It’s a Small World

Yesterday evening we passed a man carrying a bloody dead rat and hissing at invisible dangers. In between he’d clutch his ankles, perhaps feeling snakes tangling around them. It was different.

Today our focus was Timna Park. That’s a fabulous park full of hiking trails, old copper mines, climbs, bike trails and a full scale replica of the Israelite Tabernacle.

We hiked for a few hours, scrambling up metal ladders, climbing down into deep crevices and shuffling through deep sand. We climbed through old copper mining shafts, well, some of it was actually crawling or slithering on the stomach if you chose the side paths. The shafts would surface here and there and we looked like giant gophers, popping up at random places only to dart back down to explore another path. Needless to say we were pretty filthy when all was said and done.

The Tabernacle was worth a visit. It was fairly crowded with a German tour group so a bit hard to get a good look. I also was a bit concerned about all the coughing around me. I may put myself into a 2 week quarantine when we get home.

We stopped in the Elah Valley on the way home to see the David and Goliath sight, then spent the remaining 45 min drive hunting for a restaurant that was open on the Sabbath. I was a bit hangry and felt a somewhat short tempered at the Hebrew language barrier as i tried to quickly locate a place before we’d pass the exit. Cody finally came up with a place called Schnitzel Domino, some sort of hick joint in the middle of the Muslim area of Kfar Qasim. It really put joy into our souls. It was so foreign and friendly and yum. And full of cheerful Arabs that just flew around making schnitzel sandwiches. We ate at rickety tables on the sidewalk and just soaked up the strangeness.

And now we’re back home trying to replan our trip somewhat. We’re not allowed in Palestine so that knocks out Bethlehem and Jericho. Which knocks out our need of a Palestinian van for two days, which means we have 2 more days to fill, which means we decided to cancel our Jerusalem Hostel cause of logistical complications, meanwhile our airline is doing its last flight out of Israel tomorrow so we’ll have to do some re-booking. Or someone will have to. Anyway, blessed are the flexible! We’re mostly just enjoying the adventure of it all! So here goes for who knows what!