February 14th – Jerusalem to Jordan...almost

We slept until we awoke which was late morning. Though we had heard during our whole trip experience that nothing was open in Jerusalem on Saturday, it turned out, you just had to leave the Jewish areas(of which there are many) so we headed towards the Damascus gate through the Muslim Quarter where it was hustle and bustle like any other day. As we headed out the gate into the old East Jerusalem it was like entering a new country. We ate just outside the gates, delicious food at a fraction of the price within the old city walls and then headed to see if the Rockefeller Antiquities Museum was open. It was actually open and because it would be closing soon, the entrance was free so my group and some stragglers we picked up had a look see. It wasn't mind blowing, but it was nice. We spent the rest of the afternoon with the 2 girls we met along the way buying snacks and enjoying strong Arabic style Turkish coffee with cardamom.

We wanted to head towards Jordan by way of the Jordan River Crossing in the north. The trouble was that the buses don't start running until sundown. We left the hostel in time to arrive at the bus station for the 7PM bus to Beit Shean on the border. It was about a 2 hour drive and we heard conflicting reports about what time the border was to close. We wanted to try, however, because we had no place to sleep. The bus dropped us off at a roadside cafe in the clearly one stop light town. I did my thing and talked to some people and was told the border was open until 10. Just in time we thought, so another person called us a taxi and we headed for the crossing with little idea what we were doing or where we'd go when we crossed.

When we arrived the border was dark and quiet, but the gate was open so we strolled in. We were quickly stopped by David in Security, who told us that the border was only open until 10 during the week and we could not cross. We told him we had no way to get back and had no where to sleep. He asked his manager to call us a cab to take us back to the one hotel in the town. David and his manager waved goodbye as they left work and told us that the cab would be there shortly. We cautiously chatted with the soldiers in the humvee guarding the border in broken English and waited. After 15 mins or so, the manager came back in his car, he told us that the taxi had been turned around by the police due to the late hour and that he couldn't bear the thought of us sleeping in the cold and had come back for us even though taking passengers from the border was against protocol. He took us for free to the town (where he did not live) and apologized profusely for not being able to do more! He even gave us his phone number and told us that if we were unable to get a room, he would come back and bring us to his kibbutz with him. When we got to the hotel, the night manager was getting in his car to leave, he saw us and came back in, but had the timing not been perfect we would have had to take the good samaritan up on his offer. Instead just minutes later we were in a nice room with hot showers and got a good nights rest, as I kept telling my sister(who handled the whole deal in stride)...it always works out.

Feb 12th and 13th – The New Adventure Begins

We awoke just hours after we slept to bid farewell to our new friends. We weren't functioning all that well, but we managed out hugs goodbye and the bus pulled out for the airport leaving behind all of us who would remain longer. Luckily for those of us who stayed, the hotel allowed us to return to the rooms to sleep until 11.

At 11, I headed off with my sister and 2 other guys from the trip to catch a breakfast and then head to Jerusalem. It was a good feeling to be out on my own again, back wandering the streets and negotiating public transport in a foreign environment. After investigating a few things on the internet while eating a cafe we headed by bus, luggage in tow, to the main bus station and to Jerusalem. It was smooth sailing except that the others with me were weighed down by absurdly large bags. I had also made us a reservation to sleep at a hostel i had been recommended to that was run by Palestinians in between the Armenian, Jewish and Christian quarters in the old city. A friend of a friend met us at the bus station and helped us navigate to the old city gates. Once we got there, however, we had some problems finding the place. Eventually, I would call them and one of the employees would come and fetch us. However, the interesting part was what i ran into on the way while in the Jewish quarter, local people were baffled that we would stay outside of the Jewish quarter and were unable to help us. This is mind blowing because you can walk from one end of the old city to the other in just under 10 mins, it confused me how you could possibly be so blind to the goings on around you.

