Egyptian Adventure and Journeying with Jackie

---

---

Well I've been a bad girl, haven't I? I haven't blogged for what? 3 weeks? 4? But who's counting really? I feel like i'm writing a long-anticipated Harry potter sequel. I just hope the people at home reading this aren't like me, because I got sick of waiting and moved on to other reading material. So be warned: you are receiving this installment of blog-payment in a lump sum.

So where do I start? Purim. Was absolutely nuts. On kibbutz lotan, the Talmudic interpretation of Purim is this: read the Megillah, stick eveyone underage in front of a movie, and then the whole kibbutz gets drunk. I prefered to witness the event sober, and it was a blast. The theme was Woodstock, as if kibbutznikim, especially the folks in the bustan, aren't hippies enough. So there were all sorts of shenanigans and drunk dancing and lots of laughter. To give you an idea of how crazy it was: rabea said it was one of the craziest nights of her life. And she grew up in Germany.

Next stop, Egypt. Harley, nat, rabea, and I took the bus down to Eilat bright and early in the morning. The border was virtually empty, and we got through fine. We took a taxi to Cairo, sharing it with a French-Canadian couple to keep the cost down. On the way we stopped at a little cafe by the suez canal and had our first Egyptian food: delicious tea, and some strange dips with bread that turned out to be incredible. On the way there we read the lonely planet middle east addition in search of lodging. We arrived, and started wandering around Cairo looking for our hostel of choice. We got hustled a little bit, and let this random guy show us to a hostel. There were two places in the same building, and after looking s the first one, we checked out the second - which actually wasn't the one the guy had meant to show us. But it was on the roof, and had a 4-person room for 75 Egyptian pounds a night, which works out to roughly $3.75 per person per night. Not bad. So we put our stuff in our room, and went out exploring. The first thing we discovered is that traffic in Cairo is unlike anything any of us had ever experienced. I'm stll kind of amazed we survived all those street-crossings. We got some pastries and pizza from a bakery and ate them on this random grassy round-about. Then we checked out the market. It was nuts. I have to say that the stuff being sold in that market was some of the most pointless crap I've ever seen. I mean, there was good stuff, too. But a lot of crap too. The next day we went to the pyramids. Yup, the actual pyramids. And yes, they are REALLY really big. And yes, I will put up pictures of them. But you really had to be there. You've already seen pictures. (Speaking of pictures, the ones I am uploading this time are a little cross-section of Lotan and Egypt. For some reason they came out bad quality, so sorry about that...)
That night we had some excellent Egyptian falafel and called it a day. The next day we went to the Egyptian museum. We did it without a guide, so we did a combination of eavesdropping on tours in our various languages and making it up ourselves. The second one was more fun. We also hung out by the Nile a couple times. You know, just like everyone does all the time. NOT. It was special. And we felt special. We juggled outside the bus station while waiting for the night bus, and attracted a crowd of adoring children. That was mostly Harley and rabea though. Nat and I just learned how to juggle, so we're not really at the impressing people stage yet. The night bus to Dahab (a touristy beach town in the Sinai) was uneventful, except for a chunk of our bus falling off going over a speedbump in the suez canal tunnel. I was the only one who didn't wake up. It was right under my head. We got to dahab in time to see the sun rise. We found a hostel, and then crashed for a good 6-hour nap. Then we went swimming, ate dinner, and slept some more. That's a pretty inaccurate cross-section of our week, though. I think we slept less than 20 hours the whole week. One night we left the hostel at midnight to climb mount Sinai staring at 2am so we could see the sun rise at the top. Our guide was kind of a bust (we didn't want one in the first place, but they're required now) so we ditched him part-way up. We got sick of his 10-minute smoke breaks. Rabea had a stress fracture in her foot by this time, so she took a camel and met us at the top. The sunrise wasn't actually that impressive because it was a bit hazy, but we took the "steps of repentence" down, and that was well worth hiking at the buttcrack of dawn. The rest of our time in dahab we did some snorkeling, swimming, lazing round, and on the last night, some shopping. That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me: the four of us walking down the streets of dahab to whistles and cries of "lucky men!" I was a little offended that they didn't say "lucky women", but then again, rabi and I were the cuter 2 of the bunch. Just kidding. That's just patriarchal Egyptian/Arab culture for you. So that was Egypt. Crazy, hilarious, amazing.

I was back at lotan for less than 24 hours before leaving to meet my mom in Jerusalem. It was crazy to see her after 5+ months, but before too long it felt like no time had passed since we'd last seen each other. Sharone and Joe generously hosted us (my third time crashing their place), and in the morning we picked up our rented car and headed for the dead sea. Our adveture mist not have seemed exciting enough to fate, which decided to send us a car with screwed-up transmission. We were so intent just trying to get out of the city that we didn't realize until we were well on our way that our maximum uphill speed was 20 km/hr. We got really excited when it started approaching 70 (which by the way is only about 42 mph) until we realized that it was only because we were going downhill. 5 minutes later I was pushing the car the last few meters into a gas station. After working on the car for an hour the mechanic gave up and drove us back to Jerusalem where we got a new car. Second time was the charm, and this time we made it to a sleeping place. Not where we had planned - it was a coed dorm at the Ein Gedi Hostel instead of the private Zimmer mom had arranged, but it was a great place. I was definitely impressed that my 54-year-old mom was cool staying in a dorm at a hostel.
The next day we had an incredible hike at Ein Gedi. We ended up at the waterfalls and springs, where mom got in a splash fight with some 8-year-old school kids. That made my day. For the record it was actually only them splashing her. Mom was a great sport about it, cracking up along with them. We went for a mudbath and a float in the Dead Sea. So now I can say what everyone always says about the Dead Sea but that I couldn't really imagine or believe until I got there: you float like CRAZY. If you run in and sprawl out you just skim across the surface. It was great. That night we did stay in the Zimmer, which was quite the luxury as per my traveling standards. Wow, this day-by-day play-by-play is getting tedious. And I'm sure equally thrilling to read. After the Dead Sea we headed further north, staying at a couple of moshavim by the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) - sometimes with friends, sometimes not. Our favorite purchased accommodation of the trip was the Ohn-Bar Guesthouse one Moshav Amirim. We TripAdvisor-officially recommend it to anyone going to Israel. The Moshav is vegetarian, and the owner's son is a raw-foodie - my second of the trip! He made these amazing smoothies from foraged greens and bananas. I am getting inspired by all these new food prep ideas. We went to Akko, Tzfat, and Karmiel (although I'll admit the last one was for errands like replacing my broken phone). Akko was probably our favorite out of the bunch.

