combination. Avoid it at all costs.
Got up early yesterday morning and took the bus back to meet Alla and Tomer at Makhanayim. Pretty pleasant ride, and I actually managed to get the bus to stop at the right stop. The ride from that point through the mountains was, however, again spent trying not to throw up. (Sidenote: I just now realized the bottle of phenagrin I have with me was prescribed to SCOTT PRYJMAK in JANUARY 2007. Oops. No wonder it hasn't been working. Jane Fail.)
Last night Kifa (the housekeeper) and her family came over and we had a traditional Druze bbq. Wow, such good food. We cooked out by the pool and then all of us sat on blankets and ate on the deck, and it was really fun. It was a good thing we put down plastic over the blankets, tho, because food ended up everywhere. Well, we all kinda gave up on being neat after Guy dropped the bottle of Fanta in the bowl of red cabbage and we all got splattered with it. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of vodka involved, which may or may not have been related. All in all a good time, and a very nice Shabbat dinner.
The season has picked up, and last night we had five cabins full of people, so this meant a lot of breakfast this morning. I felt like I was slicing cheeses for hours. Afterward we cleared and re-linened all the cabins since Kifa wasn't feeling well, and then it was time for the birthday celebration.
Oh yes, that's right. Ziv is four today. It was a spectacle.
No, actually it was really fun. I've never seen this kid smile so much. Some of the family's friends came over and the fun part was that everybody got to help her open presents. It was nuts. Basically Lilach gets a ton of inexpensive gifts so that there's a lot to open, and once it starts its like a barrage of small children and paper. I even got to assist. Got some great pictures too.
Hard to believe that tomorrow is my last day in Nimrod. Where has the time gone?
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
adventures with Egged
So yesterday morning Aliza and I got up and rode in with Tomer and Alla to Akko to take the train to Jerusalem (yeh-ROO-suh-LIE-em, if anyone's wondering how to really pronounce the name of the Holy City). Suffice it to say I have been really looking forward to this trip, and have purposefully been saving it for the end of my time here. Anyway, per usual, Golan Heights driving circa 7am is no good for Jane's stomach. However, I actually made it all the way to the train station before throwing up in the flower bed. Really, this blog should would be more appropriately titled "Places Jane Barfs in Israel". At least I got the front seat tho. Poor Aliza ended up stuck in the back between the two autistic boys.
The train ride was nice, especially the part between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem which goes through the mountains. It reminded a good bit of riding the Alaska Railroad, except with less green and fewer moose. The part that was a pain, tho, was the bus from the train to the hostel. I had looked it up before, and saw that I needed to take bus 6. So I get off the train, and find bus 6. I ask the driver if it goes to zion square and he's like, no, you need to take bus 18. So I wait for bus 18, it finally comes, and I'm like, "Kifar Zion?" No, take bus 24. Bus 24 comes, "Kifar Zion?", no, you need to take BUS 6. I'm like, imma beat somebody up if the next damn bus doesn't take me to Kifar Zion. Luckily, he said it would. So I get on the bus.
Now usually bus drivers here, if they know you don't know where you're going, are good enough to tell you where to get off. As we were driving along, I started to get the feeling this wasn't going to happen. I knew we had already turned on to Jaffa (Yafo) street, which was where the hostel was, so I was getting anxious. Also, the bus was getting really crowded. So I decided I was going to get off at the next stop, figure out where I was, and walk the rest of the way. I get ready to jump off the bus. The door opens, and this mob of people come rushing on and I get trampled. (Sidenote: Oh my god, the orthodox are pushy. Who knew?) Finally I manage to get off the bus, and start walking down the street. Unfortunately I was going in the wrong direction, and didn't realize this for about 10 minutes. Then I got turned around, and finally found the hostel. Its pretty nice, except for the fact that the dorm room is really cramped. There are eight girls and their stuff sharing a room slightly smaller than the freshman dorms at UM, if you can imagine. Also, there is this really crazy African woman in the room who thinks she is like, dorm police, and its starting to get annoying.
After getting settled, I wandered out to the market, which was nuts. People shouting at each other and you and trying to sell you spices by telling you you look like J.Lo...its crazy. I bought some fruit and bread and cheese for lunch, then headed back to the hostel to eat. Then I took an amazing nap, which was very needed, while I waited for Aliza (she had stopped in Bet Shemesh to drop her stuff off at her cousin's). Once she got there we went to find dinner, and ended up meeting several people at the hostel. One was a Gator, who I did my best to be nice to when she started talking about Tim Tebow.......I may or may not have been successful at that. Eventually Aliza went out with some of the girls we met, and I stayed in and went to sleep.
This morning we miraculously managed to make our 9am bus to Ein Gedi, despite Aliza coming in at 430am. We went to the beach first when we got there, and I got to float!!!! OMG, the Dead Sea is flippin sweet. First off, in normal water, I don't float. I sink. This place, you can't even swim because you can't keep your feet in the water. It's awesome. The downside was the water was really warm, and the salt kinda burns a little bit, and you come out feeling disgusting....but it was worth it. Afterward we showered and ate a horrendously overpriced lunch at this restaurant on the beach (I'm pretty sure we were just paying for the AC), then napped under a palm tree. A bit later we got up and walked down to the Ein Gedi Nature Preserve to hike. This has possibly been my favorite part of my travels so far. The hike we did was pretty short, but up along all these waterfalls and pools so you could intersperse your hiking with swimming, which we did. It was like a more desert-like, Israeli version of Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee. Afterward we got slushies, which were not as good as Tiberias slushies but still good, and headed to catch the bus back to Jerusalem.