Once we arrived and got settled we found the place was super cool, cave-like architecture that went almost straight vertical and the view from the roof-top terrace was the best id seen in the city. We arrived just before sunset and headed to the roof to smoke some nargila. The colors of the sunsetting sky shone over the places of worship that dotted the skyline, and you could hear the beautiful bellow of the muslim call to worship followed by the ringing of church bells.
After relaxing a bit we headed off with the friend of a friend who met us at the bus station to eat his favorite falafel. They were delicious, but everyone was looking tired after dinner so we headed back to the hostel to allow those who wanted a nap, i took the opportunity to spend a couple of hours on the internet. By the time everyone was waking, however, i was about ready to sleep for good so we decided to just take it easy on the roof until the draw of sleep became to much to resist.

The next morning we awoke determined to see the parts of the city we had missed out on during our organized trip. The first place we hit was the market, which had been decidedly out of the green zone during the trip, the smell of cooking meat and the wafting of fresh spice stands danced in the air. We did some minor shopping before heading back to the western wall to witness a friends bar mitzvah and attempt climb the temple mount and go in the western wall tunnels, both of which we failed to accomplish because they were closed.

We decided to head towards the Christian quarter to check out the church of the holy sepulcher. Along the way we also managed to negotiate a pretty good deal on a backpack for my sister which made travel the rest of the trip much easier. The church was beautiful, a stark contrast from the austere stone beauty of most of the sites we had scene. What took place at the location is up for debate by different sects of Christianity, but if you believe in it, there can't be a more holy place on earth. Within the walls of the church are the locations of the crucifiction, burial and resurrection, literally meters apart from each other. Regardless of your belief system, the story behind the place and the place itself have tremendous social and political implications. By the time we finished there, it was nearly 2 o'clock when a large portion of the city starts to shut down for shabbat. We met up with our friends and made our way to the hostel to rest until it was time for shabbat dinner.

There is a man who runs a Jewish youth organization in the old city who sets up students and pretty much anyone who rolls up with a family with whom to eat shabbat dinner. We decided that after all it was shabbat in Jerusalem and we should give it a go. We waited with all the others at the western wall and were sent with a group of about 20 to the home of Yosef David, aka hippie joe. He was not so much a hippie, but a pretty chilled out dude dressed in flowing white clothes that looked like they were from Thailand or India and a simple black kippa. There were 30 people or so in all and we helped set the tables and i also helped to cut some vegetables for the salad. The dinner was a bit too long for my sister and my friend, but all in all it was enjoyable for me. I thought the food was incredible, plentiful and after all free. I also enjoy the concept of the shabbat dinner, even if I don't always agree with its ritual trimmings. I did have a couple of observations, however. We were joined by a bunch of yeshiva students (Jewish studies college basically), mostly early 20 somethings from NY and the mid-Atlantic states. I found them overall to be obnoxious, rude (eating before blessings, talking over our host, ect...) and uniformed. I spent some time talking to a 30 something rabbi who was pretty cool, but he was drilling me about how little I knew in general. His meaning was that how could I know things about my religion or life without being, doing and studying orthodox practices. I found this conversation a strong juxtaposition to what I heard one of the yeshiva students say earlier in the night. There was a older women among us who had fled her home in Zimbabwe after her house was claimed by the ruling government, as she was speaking the student said aloud, “what is Zimbabwe?” another replied, “It's a country” and the first responded, “oh, where is that?” I know it may be an unfair to draw from a single incident, but my question is how can one possibly be considered a learned man of Judaism or the world, regardless of their knowledge of Torah and Talmud, if you don't know where to look for Zimbabwe on a map?

After dinner, we thanked our gracious host, who i thought was very interesting because he seemed to read and study and then make his own interpretations on ritual rather than staying lock step with the masses. We headed back to our hostel to digest and sleep.

From the previous passage you can gather that the morning didn't feel so great for most of the group. We did manage to get on the bus ad were all accounted for just half an hour behind schedule which i think all in all was pretty good. The morning was to be spent in tzfat, the home of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. I had pretty much written off Kabbalah as a bunch of hocus pocus and a scam, after all Madonna is a kabbalist. I had also heard that the basis of Kabbalah was something that should only be practiced and studied by very learned rabbis.

