Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Last day in the Middle East

So I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Cairo, waiting for my flight at 2 am tomorrow morning. I really, really have to pee. Ack! The crappy thing about checking out of your hostel first thing in the morning is that you have nowhere to waste your time until your flight.

Happily, I managed to get quite a bit done here today. I bought some easy children's books for the kids I'll be working with in Ethiopia, washed my laundry (aka, rubbed a bar of soap all over the mound, then hosed it down with the bathroom shower-head... strange that the shower itself is in no way separated from the rest of the stuff in the bathroom), and dropped about 5 pounds off my pack for the flight.


Anyway, before I take off from the Middle East, let me recap the last couple of weeks.

I finished at Bahariyya Oasis, and decided to go to Luxor instead of Dahab (I mean, how many beaches can one person really take, anyway?) and quickly realized it to be the ninth circle of hell. Holy crap, it's hot. Hot and dirty. Also, you can't take photos at like, half of the sites there. Here's one of the few that I DID manage to get, at the Colossi of Memnon. Yeah, I know- cheesy... but it was really hot and I couldn't think of anything less campy. They were pretty cool. I also got a look at the Valley of the Kings and Queens, and Hatshepsut's Temple. No pictures. -pout-

Anyway, after Luxor, I decided to go to Dahab anyway. A series of unfortunate events in Luxor (and the intervention of good old common sense), dissuaded me from trying to stuff Jordan in my trip plans as well, and I spent a few days snorkeling, shopping, and simply BEING. Morgan from Isla de Ometepe was right. Dahab IS paradise. (Reiteration of question phrased above: How many beaches can one person really take? Answer: A LOT.) What makes Dahab, and really, the rest of the Sinai penninsula so different from the beaches in C.A. is that the reef comes RIGHT up to the water's edge. You have about 3 feet of sand, then straight up coral, then bottomless ocean, filled with fishies. Highlight: I think I saw a fish orgy. Lowlight: I saw a huge jellyfish out of my peripheral vision and went berzerk, started to scream, inhaled salt water, fought for the surface, and pissed myself right in the middle of a school of very unhappy fish. The jellyfish = plastic bag filled with water. FUCKING GARBAGE. For my first time (last time?) snorkeling, it was pretty cool. There's a photo of the Funny Mummy restaurant under the 'Egypt Photos' tab. Literally, the reef was RIGHT there.
Now the good stuff: Israel.

I'm going to add an Israel tab up top, so I'll try not to bog this post down with too many photos... but let me do a quick rundown of each day.

29th of September

- My arrival. It took 1 border, 2 buses, and 3 different trains (stupid Yom Kippur) to get to Nahariya... but when I did, I was greeted with Shiran's smiling face. And food!

- Nothing much for the rest of the day- tried to send some stuff at the post office, but was foiled. Shiran, Shiri, and Shiri's boyfriend came out with me for a birthday drink at midnight. It was nice.


30th of September

-Akko. FUCKING awesome. Very colonial, and mmmm- such good hummus

- Rosh Hanikra. Even better than fucking awesome! There's a photo under the 'Israel' tab. I've never seen water that blue- especially up close... well, except for maybe the Red Sea... but even so- the Mediterranean is better.

-Tel Aviv.... OK- I had planned to have as much fun as I could on my 25th birthday. It's a big one, right? But I had secretly, in my heart, been aware that being away from home, being away from everything that I know- it just wouldn't be the same. This is true. IT WAS BETTER. Of course, I would have loved to have everyone at home in Israel with me... but really... how many times in your life can you get smashed in Tel Aviv, reunite with someone you met in a foreign country two years ago, puke in 4 different locations throughout the city, and get carried home by a mixture of old school homies, and brand new ones? Here's a photo from that night. One of my best birthdays... EVER.



1st of October

- Woke up and immediately went for hangover munchies.

-Shopped all over town, and got to glimpse the seaside. First major city I've been to with beaches that weren't buried in garbage. Here's a picture of me with some hot young soldiers. God- I love a man with a gun... too bad they're all about 18 years old.


-All you can eat dinner just outside of Nahariya.

2nd of October


-The Golan
-The Sea of Galilee. It was really beautiful... but there were lots of people on the shore doing weird stuff. Pretending to walk on water earned me the stink-eye from everyone else there. It was worth the picture though.

-The famous bread-and-fish stone. I'll post the pic under the 'Israel photos' tab that I've yet to create. Too many pics for such a small space, I think. End the night back in Nahariya after scaling the border with Lebanon. Lots of tanks. Lots of fences.




3rd of October

-Ein Gedi and The Dead Sea. Watch me float on my belly! People weren't joking when they said not to put your head anywhere near the water. I got a drop on my lip and felt like puking when I licked it off. It also makes all your fragile parts burn. Stupid salt.


4th of October




-Jerusalem. I'm not sure what I can say to encompass what Jerusalem as actually like. Uhm- Historical? Chaotic? INCREDIBLE? The city itself wasn't all that much to look at... but we took a free tour around the city and it's fucking insane how much such a small plot of land can mean to so many people. Here's a photo of me at the Wailing Wall. I'm thinking of my prayer.





5th of October

-Hiking in Ein Gedi, and my departure. I won't write too much here. The area itself was ... uhm... rock-ish. From what I gather from my two lovely guides, there used to be a lot more water. It was still really pretty though.
This is a long post- whew! Tonight, I take off for Ethiopia, and I wanted to close the chapter on my Middle East experiences before I moved on. It's so odd being right in the midst of the Arab-Israeli conflict and yet meet awesome people on both sides, with such fascinating lives and such a friendliness about them... you can't help but be charmed. Really love this part of the world. Really love the food. Next time I come back, I'm bringing drawstring pants.

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