One thing about transportation in Israel: For all the effort they put into checking to make sure you don't have a bomb or a weapon with you, they really don't give a crap about safety on the bus itself. Case in point: Bus pulls up to Ein Gedi. There are approximately 8 people waiting to board. Bus driver lets all on. There are NO available seats on the bus, and already 3 people sitting in the aisle. 8 boarding people proceed to sit/stand in the aisle for the entirety of the 1 1/2 hour bus ride. Yes, this was an adventure. Especially since the ride around the Dead Sea is essentially a roller coaster. Anyway, we finally made it back to Jerusalem, took showers, and grabbed dinner on Ben Yehuda, which is sort of the Jerusalem version of Lincoln Road.
Tomorrow I'm taking the Holy City tour, which I'm really excited for. I haven't been on an organized tour at all this trip, but I figure this one would be worth the 70 shekels. We'll see what happens.....
The train ride was nice, especially the part between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem which goes through the mountains. It reminded a good bit of riding the Alaska Railroad, except with less green and fewer moose. The part that was a pain, tho, was the bus from the train to the hostel. I had looked it up before, and saw that I needed to take bus 6. So I get off the train, and find bus 6. I ask the driver if it goes to zion square and he's like, no, you need to take bus 18. So I wait for bus 18, it finally comes, and I'm like, "Kifar Zion?" No, take bus 24. Bus 24 comes, "Kifar Zion?", no, you need to take BUS 6. I'm like, imma beat somebody up if the next damn bus doesn't take me to Kifar Zion. Luckily, he said it would. So I get on the bus.
Now usually bus drivers here, if they know you don't know where you're going, are good enough to tell you where to get off. As we were driving along, I started to get the feeling this wasn't going to happen. I knew we had already turned on to Jaffa (Yafo) street, which was where the hostel was, so I was getting anxious. Also, the bus was getting really crowded. So I decided I was going to get off at the next stop, figure out where I was, and walk the rest of the way. I get ready to jump off the bus. The door opens, and this mob of people come rushing on and I get trampled. (Sidenote: Oh my god, the orthodox are pushy. Who knew?) Finally I manage to get off the bus, and start walking down the street. Unfortunately I was going in the wrong direction, and didn't realize this for about 10 minutes. Then I got turned around, and finally found the hostel. Its pretty nice, except for the fact that the dorm room is really cramped. There are eight girls and their stuff sharing a room slightly smaller than the freshman dorms at UM, if you can imagine. Also, there is this really crazy African woman in the room who thinks she is like, dorm police, and its starting to get annoying.
After getting settled, I wandered out to the market, which was nuts. People shouting at each other and you and trying to sell you spices by telling you you look like J.Lo...its crazy. I bought some fruit and bread and cheese for lunch, then headed back to the hostel to eat. Then I took an amazing nap, which was very needed, while I waited for Aliza (she had stopped in Bet Shemesh to drop her stuff off at her cousin's). Once she got there we went to find dinner, and ended up meeting several people at the hostel. One was a Gator, who I did my best to be nice to when she started talking about Tim Tebow.......I may or may not have been successful at that. Eventually Aliza went out with some of the girls we met, and I stayed in and went to sleep.
This morning we miraculously managed to make our 9am bus to Ein Gedi, despite Aliza coming in at 430am. We went to the beach first when we got there, and I got to float!!!! OMG, the Dead Sea is flippin sweet. First off, in normal water, I don't float. I sink. This place, you can't even swim because you can't keep your feet in the water. It's awesome. The downside was the water was really warm, and the salt kinda burns a little bit, and you come out feeling disgusting....but it was worth it. Afterward we showered and ate a horrendously overpriced lunch at this restaurant on the beach (I'm pretty sure we were just paying for the AC), then napped under a palm tree. A bit later we got up and walked down to the Ein Gedi Nature Preserve to hike. This has possibly been my favorite part of my travels so far. The hike we did was pretty short, but up along all these waterfalls and pools so you could intersperse your hiking with swimming, which we did. It was like a more desert-like, Israeli version of Fall Creek Falls in Tennessee. Afterward we got slushies, which were not as good as Tiberias slushies but still good, and headed to catch the bus back to Jerusalem.
One thing about transportation in Israel: For all the effort they put into checking to make sure you don't have a bomb or a weapon with you, they really don't give a crap about safety on the bus itself. Case in point: Bus pulls up to Ein Gedi. There are approximately 8 people waiting to board. Bus driver lets all on. There are NO available seats on the bus, and already 3 people sitting in the aisle. 8 boarding people proceed to sit/stand in the aisle for the entirety of the 1 1/2 hour bus ride. Yes, this was an adventure. Especially since the ride around the Dead Sea is essentially a roller coaster. Anyway, we finally made it back to Jerusalem, took showers, and grabbed dinner on Ben Yehuda, which is sort of the Jerusalem version of Lincoln Road.
