It’s a Small World

The desert was lovely but it’s grand to be back in the hectic world of Abu Dis. There was a howling wind today and trash was flying everywhere as we rolled into town. We needed supper so we parked on the Main Street and picked our way around fruit vendors, vehicles and people to a fried chicken shop where we ate juicy chicken and hot chips, then headed down the street for dessert at the Sweet shop. Everyone here is friendly. It’s such a neat experience! James suddenly started throwing a complete conniption cause he happened to notice that a donkey neck and head were hanging in a butchery. Of course we had to see it to believe it and yes indeed! It was a very recognizable donkey, fur and everything, hung by its nose from a rafter. YUM!

To back up, our day started at 5am in Eilat. We had a large agenda that included a hike deep in the wilderness, an archeological site we had never visited at Arad, Herodyon, and Bethlehem.

The Wadi Baraq hike was down a road that would have been peanuts with a regular car. Since we have a golf cart it was a bit of a challenge. Any rock over 2” tall is a serious threat. We were also almost out of gas so that added a nice element of excitement. The hike itself is pretty epic, with quite a few ladders and ropes to help you down into the canyon. It’s not scary, just invigorating. We didn’t know what we’d find for sure cause if it’s been raining you have to do some swimming, but luckily it was dry. It was not warm enough to swim!!

Arad is an old city that was in the Land of Judah. It’s off the beaten trail and hence not overrun with tourists. It had some even older ruins of a Canaanite city including a huge well. They claimed it was from 2700 B. C. but that seems awful old.

Thanks to our Palestinian car we could shoot straight through the West Bank to Herodyon, which was Herod the Greats hilltop palace near Bethlehem. It’s fantastic creaming along backroads and whizzing through little gates in and out of the West Bank instead of sticking to the main thoroughfares. They’ve done a lot of digging at Herodyon! Two years had made a big difference and it was fascinating to see the new stuff.

And then it was Bethlehem! That was new and exciting since we had to skip it last time due to the Covid. We visited the Shepherds Field and sang loud Christmas songs. The Church of the Nativity was bustling, plus they were having a funeral. It involved long wavering solos by the clergy. That church has some fabulous carved wooden beams that are very impressive! On our way out of town we passed a street vendor baking big pita breads over a fire. Of course we stopped and bought some, eating them piping hot right there among the trash and dogs and cars.

This evening we were joined in our house by a young couple from Germany, Micah and Hannah. The flat share thing is new to me but I quite like it! Makes life much more interesting to have random folks sharing your space. They speak impeccable English so that’s a plus. Unfortunately they haven’t learned the fine art yet of which appliances can be run simultaneously without flipping the breaker😄. It’s happened three times already this evening.