So, we got to Ein Gedi.....without any of Jeremy the GPS’s help; a good choice since most of the drive was again through the West Bank and he gives us the silent treatment when we do that anyway. Noah was particularly happy about Jeremy being shunned to the glove compartment as he has serious sibling rivalry with Jeremy (Noah has quite the navigational skills, as many of you know).
In Ein Gedi we stayed at the Kibbutz/spa/resort with breakfasts and dinners included. Breakfasts and dinners were in fact plentiful, fresh and quite good....so much so that we helped ourselves to “extra” breakfasts, that we stored in our knapsack until lunch every day. Note to future travelers: remember not to squish hard boiled eggs, yogurts, and buns in knapsacks already containing large bottles of water, unless using separate containers. We’ll leave the appearance of our first lunch to your imaginations - serves us right for yet again trying to beat the system!
For our first full day in Ein Gedi we went on a water hike to a hidden water fall (not the usual touristy 30 minute hike). In Israel it is popular to hike in rivers...yes, in the rivers not beside them. We thought this very strange when we heard about it in Canada, but having done it, it makes perfect sense. The heat is oppressive, but the mountain water is cool and refreshing, and we frequently immersed ourselves, in our clothes, and continued hiking. At the outset of the hike, Aaron noted some black creatures that we now believe are water slugs, but he worried that they were leaches, and was reluctant to step on the water, preferring to hop from one stone to the next. Eventually he was reassured and joined the rest of us as we slogged through the water. When we got to the hidden water fall we went for a lovely swim, but then quickly continued up another half hour to the fresh water pools that feed the river. The water comes down from the hills of Jerusalem, leaching through the rock over a period of days to years, and first emerges at these pools, cool, filtered and clean enough to drink. On the way up, we heard a cute little boy yelling out to the echoes in the hills. We called back to him a couple of times. Within moments of our arrival at the top, a person who we initially thought was a 12 year-old boy, but turned out to be a 20-something female park ranger, accosted us angrily saying, “Didn’t you hear me yelling at you earlier?!” Once again, we were in trouble with the Israeli authorities- this time for not responding appropriately to a park ranger; it turns out that the yelling child we'd hear earlier, was no child, but said angry park ranger. Apparently we were not supposed to have gone up to the very top after 2:00 pm. We consequently received a ranger escort back down the mountain. So we sang religious songs in 3 part harmony in the hopes of either entertaining her, or annoying her. We wondered if she was particularly angered by us because she doesn’t like kids, so Aaron renamed her “The Kid-Stop-o”. After the hike we went for our first dip in the Dead Sea and all enjoyed the floating, but not the stinging in various body parts.
The next morning we awoke at 3:45 am!! You’d think this would be an annoyance, but not for us; we did it on purpose. We got in the car and started driving further south.....to....Massada for sunrise. The hike is a steep 45 minutes, and you definitely need a flash light as the Snake Path is not lit up and it was pitch dark at the beginning. Even in the dark it was still quite hot, but manageable. When we got to the top, we sat on an ancient wall overlooking the Dead Sea. We watched the sun come up over the mountains of Jordan. It was beautiful. We then walked around the grounds of Massada, discussing the story of the 967 people who died there in order to be free and not to become Roman slaves. We took the cable car down; a mere three minute ride.
Back at the kibbutz, we had breakfast (and fed the knapsack more carefully its lunch), and then went off to bed for two hours. In the late afternoon, we headed to the spa of Ein Gedi, where we swam in the pool, smeared ourselves with mud and took typical tourist pictures of ourselves. The next day we went the spa once more so that we could soak in the Dead Sea again, and then we made our way to Mitzpe Ramon.
Mitzpe Ramon is a small desert town on the ridge of the world’s largest “erosion crater”. We stayed at a place in the desert called “Succah BaMidbar” which means, Huts in the Desert. This was the most amazing place we’ve stayed at so far. It is way outside the town, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, in the Negev Desert. It consists of several straw huts each quite isolated from the others. A gong is rung twice a-day, when it’s time to eat amazing, plentiful vegetarian meals in the main succah. The first morning we went on a hike to the crater and saw its immenseness. It reminded some of us of the Grand Canyon - vast, inspiring, and untouched. In the afternoon we met up with a guide, Oded, who took us off-road cycling along the ridge of the Canyon, as well as into the desert. He was the best guide we’ve had to date - knowledgeable, fun, and totally rugged. He described the geology of the place, pulled up a plant whose leaves have oils and salt and with a few drops of water can be lathered into a kind of soap, and found some camel poop that he opened up and dissected; bringing it up to his nose and taking a long sniff, claiming it smelled fine (camels are herbivores).
In the village of Mitzpe Ramon, we had a few adventures. It is a weird combo of artist colony and army base. So, in the main square we saw oodles of Israeli soldiers, young men and women, stocking up on junk food, buying pizza and falafel, and generally hanging out like the normal teenagers that most of them are. Around the corner from their is an artists’ cooperative and a true french chocoatier, where we nibbled on home made truffles and sipped on chocolat chaud. While driving through the town, we found ourselves being chased down by Israeli authorities yet again. This time the police pulled us over and we had no idea why. Turns out Rob ran a stop sign and made an illegal left turn all in one combo move. The police officer seemed quite irritated as Rob tried to explain that we were looking for a restaurant and got confused by traffic. The officer wasn’t impressed and said, with a thick Israeli accent, “If you were an Israeli citizen, I would take away your license and take away your car and make you take the bus. But since you are a tourist I will just give you a warning. Now, for restaurant recommendations......” - and he proceeded to tell us all the local restaurant options we could choose from. This is now our prime example of the Sabra (Israeli native); prickly on the outside, but sweet on the inside.
The next day we drove to Eilat, which is where we are now, reeling with culture shock as we have gone from a silent desert retreat to a booming beach resort town.
Until the next time....RANAD!
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