I slept four hours after Dad left.
That's how it started. 5:30 I was on the bus waiting to get going, wondering why, for the first time all semester, I was early to something. There was a guy sitting outside tapping his feet to his ipod, and I recognized him from Before Rent . eventually, he started to dancing; intense dancing; on top of fences. All the hikers passed him by, and I believe some took pictures. It was a sight to behold, for those who had opened their eyes.
As we bussed up north and the sun poked its lazy face through the horizon, I photographed the rising brightness of the green shades of mountains. Then, for some odd reason, we pulled off the road. A cop approached the car. As it turned out, the tour guide was sitting on the very front seat, without his seat belt on. Seatbelts are required when sitting in the very front seat. The tour guide and driver could have faced considerable consequences, considering this was the first time I had ever seen Israeli law enforcement recognize the existence of a traffic laws. However, and as is always the case, the cop and the driver went way back, in high school or something close to it, so he was let off the hook. Only in Israel (and Garden State).
We made it to a beach called Achziv or really "Monkey Beach", snatched some pics of the high mountains where the border lay between Israel and Lebanon, filled up some bottles of salty Mediterranean water, got back on the bus to head to out first hiking destination.
Did I mention that Yam li Yam or Yam el Yam means sea to sea, meaning random hikes from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. Some students from my program actually did the real thing, but we would just hike during the day, and spend the night in the hostels nearby.
The first hike was in a place called Goren Park, where we walked down into a valley and then up again, overlooking the remnants of the Monfort Crusader fortress, and eating mustard flowers. This was once a crusader stronghold, that not only survived the tests of time, but also was used to store many archives, that are now safely preserved somewhere in Europe.
The trip followed with a HUGE deli lunch and a ride to our site for Shabbat...Peki'in.
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