Well, we wandered down the quaint streets towards an unknown destination, our guide most likely mentioned it, but i wasn't much paying attention so early. However, upon entering what turned out to be an art gallery, I was blown away. There was psychedelic art lining all the walls that drew my eyes and blew my mind. The next hour was spent listening to the artist David Friedman introduce some of his pieces and in doing so give us an introduction to Kabbalah. I will preface my excitement for what i heard by saying that i don't think i could ever study or practice Kabbalah and the many of its deeper concepts including numerology and cosmology fall well out of my range of interest. However, the base line principles of it were fascinating to me because they fall in line with the eastern philosophy that in am very interested in. It speaks of opposites, oneness and infiniteness as complementary forces and the spirituality and power of nature and family. That is drastically oversimplifying things, but the point is that hearing some of these ideas coming from a Jewish basis was exciting. It also didn't hurt that the colors and shapes in my fragile state put me in another world.

After that we visited the most famous synagogues in tzvat, one Sephardi (Jews of middle east and African decent) and the other Ashkenazim (Jews from Europe). Frankly that whole split concept doesn't make sense to me because all Jews gotta come from the same place, right? Regardless, they were contrasting styles and were both interesting, but that is not the value I found in that couple of hours walking around. I intended up in a interesting philosophical discussion with one of the leaders of the trip who was my age about the merits of ritual as it relates to religion and spirituality. I won't get into the details at the moment, but it was really interesting for me to attempt to verbalize some of the ideas I have been kicking around with someone who comes from an equally right, but opposite viewpoint.

The ride to Tel Aviv provided us with ample napping opportunities and we also threw in a long lunch stop. When we arrived in Tel Aviv we had said an emotional goodbye to our soldier friends and then we were allowed to have a free night. This was the first time on the trip we were allowed out of the group supervision. Luckily for the guides, we were all still pretty lame from the night before so there wasn't to be a giant party. I ended up having a nice dinner with a bunch of people from the trip and my sister. We had a leisurely meal and then went back to the hotel.

I was well rested in the morning which was great because the last day was jam packed with seeing Tel Aviv. We started off the day with the independence hall, the site where David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Israel. I wasn't expecting much out of it and maybe it was just the guide we had, but it was a very powerful story. The guide spoke for over one hour about the day the declaration was signed and the major players. I was riveted the entire time, I am still uncertain how biased it was, but am determined to go back and read more about it.
After that we wandered a bit before heading to the old Arab port of Jaffa(Yafo) where we ate lunch and spent some time in the market haggling for clothes and assorted junk. The old seafront part of Jaffa is beautiful and it would be nice to go there in the summer to sit and have a coffee.

From there we went back into Tel Aviv proper and saw the seat of government there (real austere and ugly) and the site of Rabin's assassination. The rest of the time until dinner was spent at another market in Tel Aviv where i felt like i had returned to China, because i recognized 75% of the goods being sold which was mostly fake crap along with some foods and vegetables. I proved to be quite useful at this market as I helped my sister and a few others make some good purchases(it helps when you now how much they paid for it).

For dinner, we returned to old jaffa to a place called Dr. Shakshuka, where we ate Shashuka (chunky tomatoes and veggies topped with sunny side up eggs) and cous cous Morracan style with vegetable soup. It was really delicious and there was an added bonus because it was family style and aside from my sister and I, no one at our table liked it.

This was the last night of the trip after all and after we returned to the hotel to rest and refresh we met to have a goodbye session where we reminisced mostly and then we set out to a bar/club together as a group. It was a great time, we danced, drank and laughed until the wee hours of the morning. It was a fitting end to an all in all great 10 days.

February 9th – Golan Heights

It was to be an action packed long day in northern Israel. The first stop was a hill in the heart of the Golan. The Golan Heights is some of the most disputed land in Israel that you don't hear about much these days, but just a few short years ago the tiny strip of land just 7 miles across between Lebanon and Syria was front and center in the papers. The bulldozed, bombed out and bullet riddled buildings were a testimony to the recent conflict. One shell of a building had graffiti in Hebrew on its side, “The Golan is ours now and forever, 2003.”