Tomorrow I'm taking the Holy City tour, which I'm really excited for. I haven't been on an organized tour at all this trip, but I figure this one would be worth the 70 shekels. We'll see what happens.....
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
ARGH!
Ok, I'm pissed.
I just had this beautiful blog entry I'd been working on and Google freaking deleted it. Looks like you're just getting highlights, cause I need to catch up on life since the hike.
Wednesday - New volunteer. Stephen. He's 60 years old and nice but pretty annoying. He's very well traveled and wants you to know all the negative things about the world. Except for Hungary. He's Hungarian and he loves Hungary. He never stops talking about it and sometimes I want to punch him in the face. He's not staying in our cabin, which is good since he is anal about cleanliness and we basically live in filth.
Thursday - Guri (the dog) eats a kitten. Ok, he didn't exactly eat it. He broke its back. It was really traumatizing and our neighbor Avi had to come over and drown it.
Friday - I cleaned the travelers lounge of all its cobwebs and dog hair, and organized the brochures. Ziv helped and I was actually able to communicate with her, which was cool. The cleanliness lasted about an afternoon, until Guri moved back in and now there is dog hair everywhere again. Sigh.
Saturday - Strawberry gutters fall down. We spend a lot of time putting them back up so that we can plant on Sunday.
Sunday - Everybody goes to plant the 4000 strawberries at 6 am. Everyone except me. I have a short stomach virus and stay upstairs puking my guts out all morning. On the up side I got to sleep in, on the down side......you get the picture.
Monday - Planting continues. I participate this time. I also do laundry for the first time since Haifa. Clean underwear is wonderful, and well worth the pain in the butt that doing laundry here is. I swear, with four kids and a lodge full of linens, its worse than trying to do laundry at school.
Now I am in Jerusalem til Friday, and its awesome. More on that to come soon.
I just had this beautiful blog entry I'd been working on and Google freaking deleted it. Looks like you're just getting highlights, cause I need to catch up on life since the hike.
Wednesday - New volunteer. Stephen. He's 60 years old and nice but pretty annoying. He's very well traveled and wants you to know all the negative things about the world. Except for Hungary. He's Hungarian and he loves Hungary. He never stops talking about it and sometimes I want to punch him in the face. He's not staying in our cabin, which is good since he is anal about cleanliness and we basically live in filth.
Thursday - Guri (the dog) eats a kitten. Ok, he didn't exactly eat it. He broke its back. It was really traumatizing and our neighbor Avi had to come over and drown it.
Friday - I cleaned the travelers lounge of all its cobwebs and dog hair, and organized the brochures. Ziv helped and I was actually able to communicate with her, which was cool. The cleanliness lasted about an afternoon, until Guri moved back in and now there is dog hair everywhere again. Sigh.
Saturday - Strawberry gutters fall down. We spend a lot of time putting them back up so that we can plant on Sunday.
Sunday - Everybody goes to plant the 4000 strawberries at 6 am. Everyone except me. I have a short stomach virus and stay upstairs puking my guts out all morning. On the up side I got to sleep in, on the down side......you get the picture.
Monday - Planting continues. I participate this time. I also do laundry for the first time since Haifa. Clean underwear is wonderful, and well worth the pain in the butt that doing laundry here is. I swear, with four kids and a lodge full of linens, its worse than trying to do laundry at school.
Now I am in Jerusalem til Friday, and its awesome. More on that to come soon.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
three days of fruit and pita
Time for some journey updates. This is going to be long. I'll start at the beginning.
Saturday night I took the bus to Nazareth. I managed to change buses alright, and get off the bus at the right stop (in general, I am now on better terms with Egged and their website), however, once I got to Nazareth I was completely lost. Googlemaps totally failed me on this one, and I literally ended up wandering around the square in front of the Church of the Annunciation for like 20 minutes while trying to get the hostel and/or Lilach on the phone to tell me where to go. Finally, the hostel answered and they sent one of the volunteers (this hostel is also a GoEco site) down to get me. Apparently the volunteers here do a lot of ferrying people to and from the center of town, and now I understand why - trying to find the Fauzi Azar Inn even in daylight is like trying to find the Island without the Lampost, and I was doing it in the dark. It is in the thick of the shuk (the market) down a tiny alley with a little door in the wall. No seriously, the door looked like it belonged in Wonderland. However, once I got there, it turned out to be one of the coolest hostels I have stayed in. It is actually a 200 year old Arab mansion, and the people there were incredibly nice. There was none of this paying for linens or internet crap, and there were even shampoo dispensers in the shower!! It was pretty awesome. Granted, I could have stayed with the Sisters of Nazareth for even cheaper (and that would have been fun, to say I slept in a convent), but for 75 shekels it was a still great deal so I can't complain.