Staying with cousin (and niece) Sarah in Hadera was another big highlight of the trip. We went to Caesaria - one of the many beautiful and historically significant rock piles that grace this region. Apparently it was last inhabited by Bosnian refugees. We had a good laugh about that one, but I guess it is fitting for the rich randomness of this place. Mom and I went to the Diaspora museum in Tel Aviv. Mom's most thrilling moment was finding our family tree (including cousins in random places we had no idea about) in the genealogy database. Mine was finding out that yes, there were even Jews in China - at least at one point. Their synagogue looked like a pagoda. We both agreed that Sarah is pretty much the coolest person ever. We had some great conversations while we were there. I can't wait to see Sarah again at her Passover seder. Thanks for inviting me, cuz!

Next was Jerusalem. We stayed with mom's long-lost college friend Cheri, who is one of the most generous and accommodating hostesses I've ever met. She showed us a lovely and restful Shabbat. Hanging out with Cheri and her daughters, Miriam and Naomi (and I can't forget Naomi's boyfriend Ishai, who is a character and a half) really made the visit. One night we took everyone (including Sharone and Joe) out for Asian food as a thank you. One good thing about a country where Kosher is the national food trend - they have really creative sushi. As in not shellfish. Instead they put things like asparagus, leek, and Japanese omlette. Tasty.
Other things we did... the Old City, the Shuk, Yad VaShem, the Holocaust museum. It was an incredible experience, especially being in Israel and learning that history. It did make me think, though. How can a people that have suffered so much oppression and discrimination start to do those things to another people, like the Palestinians? I know it is not that simple. But being here I can't help but for questions like that to arise. And after being in this country for 3 months now, I have the same conclusion that I did at the beginning: there is no simple solution. I can't even begin to fathom the paradigm shifts necessary to start change. But it is extremely hard to know that both sides are suffering - in different ways, but nonetheless suffering. Despite all this I continue to have believe in the goodness of my fellow human beings and to have hope.

Okay, enough political spiel.

Mom left for the airport about an hour ago. She is an amazing travel partner and an even more incredible mom, and I feel so lucky that she was able to come join me for a few weeks of adventuring. I am also grateful for the 1/2 cubic meter of excess stuff she is currently carting home. I honestly don't know how I fit all that crap in my pack. All I can say is it is a relief have a smaller, simpler inventory. And less rocks. Thanks mom!

I suppose the last order of business are my upcoming plans. For reasons of geographic logicality I decided to Germany next, not Spain. From there making my way to Italy will be straightforward. It will also save me a pricey ticket from Spain to the evil axis region. On one hand this is sad - I may not see my friends in Spain for years. On the other hand, it gives me more opportunity for new experiences. I will now be staying in Israel until April 13. And man do I have some killer plans. I'll be meeting back up with Rabea, staying with Danniella in Tel Aviv (these are both friends from Lotan), having Passover seder with Sarah and her roommates, and going to a juggling convention up north. I'm pumped for the last one. Don't be too impressed. I can only do basic three-ball juggling, and 2 tricks. But hopefully that will all change by the end of the convention.

So that's it. Keep enjoying life at home and try not to be too jealous! 😊

---

Photos

dome
one of 10. they are all different.

lotan
taken from the bunker on the mountains across the road

purim!
remember, it was hippie-themed...

climbing on the geo-dome
one of our favorite pasttimes in the bustan. along with bonfires.

MUDFIGHT!
most intense mudfight of my life.

super-pyramids!
we rocked the pyramids.

the bus
that's what fell off under the suez canal. we kept going like business as usual. that's egypt for ya.

Dahab
Touristy. Beachy. Sleepy. Relaxing. Amazing.

Sinai
2 hours of sleep + 2 hour hike in the middle of the night + the most hilarious people ever = fun on top of sinai

pyramids
Did I mention that we did the pyramids on camelback?

Comments

[heni and dick krammer]

fabulous blog
Hi Maddy; What a great informative blog. We too had a very hard time in Cairo crossing the street especially by the museum. It was a round and curved around street, cars driving so fast so I, Dick, Terri, and Aunt Ellen all holding hands and praying for our lives. We are so glad that Mom went to Israel and spent time with you. I will be a lifetime experience for both of you. We have memories of all the trips we took to visit our children when they traveled to Europe. Continue having a safe and wonderful experience. We love and miss you and can hardly wait till we see you in June. Happy passover and say hello to Sarah and Ari. Love Grandma Heni and Grandpa Dick

[mshaw]

oops. some of the picture captions are out of order. enjoy!