It was quite a view from the top of the hill which also was the site of a former Syrian bunker still in place. Settlements of the Israelis, Syria, Lebanon and the UN all visible from the single location. it was a little sad for me, however, because I have wanted to go to Syria and Lebanon for some time and I realized this would be as close as I'd come for the foreseeable future.
After the hill we headed off for a nice hike, the closest thing we had to a real hike, but only about 1 and a half hours. We traveled along the river basin of a nice valley, up and over rocks and across small streams. There was nice vegetation and we chatted our way to the far side which had the “Niagara falls of Israel,” a measly fall that trickled over the edge and dropped about 40 meters I'd guess. By the time we finished, it was after lunch time and many were starving so we headed to a shopping plaza near our next stop, The Golan Heights Winery. We ate the usual fare, but the highlight was a grocery store with actual local prices. Everyone took advantage and I think we bought enough booze to kill a small elephant. The winery was just next door and we did the standard wine tour and all enjoyed the tasting.

The final stop of the day was in the town of Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. We went to a spa of hot springs that are supposed to be healthy, I'm not sure whats so healthy about sulfuric hot green water, but it was warm and pretty therapeutic for my tired muscles. There was also a normal pool there, where we held some chicken fights (naturally I dominated).

From there we rode back to our kibbutz/summer camp for dinner and then had a bit of rest. After dinner we were in for a special treat and we prepared potent drinks in water bottles for the occasion. We had a guest come to teach us Israeli folk dancing, the horah. Think a bar mitzvah, but taken more seriously and with actual steps. Luckily for the instructor, everyone participated to their best and the room was filled with laughter for the hour or so we danced. The dancing and the pre-gaming parlayed directly into full blown party, certainly the most wild of the trip. I'll spare you the details, but it was a fun mess.

February 8th – Yad Veshem

This would be the trips heaviest of days. We would visit the holocaust memorial and the national cemetery for soldiers and dignitaries.

The first stop, however, was not a downer. As I mentioned, we would participate in the national arbor day and my sister and I planted in two small shrubs we dubbed Paco and Taco in the botanical gardens near to the new city center. From there we headed to Yad Veshem, the holocaust memorial where we would hear from a holocaust survivor before going through the museum.

The speaker turned out to be one of the most amazing public speakers and human beings I have ever had the privilege to meet. He spoke with such passion and clarity in a way that drew everyone into him. As he described the moment he realized his father was dead and cried there was nary a sole among us who didn't cry with him. However, for me the power of his words and the root of my respect for him came in a different way. He was no doubt a religious man, an orthodox Jew. My biggest disconnect with Israel by this point in the trip and even to an extent now was the lack of open-mindedness I'd experienced and seen, there was the girls at Ben Yehouda hassling the Christians and other less obvious things that weren't as much actions or hatred for others as simply ignoring the existence of life outside Judaism. Our speaker, a survivor of the Holocaust, with every reason to hate and distrust, spoke of the need to embrace our commonalities with other races and creeds with the power of love and respect. It was the message for which a longing in my gut had been growing for days. After the speech, I hugged him and told him exactly that and tried to hold back my tears.
The museum was much of a blur, we went through it quite quickly due to time constraints. It was certainly powerful and I would have liked to have spent triple the amount of time sorting through everything. I did observe that I don't think the displays were as visceral as I remember the ones in Washington DC being. When we left the museum we had pizza before heading up the hill to the cemetery. We listened to our soldiers sing about loss in front of the grave of Yitzkak Rabin and stopped by to see Golda Maier, we also went to the grave of a common soldier who died just last month in the Gaza conflict, it turns out he was friends with one of the soldiers we were with. Powerful stuff.

We boarded the bus to head north to a kibbutz hotel near the Golan Heights, a 3 hour drive. The bus was nearly silent as everyone fell into a deep sleep from emotional and physical exhaustion. We ate together when we arrived at the kibbutz, a kibbutz in Israel is a like a commune farm, this was far from that and had the feel of summer camp. We chilled out a little that evening, but tried to sleep at a decent hour.

