Tuesday and Masada
The following morning we awoke bright and early (and far colder than we were when we went to sleep) and after shivering through our morning routines we headed to breakfast, after eating we went on a camel ride. The camel train stretched far into the desert, with two people per camel there were 25 camels all told. Most of the group named their camels, with such interesting monikers as Porsche, Suzy, Beefcake and Lady Sandy (who was actually a boy). After a camel ride we headed back to the bus and drove to Ein Uvdat.
Ein Uvdat was an amazing canyon where we went hiking at the bottom before climbing up to the top. At the bottom of the canyon we walked aside a stream caused by the flooding from the rain two weeks back. We also played an interesting game that in the first round involved complimenting the person next to you on what each person felt the others best feature was. The second round was kissing that person’s “best feature” which definitely led to some laughs. Some of the sights as we hiked were a herd of ibex grazing on the cliff side, eagles soaring overhead and a beautiful waterfall. As we hiked the canyon wall we were all amazed at the beauty of the area (when we weren’t clinging to ladders).
After we finished the hike we drove to Sderot, a city only a mile from the border with the Gaza Strip. While there we visited a playground in a bomb shelter. Due to heavy bombing by Hamas and Palestinian militants in years past the JNF helped the locals build the playground in order to help the city’s children have a more normal life, where they could run and play without fear. We watched a video about the difficult life led by the people of Sderot, and the dangers of living on the border. Following the video we went on a tour of the playground. The playground not only had play equipment and toys for the children, it also had an area for children to have birthday parties, computers and video games for fun, air hockey and foosball tables, basketball hoops and an indoor soccer field, as well as a rock climbing wall. We got to spend a bit of time playing like we were kids, it was a blast! I particularly enjoyed playing soccer with some of the group.
After playing on the playground, we went to the Moshav Netiv Ha’asara in order to learn about green farming in Israel. This small village is very close to the border with the Palestinian controlled Gaza Strip, and one of the members of the community, an artist, has designed a mural entitled the “Path to Peace” on a protective wall between the border and the village that is alongside the main entrance to the community. What was extremely neat was that the mural is of an interactive design and all of us on Bus 139 were able to help to create the mural. After helping add to the artwork designed to inspire peaceful sentiments between Israelis and Palestinians we settled in to listen to a presentation about life on the border.
While the presentation was happening we were treated to a first hand look at life, not only on the border, but in Israel, when we heard a loud explosion. The differences between the experiences of the American and the Israeli members of the group were truly seen for the first time when all of the Americans jumped and startled, while the Israelis didn’t even flinch. After calming down a bit, we saw the smoke from the Gaza Strip and soon learned that the Israeli Defense Force had targeted a terrorist training camp which had sent a sniper to shoot an Israeli Bedouin maintenance worker on the Wall earlier that day. While we were a good distance from the site of the explosion, it was still a harsh look at the reality of life in Israel.
After we all relaxed and collected ourselves we continued on to the Moshav’s organic greenhouses where two group members (Stephen London and myself) were blindfolded and asked to play “Guess the Veggie?” while the rest of the group heckled and cheered us on. We then continued into the greenhouses where we got to plant radish seeds, and taste all sorts of fresh vegetables, particularly tomatoes and peppers. As the sun set we headed back into the bus and drove to our home for the night- The Masada Guest Lodge- where we quickly ate dinner and headed to bed since we were told we had to get to breakfast by 5:00 AM!
Ali Kay