In the morning I decided to see a little of the city before I took off on the trail. The funny and ironic thing about Nazareth is that 2000 years ago they tried to throw Jesus off a cliff and now there is practically a church on every corner. It's like the Bible Belt of Israel. So first I headed to the Basilica, which is supposedly built where Mary received the vision that she would give birth to Jesus. Its kind of a cool church, and around the outside they have mosaics from all over the world depicting her. I wandered inside, and while I was kneeling to pray this priest walks up to me and asks me which Miami I go to (I had on a UM shirt) --but side note here, people need to learn that while there are two Miami's, there is ONLY one U....which was clearly indicated on the shirt....anyway, he then invites me to join them for mass in the chapel in a few minutes. I'm thinking to myself, I am definitely not dressed for church, and I really should start hiking, but then I said what the hell, its Sunday and I'm in the Holy Land. Let's go. So I go to mass, and end up the only independent traveler in the church with what appears to be a big mother/daughter tour group. Things that happened during this mass that I have never seen in a mass before: (1) Evolution was mentioned, (2) Mary's womb was called a uterus, and (3) someone threw up the peace sign to me during the passing of the peace (this one made me chuckle). Anyway, afterward this motherly-looking woman behind me invites me to join them for their continuing tour, so I decided to delay my hike a little longer. First we went down into the grotto where Mary and Joseph's house was, and then to the synagogue which is supposedly built on the site where Jesus first preached. One of the girls who was about my age started asking me about which school I went to, and when I asked her the same question, she told me she was a "consecrated woman." Apparently this is what they are calling nuns these days - yeah, who knew. (Sidenote: For like, two days after this I kept thinking that was a really bizarre thing to call a nun until I realized I was confusing consecrated with consummated....big difference.) After the synagogue I was getting ready to peace out when the motherly woman asked me about my plans, if I was traveling alone, etc. She said she would worry about me since my mother wasn't here to, and asked me my name so that she could pray for me. I told her, and asked her hers. She said it was Mary Beth. I smiled. Tell me now that I'm really traveling alone.
After all of this I finally got on my way. The first part was semi miserable because I was just walking up flights and flights of stairs through the Old City, and really wishing Jesus could have picked a less hilly place to live. Once I got out of the city it was nicer, although some of the trail markers were tough to spot and I missed a couple of turns and had to double back. Hiked through a lot of farmland, and about midway through made it to Zippori National Park, which houses the ruins of one of the major administrative cities from Jesus' time. Ran into none other than the priest from the morning in the park, who recognized me (I guess not many people go to mass wearing a UM tshirt and a giant red backpack). Went through Mash'had, which is where Jonah (of whale fame) was born, and that night I arrived in Cana, which is where Jesus' first miracle (the turning water into wine) occurred. Here I ran into the same tour group again, which I had to laugh about since I'd been walking all day and they just were on a bus for maybe half an hour. Checked into the hostel, which was very nice, and then went out to find food (I had been traveling with water, a couple pitas, a few pears, and a banana). This is when the madness began.
First of all, everybody here is wayyyyyy into the Mundial (the World Cup, for you non soccer fans). Israel of course has no team, and there does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to the way these people decide who they are supporting. Germany is very, very popular in Cana and I just happened to be there on the night they played (and beat) England. Here is the picture: lots of people, in their cars, flying giant German flags out the windows, constantly honking, driving in circles around the town. It was insane. People were yelling and honking and honking and yelling in the streets for over an hour. After a couple failed attempts at finding something worth buying in a market that was open, I ended up at a little pita shop ordering some beef kabob. The man at the pita shop was one of my favorite people on this trip, sadly I do not know his name, but he was a very round, very bald, very happy Israeli man. He was very happy to talk to me and told me all about how he loved the Mundial, and how he didn't normally open on Sundays because he was a Christian, it was only because of the Mundial, and how he would put his tv outside his shop so people could come and watch the games. Anyway, as he was grilling my kabob we were watching the tv, and the music video for Shakira's new song (the one for the World Cup, where she does the african dancing) comes on. Round, bald, Israeli pita man is like "It's Shakira! You like Shakira? I love Shakira!" and then proceeds to start imitating her african dancing while flipping the kabob on the grill. I about died, it was priceless. Afterward he invited me to come back and watch the Mexico-Argentina game, but I went to the hostel and passed out. Thanks, pita man, for your hospitality, entertainment, and a great beef kabob. I will never be able to look at Shakira the same way again.