Feb 6th and 7th – Back from the desert for Shabbat

For the first time in the trip, morning came WAY too early. I struggled through breakfast trying to hydrate myself and was helped by the fact that they had the best cream cheese and fresh pita of the trip. We headed directly to the camels after breakfast, it was still before 8 O'clock. We split into 2 groups and had about a 15 minute ride each. For those people who had never ridden a camel before, I am sure it was a nice experience, but for me it was uneventful save a few laughs and a nice view of the desert.
Before we hit the road back to Jerusalem, we stopped by the grave of David Ben Gurion. Turns out this guy was a total nut in the best of ways. I would continue to learn about his eccentricities throughout the trip and am looking forward to reading more about him when I have the time. He chose his resting place because he loved the desert, and I must say it was hard to argue with him as the view from his grave was equal to that of off Masada.

We caught some Zs on the ride to a Jerusalem market known for fresh goods including vegetable, fruits and pastry. Upon arrival in Jerusalem we also picked up the 7 soldiers who would be spending the following 5 days among us. Naturally, we didn't know quite what to make of each other, but they would soon become an integral part of the group. We perused the market and had a shwarma before heading to our hotel in the new city where we would spend Shabbat. After dawning of our “Sunday best”(for me naturally a t-shirt and jeans) we met to meet a young rabbi who would guide us through candle lighting, a short presentation and dinner.

The evening activity would be a ice-breaker with our new soldiers and that would turn into quite a nice party, as it seems I was not the only one to purchase his fair share of alcohol at the market. The only barrier was the 2 hour nap everyone took between dinner and the event. Everyone showed up looking like they were in the grip of death. Luckily for us the ice breaker involved a lot of movement and laughter and soon everyone was back in the spirit. The night flew by and we continued to forge bonds with each other and began to with our new soldier friends.

We were given a gift on the sabbath of a late wake-up call even though our party was certainly not the holiest of events happening in Jerusalem that evening. Around 11 we met and, though some people even overslept and others were looking a touch rough around the edges, the group was in pretty good spirits. No buses for us on Shabbat, so we went on a walking tour of the government buildings and spaces near our hotel including the Supreme Court, national rose garden and the Knesset (Israeli Parliament). All the building were closed, but it was good to get a feel for the new part of the city and the political landscape of the country which are guide touched on.

The late afternoon consisted of eating and resting (if you are sticking to Jewish areas as our trip certainly was, there isn't a lick to do). We met all together for a discussion about anti-semitism which got a little heavy and then had a short havdalah service to close the Shabbat. After the activity we were able to board the bus again and head to Ben Yehouda street, a popular shopping avenue for tourists, expats, crazies and Israelis alike. The shwarma was decent and the people watching was excellent. We saw Israeli's dancing in the street to celebrate Jerusalem and the coming of the Israeli arbor day which we'd participate in the next morning, a vagrant looking former American man smelling young girl's hair and asking for money who relayed to me that he puts acid on his cream cheese every morning, and saw a bit of an uglier side when we saw a youngish Israeli girl try to stop a Korean choir group from exercising their right to perform.

When we returned to the hotel we had a few people over to our room to relax and smoke the Nargila (Hooka), but we made it a relatively early night.

February 5th – Masada

We made it to the bus well before sunrise to head to the base of Masada, by the time we arrived the first hints of light were beginning to poke over the deserts eastern horizon and a few other buses filled with young energetic tourists both Israeli and foreign were arriving. Along with these other groups we began out ascent in an attempt to reach the top before the sunrise. The walk was to be about 30 minutes up a winding path. It was not difficult, but certainly a consistent uphill climb of loose rocks and stairs, but I had uncomfortable pangs in my empty stomach as I had not eaten anything and had taken a decongestant. The view as more and more light revealed the Judean desert around us was nice and enough to keep my mind off my stomach and eye on the prize. As we approached the summit, two bongo drummers and the sound of a shofar blowing urged me up the final bit. I arrived just a few minutes before sunrise and waited for the rest of the group including my sister to finish the climb. We took time to enjoy the sun and take pictures of the mornings first light.

