Day 8 - Camels, Camels, Camels
Today was the day we got to ride camels! After a crazy night in the Bedouin tents, we woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and got ready to go on a camel ride through the desert.
It was two people per camel, so Alyssa and I quickly decided to be partners. We got a white camel to ride. We (I) decided to name him Uni because he was white like a unicorn.
And we began our ride. Uni kept trying to get ahead of the line, but all the camels are tied together, in a line, in two groups, so there was no place to go.
Our camel ride was pretty early in the morning, 7 or 8am I believe so there were some pretty cool shadows on the desert sand.
The ride lasted about 20 minutes. I was okay that it was a short ride because about 5-10 minutes in my legs were already tired of the spread out position they were in - camels are pretty wide. And, Uni looks pretty happy to have us off his back, too. The scariest part was when the Uni sat down and only his front legs were bent so we were at a 45 degree angle down.
After the camel ride we prepared for yet another hike. This time we were taking about a 2-2.5 hour hike of the Negev (the desert). That's me waiting with one of our awesome group leaders, Jess, and our amazing medic, Leo (looking like Indiana Jones).
And, so we set off on our hike which would lead us to our next destination.
Cool group photo op. Im the tallest one in the back. I climbed up the rock a bit more, but it was scary getting down because the rock was really more like sand and it was a steep incline with a pretty big drop if I didn't stop myself before the width of the path ended. Guess I should have thought out the climb more. Some of the guys helped me down though. :)
After the hike was a stop at the home of Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister. I loved this portrait of Gurion displayed in his home. My guess is it was done with ink, and all of the lines are actually words. It is in Hebrew though, so I could not understand what it was saying.
The Salad Trail was next and lots of fun. The Salad Trail is basically a farm in the middle of the desert, that groups can tour. But you don't just listen and look, you get to eat too. And, eating always makes things ten times better. We saw some pretty sunflowers. I love sunflowers, they are my favorite.
We then explored the carrot field. They grow four different colors of carrots: white, purple, orange, and yellow. I tried the white and purple. I didn't really like either, although the purple was a little better, but it had a strange after taste.
Next was the herb field. They had so many different herbs. And two members participated in a game trying to guess what herb they were smelling without looking. Again, I didn't much like the taste of the herbs. They probably would have been delicious on some pizza or something though, just not plain. I tried basil, oregano, and some edible flowers. There was a sourish flower that was my favorite. Weird, but not too bad.
Then we headed over to the cucumber and tomato section. Definitely my favorite section we visited. Although, if we had gone to the strawberry or peach section my opinion may have changed.
We saw baby cucumbers. I never new that cucumbers grew from flowers.
And they had zebra tomatoes! I love zebras, so obviously I love zebra tomatoes.
All the tomatoes and cucumber tasted delicious. Probably some of the best I have ever had. Honestly. And, the yellow tomatoes we my favorite by far.
We then went through a passion fruit maze. Sadly, it was not passion fruit season. I did not realize that so I was quite disappointed when I was told the one I picked was not even close to ripe. It was still green, apparently they are supposed to be purple. Hey, I have never had or seen passion fruit before, how was I to know. But we were able to race through the maze - guys against girls. Of course the girls won...according to me. No winner was ever actually declared.
We then left the different fields and were able to make our own pita. They gave us dough and we could shape it and put it on the cooker. Have you ever been to Bertucci's where you can play with and shape the dough and then they bake it for you to eat? It was like that. And it was sooo good!
I got creative and made mine heart shaped. There was oil with herbs from the farm to put on our pita too. Delish!
We then left eating at the salad farm to eat some lunch. I had falafel yet again. It never gets old. This time I had it in a bowl filled with hummus and some other beans and spices and soup like fillings, and pita on the side, for dipping I guess.
We had a few minutes to explore and I found my favorite story. Cinderella. In Hebrew, too cool. I wanted to buy it but it was pretty expensive. They were having a sale where if you bought three books it was a good deal but individually quite pricey. I did not need three children's books I could not read though, so I settled for a picture and called it a day.
Then came the sad part; we had to say goodbye to our Israeli friends. They were only to join for five days, and it was the fifth day. I loved having them on the trip. It made the experience that much better. Getting to explore with locals, bond, and ask them anything. It was much better then having only an outsiders view of the places we visited. Below is Lera, who was leaving to go back to train in an area of the military.
Ofir and Tal. Ofir works with clubs and music, and Tal is in the military.
And, Rubi, he is studying to be a lawyer. I got to know him the most. We talked everyday and had a lot of fun. Hopefully I see him when he comes to visit America.
The goodbyes were quick, crowded and a bit chaotic, and I did not get a picture with our sixth Israeli friend, Igor. He is also in the military.
We then went back to a Kibbutz to get ready for our night out in Tel Aviv. Boy did it feel good to shower. We had not had a chance to shower since before spending the night on the ground in the tents. Clean again, we definitely take that luxury and feeling for granted.
There was some cool art/graffiti around the city, and awesome trees. Below is the trunk of one. It is crazy, hollow kind of and weaved maybe. I wonder if they do something special to get the trees like that or it is just the type of tree and that is how it grows.
There were also danger of death signs everywhere we went. I decided to take the night to make it a photo op with the sign.
It was fun walking around. And I had a nice relaxed night playing cards (Big 2, told you, my new fav.) and drinking outside of one of the bars with Nick. I also tried some Israeli gelato. I got two flavors, ferrero rocher, and I think the other was cookie dough or something more original. No matter what it was it was good.
