Yesterday I just hung out with my uncle chuck as he checked out a new car he was going to buy – turned out to be a lemon – but in the process we went to Tiberias and to Ami’ad which is the kibbutz my grandma was on when it was set up! And she remembers being there when one of the wars were on and Arab people were up on the hill next to the kibbutz shooting down on them all day! We got a fellafel in Tiberias – seriously it’s hard to explain without seeing it yourself but coming from little ol NZ every eating occasion in a dingy fellafel shop is an experience.. so much fun I love it.
Today I got up early and drove to Nahalal to pick up mum and we embarked on our journey to Eilat. Its almost the entire country – but still doesnt take that long – except if your us and you stop a million times. We first drove through a town called Bet She’an which has some old ampitheatre ruins. Coming from a young country like NZ it’s hard to fathom ancient ruins but when you see them you really do feel the history and the age. After we left bet she’an we drove into the very eastern side of the west bank and drove all the way down towards Jericho down the border of Israel and Jordan. It’s an experience driving this part of Israel – shows you the reality of a militarized country – lots of army trucks with machine guns on and UN vehicles not to mention the fence of the border. However despite all this all along the way Arab Israeli’s live and farm and work and do their thing. Kids are running around and life is life. It’s their reality.
We drove around Jericho (the road kinda avoids it) because its a bit of a dodgy city. A few checkpoints later and we joined the road from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. We passed Kalya which is the kibbutz mum lived on and did the army while she was there. The last checkpoint my second cousin was working on so we stopped and chatted to him for awhile. Its all abit weird but I guess in terms of checkpoints this was a nice one – the sun beaming down – a beautiful view of the Dead Sea and a radio blaring a radio station they pick up from Jordan. After a little detour up the huge cliffs to take a photo and lunch in En Geidi we continued down past the salt pools and factories on the way through the Negev desert to Eilat. A few hours later and some confused lostness in Eilat we finally found our hotel and checked in grabbed some hummous and ful for dinner and then crashed!
(Click for big photo + caption)