After a good nights rest I got on my way around 8:30 am the next morning. On the way out of town I stopped at the market and picked up more pita and a couple of apples. In retrospect, I really should have gotten more food, but that's beside the point. Day two is supposed to take you to Kibbutz Lavi, about a 15 km hike. There isn't much along the way, except a lot of farmland and the Roman Road, which I apparently skipped due to a missing trail marker. There is also basically nowhere to refill water, which is not indicated on the map. About 3/4 of the way in I ran out, and after starting to get very dehydrated, ended up stealing some from a jug I found sitting in an orchard. It was very hot and very stale, but it was water. Then I got to Kibbutz Lavi, and decided (for better or for worse) not to stop. There were two reasons for this: (a) It was only 2:30pm, and (b) the only place to stay there is a hotel with rooms for 400 shekels and up - a lil bit out of my price range. Looking at my map, I knew there was basically nothing between Lavi and Moshav Arbel, which was another 16 km away and supposed to be the stopping point after Day 3. I made the (somewhat terrible) decision to go for it. I figured if worse came to worse, I had a pillow and blanket and could sleep on the trail, and according to the map there were a couple of shortcuts I could take. So I kept going. Along the way there were many, many times I considered stopping to make camp but for some reason, call it blind determination maybe, I just kept walking. Water also kept appearing out of nowhere, which was awesome since this was the longest segment without a place to refill (literally, a guy passed me in a truck and gave me a liter and a half of cold water, god bless him). Anyway, I get to the point where I know I'm close to Arbel and its starting to get dark, so I call to the hostel to make sure they have a bed available. The woman there says that she does, but that I should hurry since its getting dark and that she'll pick me up on the road if I call once I make it there. This is at 8:15 pm. I started to move faster and took out my flashlight, since it was getting harder to see the trail markers, and then it got dark real fast. Also, Arbel is on a hill. The trail leading up to it is in the valley below. Basically, the last 30 minutes of Day Two ended up being me pretty much sprinting blindly uphill in the dark. You don't have to tell me, I know it wasn't safe, I know it was stupid, so trust me this isn't something I plan on repeating. I felt like I was doing some sort of crazy Iron Man Hike or some ridiculous crap like that. Suddenly I hear this man shouting at me in Hebrew asking me who I am, but I can't see where he is. I'm exhausted, in pain, hungry, and desperate and I'm freaking out about this other person who's out there, so I can't even begin to put together a sentence that isn't in English. I'm just shouting back that I can't speak Hebrew and I need to find Arbel and a hostel, and we're basically yelling back and forth at each other in different languages as we're running at each other. I was at my wits end at this point, and then suddenly.......there's a street light. I see the man, and I ask him (in Hebrew this time) if he knows where Arbel is. He's like.....this is Arbel. I almost fainted. I called the hostel woman, whose name was Sarah, and she drove out and picked me up. After chastising me for hiking so late, she showed me my room and I basically collapsed. I stopped to look at myself and I was sunburned, caked in mud from my shins down, and my feet were bleeding. I took a shower and limped to bed, where I stayed for 11 hours.
The next morning I could barely walk when I got up (I guess that's what I get for hiking 30+ km in one day), but somehow I managed to get myself out the door and on my way. The minute I stepped outside, I knew it was going to be bad. It was hot. Yeah, I know this is Israel, it's supposed to be hot in the summer, but the first couple days on the trail were actually pretty nice. This one was not. Anyway, I only got 20 minutes in before I had to stop and drink, and that's pretty much how the rest of the day went. Day 4 (or Day 3 in my case) is supposed to be about 17 km. It takes you over the cliffs of Arbel National Park, then through the caves of the Maccabbean revolt, Migdal (the hometown of Mary Magdalene), Tabgha (the site of the feeding of the 5000), and to Capernaum and the Mount of the Beatitudes. While in the park I happened upon a tour group and ended up following them for a bit, since I was a little confused about which way the trail was going. Although they were nice to let me join them, the tour guide was rather nasty about me hiking alone and I kinda just wanted to tell him to shove off. Anyway, the funny part about this is that this segment is actually the most difficult part of the Jesus Trail (you literally climb down a cliff holding on to cables and handholds that are cemented into the rock), yet this was what the tour group of middle aged, not particularly outdoorsy Jewish men and women decided to tackle. Being the first one down I got to watch them attempt this feat, and got a pretty good chuckle out of some of them and their reactions. After making my way down the rest of the mountain I stopped and rested with them for a while, and then continued on my way.
This was the point where I started coming to the realization that I was not going to hike the entire trail. I had essentially no food, very little water, basically no cash (since Sarah at the hostel said that she could accept credit cards then proceeded to demand I pay her my last 100 shekel note instead since it was "only 100 shekels!"), it was approximately 95 degrees, and my body was still exhausted from the day before. I was approaching a place where the trail intersected with a main road, so I decided I would either have to catch a bus to a hostel in Tabgha and walk to Capernaum or bus to Tiberias for the night and then take the bus back to Capernaum in the morning. Because of the cash situation and the fact that the nearest ATM was in Tiberias, I decided on the latter. This was probably the best decision I made all week. I got to the hostel in Tiberias, and although they didn't accept credit cards either, they were super nice and told me to rest and just pay when I had a chance to get cash. I was put in a room with a nice 50 year old man named Al, whose response to getting laid off after 23 years was to rent out his house and travel the world for six months [There's an idea, Dad! :)], and a guy my age named Jack who (no joke) lives in Coral Gables, rides his bike to Mark Light Stadium, likes to do yoga at Green Monkey in Sunset, and goes to UCF. (Sidenote: Why is it that when I travel my world seems to shrink?) I rested for a bit then went to find an ATM and food. I found the ATM, but it was too hot to look for food.
There are great and terrible things about Tiberias. One of the great things is that you can find almost anything you want there, including a reasonably priced new digital camera and about twenty different flavors of slushies. I took advantage of both of these, particularly the slushies, which are awesome. They sort of help with the terrible part of Tiberias, which is that it being there is basically like being in Hell this time of year. In the 24 hour period I was there, I had three of them. Anyway, I returned to the hostel until the sun had gone down, and then went back out at dusk. Explored the promenade, ate some pizza, and took some pictures on my nice new Canon PowerShot A480, which I am NOT going to lose OR break anytime soon. (I should also mention that I unfortunately have no pictures from the trail on day 2 or 3 since the battery reader on Lilach's camera apparently decided to stop working. I have like, the worst luck ever.) Afterward it was back to the hostel, where we ended up moving rooms because Al discovered ours was infested with little mini roaches. Yuck. Took a shower, then met this kid named Alex from Austin and had an awesome conversation about life, God, traveling, and Donald Miller. Can I say again that I love the people I meet in hostels?
