First Couple of Days

I'm finally at a computer for the first time! It's only our third day here, but it feels like its been a week. I'm so time disoriented. The flight over was about 9 hours, and I didn't get any sleep. When we got to Tel Aviv, it was about 8AM, so we had to get right into the tour.. no time for sleeping. After stopping in Jerusalem to look out over the city and for our introduction to the program, we drove through the West Bank and down past the Dead Sea to Kibbutz Yahel in the southern Negev. We were about 45 minutes north of Eilat and right on the Jordanian border. It was a really beautiful drive through some intense desert mountains. Lots of dramatic desert scenery. By the time we got there, it was evening, so we had our first dinner on the kibbutz. The food was surprisingly really good for a kibbutz cafeteria. Lots of chicken and hummus. We had shabbat services and passed out early, about 11PM, because we hadn't slept for about two full days.

Day 2 - Being shabbat, we got to have a very refreshing day of laziness. We toured the kibbutz, learning about the dairy and sheep farm and the strange Israeli fruits they grow. It really blows my mind to think that they can have such successful agriculture in the middle of a pretty serious desert. We spent the rest of the day by the pool in zero humidity 95 degree weather.. very nice. At night we drove into Eilat, Israel's Atlantic City type resort town on the Red Sea, and stopped at a Bedouin camp near the Egypt border for some Arabic tea, baklava, nargileh (hookah), camels, and Arabic dancing and music. It was such an awesome experience. I've wanted to do that type of thing for a really long time, and it was TOTALLY worth 10 sheqels ($2.50). After that, we walked around the boardwalk and all ended up in a bar on the beach. We headed home at about 1AM and passed out. I really cannot wait to come back here on our free time.

Day 3 - Today
We got up at 6:30AM, not fun after only four hours of sleep. We were supposed to hike Massada at sunrise, which is pretty much a vital part of birthright trips, but for some reason we didn't. This tour seems to be cutting a lot of corners in that respect. Although I'm loving it, we definitely aren't doing what we expected. We went to Massada and took the cable car up and down. It was nice, but not worth it. We went from there to Ein Gedi, a beautiful national park oasis in the middle of the desert next to the Dead Sea. We hiked up through the mountain pass to a beautiful waterfall swimming pond where we all jumped in to cool off. After that, we went to the Dead Sea, finally, and went swimming. I really love this place! You really can't describe the water. Apparently the famous mud is not common, and you can't get it from the water. You have to buy it. Luckily, some nice tourists gave us their back and we lathered up. It feels really cool and when it dries your skin looks elephant-like. After that we got back on the bus and headed up to Jerusalem. We'll be here touring the old city tomorrow, and then we're heading up to the Galilee, Kineret, and Golan Heights for the next few days. Hopefully I can find another computer soon!