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.....