In the morning I got up and walked to the bus station to attempt to take the bus to Capernaum. This was highly unsuccessful and I ended up taking a taxi, which was unfortunate but I got him to give me a pretty good deal on it. Sadly, he got confused and dropped me off at the junction and not actually the town, so I had to walk for a ways. First I went to Tabgha, then I stopped at a park along the way and jumped in the Sea of Galilee (which really doesn't deserve the title of Sea, but whatever) in my underwear because I was really hot. Continued on to Capernaum and stayed there for a little while, saw the ruins of the synagogue and the church that was built over Peter's house, which looks like a UFO. I'm so serious, this has to be the weirdest looking church I have ever seen. After a very long walk back to the junction I got on the bus to Tiberias, where I promptly changed into my swimsuit, bought a slushie, and sat in the Sea of Galilee drinking it for the last hour and a half before my bus ride back. (Honestly, it was like one of those days in Miami in August where its so hot you can't even stand to be on the sand, you just have to be submerged in the water in order to survive.) Ate some falafel for the first time on my way out, since Jon has been demanding I do so, and headed for my temporary home.
All in all, I'm glad I decided to do the trail. I am also glad I decided to skip the last 8 km of it. I have a new appreciation for Jesus walking all that way, as well as the verse about not taking any food or water or extra clothing with you when you travel. If you are interested in doing it someday I would recommend that you take your time and not do it in summer, and if you're not feeling hardcore just hike maybe a day or two of it, because a lot of it is very similar. And maybe pack something to eat besides pita and fruit.
Saturday night I took the bus to Nazareth. I managed to change buses alright, and get off the bus at the right stop (in general, I am now on better terms with Egged and their website), however, once I got to Nazareth I was completely lost. Googlemaps totally failed me on this one, and I literally ended up wandering around the square in front of the Church of the Annunciation for like 20 minutes while trying to get the hostel and/or Lilach on the phone to tell me where to go. Finally, the hostel answered and they sent one of the volunteers (this hostel is also a GoEco site) down to get me. Apparently the volunteers here do a lot of ferrying people to and from the center of town, and now I understand why - trying to find the Fauzi Azar Inn even in daylight is like trying to find the Island without the Lampost, and I was doing it in the dark. It is in the thick of the shuk (the market) down a tiny alley with a little door in the wall. No seriously, the door looked like it belonged in Wonderland. However, once I got there, it turned out to be one of the coolest hostels I have stayed in. It is actually a 200 year old Arab mansion, and the people there were incredibly nice. There was none of this paying for linens or internet crap, and there were even shampoo dispensers in the shower!! It was pretty awesome. Granted, I could have stayed with the Sisters of Nazareth for even cheaper (and that would have been fun, to say I slept in a convent), but for 75 shekels it was a still great deal so I can't complain.
In the morning I decided to see a little of the city before I took off on the trail. The funny and ironic thing about Nazareth is that 2000 years ago they tried to throw Jesus off a cliff and now there is practically a church on every corner. It's like the Bible Belt of Israel. So first I headed to the Basilica, which is supposedly built where Mary received the vision that she would give birth to Jesus. Its kind of a cool church, and around the outside they have mosaics from all over the world depicting her. I wandered inside, and while I was kneeling to pray this priest walks up to me and asks me which Miami I go to (I had on a UM shirt) --but side note here, people need to learn that while there are two Miami's, there is ONLY one U....which was clearly indicated on the shirt....anyway, he then invites me to join them for mass in the chapel in a few minutes. I'm thinking to myself, I am definitely not dressed for church, and I really should start hiking, but then I said what the hell, its Sunday and I'm in the Holy Land. Let's go. So I go to mass, and end up the only independent traveler in the church with what appears to be a big mother/daughter tour group. Things that happened during this mass that I have never seen in a mass before: (1) Evolution was mentioned, (2) Mary's womb was called a uterus, and (3) someone threw up the peace sign to me during the passing of the peace (this one made me chuckle). Anyway, afterward this motherly-looking woman behind me invites me to join them for their continuing tour, so I decided to delay my hike a little longer. First we went down into the grotto where Mary and Joseph's house was, and then to the synagogue which is supposedly built on the site where Jesus first preached. One of the girls who was about my age started asking me about which school I went to, and when I asked her the same question, she told me she was a "consecrated woman." Apparently this is what they are calling nuns these days - yeah, who knew. (Sidenote: For like, two days after this I kept thinking that was a really bizarre thing to call a nun until I realized I was confusing consecrated with consummated....big difference.) After the synagogue I was getting ready to peace out when the motherly woman asked me about my plans, if I was traveling alone, etc. She said she would worry about me since my mother wasn't here to, and asked me my name so that she could pray for me. I told her, and asked her hers. She said it was Mary Beth. I smiled. Tell me now that I'm really traveling alone.
