One of our participants, Amanda Hitchcock, wrote the following to share her thoughts on the first two days of the trip:
“Hello everyone at home! Welcome to the Bus 322 blog (yeah!)! Israel is amazing and we’re all having a great time. There’s already so much we’ve seen and so little time to write it down, but it’s already our second day, so let’s have a brief recap:
Day 0: The flight. It seems like we all came in by plane/car/bus/etc. from all over the country. We have people from Boston, New York, St. Louis, and New Jersey (forgive me, I’m forgetting a ton). We all met up at JFK and spent many many hours at the airport getting to know each other. Followed by many MANY hours getting to know each other on the plane. And some sleeping. But not much.
Day 1: The arrival! Due to a seven hour time switch, we stumbled off the plane (gratefully-it has never felt so good to stretch my legs!) with our internal clocks set to 7:00am but the local clock set to 2:00pm. We got our passports stamped, traded our dollars for shekels, and spent the rest of the day on the bus to the kibbutz, where we’re spending the first three days. We passed a lot of amazing sights--the desert is beautiful and goes on forever. We saw mosques in the distance, and mountains, and quite a few cows (which our guide calls fresh shwarma). We also got to meet our new Israeli friends (all soldiers) and got to know them on the ride. Finally, we got to the kibbutz and had the best showers of our lives.
Day 2: We got up bright and early for an amazing hike [on the Gilibun trail]. We drove past art of the African Rift Valley and ruins and minefields on our way up the mountain, then got out and hiked for hours until we reached the pool at the base of a waterfall and dove in for an exhilarating, amazing swim. Then it was back on the bus and off to lunch (shwarma and falafel!) and shopping, followed by a trip to an olive oil factory where we saw a 1,000 year old olive tree, saw an entertaining (if weird) video, and washed our hands with olive pits. Lastly, we drove up into the Golan Heights, wandered through trenches, then sat on the top [of Mount Bental] and looked out over Syria listening to stories about the Yom Kippur War. It was beautiful. Right now we’re back at the kibbutz getting ready for Shabbat, so I’ve got to go-- check in for another update soon!”
--Amanda Hitchcock
Comments
Add new comment