We then met at the top as a group to talk about the history and significance of the desert fortress. It was improved from a simple outpost to a palatial desert fortress by King Herod of Christ play fame. A microcosm of Roman extravagance and ingenuity complete with baths, restaurants and a cistern full of water diverted from Jerusalem a day and half walk away. The real power of the place however, comes from its importance in a rebellion against Roman rule that would take place some years later. A final stand as their rebellion was quelled in the major cities and outposts, a group of Jews retreated to Masada to resist and wait it out. They converted the fortress into a place suitable for the religious people, converting the pleasure baths into ritual baths and building a synagogue. Eventually the pride of the Roman Empire would be called upon to lay siege to Masada. They would continue to resist however and they forced the Roman Legions into a long hardship into the desert and when the Roman army finally was ready to storm the fortress, the story goes that the all the rebels committed suicide in order to deny the Romans the satisfaction of relieving their frustrations upon entering the fortress.

After a nice walk down the path taking in the desert vista in the full daytime light we boarded the bus to head towards our next activity for the day. We headed to a nature reserve in a desert oasis. Other than the appearance of a trip supervisor who showed up to enforce rules and make me wear real shoes(the shoes were clearly unnecessary and me asking about mandatory shoes would become a running trip joke) the walk was pleasant. It was highlighted by a couple streams and pools as well as a local variety of small antelope and a furry rodent resembling a wombat.

We headed further into the desert for our next activity, spending an evening at a “Bedouin camp.” It was certainly not authentic as it was a permanent location off he highway with large tents made of nylon...it made my previous Mongolian nomad experience seem super realistic in comparison. However, the guy who ran the place was a nice Muslim guy who gave us an introduction to the culture and then we ate a pretty amazing meal consisting of roasted chicken, hummus, veggies and rice. After dinner we started partying by a campfire next to the 40 person tent we'd make home that night. We drank and sang along while a couple trip mates and bus driver played guitar, we even tasted a home brewed anise alcohol that the driver, Lazer, makes. I had a great time and though Cari fell asleep early, I stayed up til late breaking the real ice with people and I felt like it was a social turning point.

Feb 4th – City of Gold

We were in pretty good shape as far as jet lag i thought because of a decent night sleep and the good nap the afternoon before. We were prepared to really hit the ground running on what felt like the first real full day. The plan was to get things going with a bang and go to Jerusalem to the old city and the Kotel (Western Wall). After breakfast at the hotel which consisted of fresh dairy products, breads and salad, we boarded the bus for a lookout over the city which would help us get our bearings.
Its not as golden as the famous tune “Jerusalem of Gold,” but the view of the old and new city highlighted by the golden Muslim holy shrine The Dome of The Rock sitting upon the temple mount was impressive and I, for the first time, took stock in where I was and what I was doing. We took some time to soak in the view and get a history lesson slash orientation about what all we were looking at. From there it was clear to see the old city, the old West and East Jerusalem and the drab gray wall blocking off the West Bank in the distance. The depth and breadth of the political and historical implications of the view was mind blowing.

Finally it was time to head to the old city for a taste of the area. The guide, Sara, was clear that we would only scratch the surface on our trip, only the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall. This is definitely not my style, but i didn't stress because I knew I would return after the group trip. We entered the old city after a visit to the supposed tomb of King David. The old facade of the physical gate was a amazing juxtaposition of Turkish era arrow slots and more modern bullet holes. We made our way slowly towards the heart of the city hearing about the history along the way. Before we arrived we had our first falafel of the trip and though pricey(5 bucks US) it was pretty amazing. After the lunch stop we made our final push to the Western Wall. I separated from my sister at this point as men and women do not visit the wall together, a barrier separates the smaller womens area from the mens.

I must say that the I didn't feel as much connection to the temple and the shared history of the spot as I expected, but it was an extremely powerful vehicle for me to feel an emotional connection to the almighty or what have you and I prayed for things that are important to me and gave thanksgiving. It was a very personal experience and in addition to my prayers and thanksgiving I added my written prayers to the cracks of the wall as is the tradition.

The group finished up at the wall and met to head to our next stop. Reactions of the group varied wildly from indifferent to moved and the overall complexion of the group was contemplative mixed with quickly onsetting exhaustion due to jet lag. We moved quickly from there out of the old city to the waiting bus which took us to a place called the “Time Elevator.” It is basically a history of Israel version of the old Disney ride Body Wars. There was also a speaker who discussed dilemmas for the region, but it was largely not interesting and we were too tired to handle her presentation and the following movie/ride. We were happy to get out of there and onto the bus where we celebrated the several hour drive to our hotel on the Dead Sea. We slept like rocks.