After all of this I finally got on my way. The first part was semi miserable because I was just walking up flights and flights of stairs through the Old City, and really wishing Jesus could have picked a less hilly place to live. Once I got out of the city it was nicer, although some of the trail markers were tough to spot and I missed a couple of turns and had to double back. Hiked through a lot of farmland, and about midway through made it to Zippori National Park, which houses the ruins of one of the major administrative cities from Jesus' time. Ran into none other than the priest from the morning in the park, who recognized me (I guess not many people go to mass wearing a UM tshirt and a giant red backpack). Went through Mash'had, which is where Jonah (of whale fame) was born, and that night I arrived in Cana, which is where Jesus' first miracle (the turning water into wine) occurred. Here I ran into the same tour group again, which I had to laugh about since I'd been walking all day and they just were on a bus for maybe half an hour. Checked into the hostel, which was very nice, and then went out to find food (I had been traveling with water, a couple pitas, a few pears, and a banana). This is when the madness began.
First of all, everybody here is wayyyyyy into the Mundial (the World Cup, for you non soccer fans). Israel of course has no team, and there does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to the way these people decide who they are supporting. Germany is very, very popular in Cana and I just happened to be there on the night they played (and beat) England. Here is the picture: lots of people, in their cars, flying giant German flags out the windows, constantly honking, driving in circles around the town. It was insane. People were yelling and honking and honking and yelling in the streets for over an hour. After a couple failed attempts at finding something worth buying in a market that was open, I ended up at a little pita shop ordering some beef kabob. The man at the pita shop was one of my favorite people on this trip, sadly I do not know his name, but he was a very round, very bald, very happy Israeli man. He was very happy to talk to me and told me all about how he loved the Mundial, and how he didn't normally open on Sundays because he was a Christian, it was only because of the Mundial, and how he would put his tv outside his shop so people could come and watch the games. Anyway, as he was grilling my kabob we were watching the tv, and the music video for Shakira's new song (the one for the World Cup, where she does the african dancing) comes on. Round, bald, Israeli pita man is like "It's Shakira! You like Shakira? I love Shakira!" and then proceeds to start imitating her african dancing while flipping the kabob on the grill. I about died, it was priceless. Afterward he invited me to come back and watch the Mexico-Argentina game, but I went to the hostel and passed out. Thanks, pita man, for your hospitality, entertainment, and a great beef kabob. I will never be able to look at Shakira the same way again.
After a good nights rest I got on my way around 8:30 am the next morning. On the way out of town I stopped at the market and picked up more pita and a couple of apples. In retrospect, I really should have gotten more food, but that's beside the point. Day two is supposed to take you to Kibbutz Lavi, about a 15 km hike. There isn't much along the way, except a lot of farmland and the Roman Road, which I apparently skipped due to a missing trail marker. There is also basically nowhere to refill water, which is not indicated on the map. About 3/4 of the way in I ran out, and after starting to get very dehydrated, ended up stealing some from a jug I found sitting in an orchard. It was very hot and very stale, but it was water. Then I got to Kibbutz Lavi, and decided (for better or for worse) not to stop. There were two reasons for this: (a) It was only 2:30pm, and (b) the only place to stay there is a hotel with rooms for 400 shekels and up - a lil bit out of my price range. Looking at my map, I knew there was basically nothing between Lavi and Moshav Arbel, which was another 16 km away and supposed to be the stopping point after Day 3. I made the (somewhat terrible) decision to go for it. I figured if worse came to worse, I had a pillow and blanket and could sleep on the trail, and according to the map there were a couple of shortcuts I could take. So I kept going. Along the way there were many, many times I considered stopping to make camp but for some reason, call it blind determination maybe, I just kept walking. Water also kept appearing out of nowhere, which was awesome since this was the longest segment without a place to refill (literally, a guy passed me in a truck and gave me a liter and a half of cold water, god bless him). Anyway, I get to the point where I know I'm close to Arbel and its starting to get dark, so I call to the hostel to make sure they have a bed available. The woman there says that she does, but that I should hurry since its getting dark and that she'll pick me up on the road if I call once I make it there. This is at 8:15 pm. I started to move faster and took out my flashlight, since it was getting harder to see the trail markers, and then it got dark real fast. Also, Arbel is on a hill. The trail leading up to it is in the valley below. Basically, the last 30 minutes of Day Two ended up being me pretty much sprinting blindly uphill in the dark. You don't have to tell me, I know it wasn't safe, I know it was stupid, so trust me this isn't something I plan on repeating. I felt like I was doing some sort of crazy Iron Man Hike or some ridiculous crap like that. Suddenly I hear this man shouting at me in Hebrew asking me who I am, but I can't see where he is. I'm exhausted, in pain, hungry, and desperate and I'm freaking out about this other person who's out there, so I can't even begin to put together a sentence that isn't in English. I'm just shouting back that I can't speak Hebrew and I need to find Arbel and a hostel, and we're basically yelling back and forth at each other in different languages as we're running at each other. I was at my wits end at this point, and then suddenly.......there's a street light. I see the man, and I ask him (in Hebrew this time) if he knows where Arbel is. He's like.....this is Arbel. I almost fainted. I called the hostel woman, whose name was Sarah, and she drove out and picked me up. After chastising me for hiking so late, she showed me my room and I basically collapsed. I stopped to look at myself and I was sunburned, caked in mud from my shins down, and my feet were bleeding. I took a shower and limped to bed, where I stayed for 11 hours.
The next morning I could barely walk when I got up (I guess that's what I get for hiking 30+ km in one day), but somehow I managed to get myself out the door and on my way. The minute I stepped outside, I knew it was going to be bad. It was hot. Yeah, I know this is Israel, it's supposed to be hot in the summer, but the first couple days on the trail were actually pretty nice. This one was not. Anyway, I only got 20 minutes in before I had to stop and drink, and that's pretty much how the rest of the day went. Day 4 (or Day 3 in my case) is supposed to be about 17 km. It takes you over the cliffs of Arbel National Park, then through the caves of the Maccabbean revolt, Migdal (the hometown of Mary Magdalene), Tabgha (the site of the feeding of the 5000), and to Capernaum and the Mount of the Beatitudes. While in the park I happened upon a tour group and ended up following them for a bit, since I was a little confused about which way the trail was going. Although they were nice to let me join them, the tour guide was rather nasty about me hiking alone and I kinda just wanted to tell him to shove off. Anyway, the funny part about this is that this segment is actually the most difficult part of the Jesus Trail (you literally climb down a cliff holding on to cables and handholds that are cemented into the rock), yet this was what the tour group of middle aged, not particularly outdoorsy Jewish men and women decided to tackle. Being the first one down I got to watch them attempt this feat, and got a pretty good chuckle out of some of them and their reactions. After making my way down the rest of the mountain I stopped and rested with them for a while, and then continued on my way.
This was the point where I started coming to the realization that I was not going to hike the entire trail. I had essentially no food, very little water, basically no cash (since Sarah at the hostel said that she could accept credit cards then proceeded to demand I pay her my last 100 shekel note instead since it was "only 100 shekels!"), it was approximately 95 degrees, and my body was still exhausted from the day before. I was approaching a place where the trail intersected with a main road, so I decided I would either have to catch a bus to a hostel in Tabgha and walk to Capernaum or bus to Tiberias for the night and then take the bus back to Capernaum in the morning. Because of the cash situation and the fact that the nearest ATM was in Tiberias, I decided on the latter. This was probably the best decision I made all week. I got to the hostel in Tiberias, and although they didn't accept credit cards either, they were super nice and told me to rest and just pay when I had a chance to get cash. I was put in a room with a nice 50 year old man named Al, whose response to getting laid off after 23 years was to rent out his house and travel the world for six months [There's an idea, Dad! :)], and a guy my age named Jack who (no joke) lives in Coral Gables, rides his bike to Mark Light Stadium, likes to do yoga at Green Monkey in Sunset, and goes to UCF. (Sidenote: Why is it that when I travel my world seems to shrink?) I rested for a bit then went to find an ATM and food. I found the ATM, but it was too hot to look for food.
There are great and terrible things about Tiberias. One of the great things is that you can find almost anything you want there, including a reasonably priced new digital camera and about twenty different flavors of slushies. I took advantage of both of these, particularly the slushies, which are awesome. They sort of help with the terrible part of Tiberias, which is that it being there is basically like being in Hell this time of year. In the 24 hour period I was there, I had three of them. Anyway, I returned to the hostel until the sun had gone down, and then went back out at dusk. Explored the promenade, ate some pizza, and took some pictures on my nice new Canon PowerShot A480, which I am NOT going to lose OR break anytime soon. (I should also mention that I unfortunately have no pictures from the trail on day 2 or 3 since the battery reader on Lilach's camera apparently decided to stop working. I have like, the worst luck ever.) Afterward it was back to the hostel, where we ended up moving rooms because Al discovered ours was infested with little mini roaches. Yuck. Took a shower, then met this kid named Alex from Austin and had an awesome conversation about life, God, traveling, and Donald Miller. Can I say again that I love the people I meet in hostels?
In the morning I got up and walked to the bus station to attempt to take the bus to Capernaum. This was highly unsuccessful and I ended up taking a taxi, which was unfortunate but I got him to give me a pretty good deal on it. Sadly, he got confused and dropped me off at the junction and not actually the town, so I had to walk for a ways. First I went to Tabgha, then I stopped at a park along the way and jumped in the Sea of Galilee (which really doesn't deserve the title of Sea, but whatever) in my underwear because I was really hot. Continued on to Capernaum and stayed there for a little while, saw the ruins of the synagogue and the church that was built over Peter's house, which looks like a UFO. I'm so serious, this has to be the weirdest looking church I have ever seen. After a very long walk back to the junction I got on the bus to Tiberias, where I promptly changed into my swimsuit, bought a slushie, and sat in the Sea of Galilee drinking it for the last hour and a half before my bus ride back. (Honestly, it was like one of those days in Miami in August where its so hot you can't even stand to be on the sand, you just have to be submerged in the water in order to survive.) Ate some falafel for the first time on my way out, since Jon has been demanding I do so, and headed for my temporary home.
All in all, I'm glad I decided to do the trail. I am also glad I decided to skip the last 8 km of it. I have a new appreciation for Jesus walking all that way, as well as the verse about not taking any food or water or extra clothing with you when you travel. If you are interested in doing it someday I would recommend that you take your time and not do it in summer, and if you're not feeling hardcore just hike maybe a day or two of it, because a lot of it is very similar. And maybe pack something to eat besides pita and fruit.
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