We arrived to the hotel, checked in and had dinner. It seemed like a lovely place and we found that it was directly on the water and had a beach attached. We needed to sleep early because we'd be awaking to climb Masada before sunrise. Before sleep however, I couldn't resist breaking trip protocol and taking a dip in the Dead Sea before everyone else. I stripped to my essentials and took a dip, I got my punishment though because I didnt see a problem with getting my head wet. The burning in my nose and ears sent me quickly towards the showers and then to bed.

Feb 2 and 3 - Armpit to the Holy Land

I met up with my sister on the way to Jersey and we made it to the hotel just in time to catch the exciting end to the super bowl. We got a good nights rest and woke up in time to get to the airport to meet our group at 9:30.

After getting signed in and negotiating the tight El Al security we headed mingled cautiously with the group members whom we would be spending the next 10 days with. After a long wait at the airport, we finally boarded and were on our way to Israel. The flight was smooth and 10 hours later at around 7am Jerusalem time on the 3rd we arrived at Ben Gurion airport situated between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The group looked a bit ragged. The hours for jet lag were less than ideal, we were facing a full day, but we flew throughout US daytime hours and it was now midnight back home. Some people slept more than others and a few blank faces were recovering from various sleeping meds. We met the guide and stepped out of the airport to a crisp day with a perfect blue sky.

The guide suggested that we hit the activities we had planned for the afternoon in the morning so we could have a chance to hit a nap in the afternoon at the hotel. Everyone agreed and it would prove to be a smart move.

The first stop was a real reality check of where we were. The supposed site where the future King David slew Goliath. This was really going to be a whole different kind of site seeing. The hill was unimpressive and naturally I have my doubts on the historical accuracy of the story much less the site of the event, but the view was amazing. You could see several cities including Tel Aviv and to the west you could a city infamous at the moment as the brunt of rocket attacks from Gaza. Israel is a small country about the size of New Jersey, you can really take a lot of it in from a good vantage point.

The next stop was a series of man made caves. They were built by Jewish rebels during a clash with the Romans, similar caves exist around the region. They were a series of tight tunnels leading to larger rooms. We dove in and headed underground into the cool darkness I have some issues with tight spaces and was excited to take a step towards conquering my fear. I made it through with only minor feelings of discomfort and when we finally came out the other side I felt pretty good.

From there it was to the hotel to check in, orientate and catch a much needed rest. I think pretty much everyone on the trip slept like a baby until it was time for dinner, i know my room was like a tomb for 3 and a half hours. It was exactly what the doctor ordered, however, and after a quick ice-breaker we headed off as a group to go to a bar in Jerusalem. Though everyone was still working themselves back from the nap, the excitement of driving into the holy city was clear. We arrived at a bar in a nice district near to the old city, it looked much like a urban walking area and bar street anywhere. Inside we settled in and ordered drinks and Nargila (hooka). We quickly learned 2 things; Israel is expensive and they have suspect taste in music. Anyway, we chatted and continued to become comfortable with the group and by the time it was time to leave (which was very early, we would soon learn the trip has lots of rules) people were dancing and having a blast. The ride back to the hotel was much livelier than the ride out.

NOTE: FEB 22

I actually did quite a lot in the 5 weeks I was in the US including:
- my sisters graduation and my grandfathers memorial service in South Carolina
- Jam Cruise 7 to Belize, Mexico and beyond
- Weekend trip to NC to meet up with some of the college crew

I won't give the details and will get started with the next leg of my trip that began in the beginning of February.

Santiago

After making our way back to civilization and eventually to the airport, we arrived in Santiago where my friend had been living the past months. We enjoyed being back in the city and seeing his girlfriend. We wandered the city a bit and enjoyed some good food and company. I was only there a couple of days so it's difficult for me to give a reliable opinion of the city. However, what I did notice was that there is very little sightseeing to do, but it was certainly a very livable place. I also happened to be there when the weather was quite smoggy. My friend swears to me that the Andes surround the city, but I never saw them and still contend that he was making them up. I headed back to Miami on December 17th.