One of the first surprises I encountered this morning was breakfast at the youth hostel in Mitzpe Ramon. I’ve been joking with friends that a required part of breakfast here seems to be either scrambled or hard boiled eggs. For breakfast, we had both. This leads me to wonder if eggs are a traditional part of Israeli breakfast, or if they’re trying to cater to Americans. It’s just an observation that I’ve made. I’ll be curious to see what we have for breakfast in Galilee.One of the first surprises I encountered this morning was breakfast at the youth hostel in Mitzpe Ramon. I’ve been joking with friends that a required part of breakfast here seems to be either scrambled or hard boiled eggs. For breakfast, we had both. This leads me to wonder if eggs are a traditional part of Israeli breakfast, or if they’re trying to cater to Americans. It’s just an observation that I’ve made. I’ll be curious to see what we have for breakfast in Galilee.
There were two major events today that I really enjoyed was going to the visitors center at Mitzpe Ramon. I had been wondering how the Big Machtesh was formed. The video they showed really helped to explain it. It also helps to give me a greater appreciation for the geological forces at work. It was also nice to go up to the observation decks at the visitors center to get a better view of the surroundings. The armillary sphere sundial was also awesome to see. I really enjoy science, especially astronomy and chemistry. The opportunity to see such an intricate sundial was a real joy for me. I spent more time looking at that than the Big Machtesh. I need to spend some more time reading about this type of sundial.
The Amillary Sphere Sundial
The biggest highlight for me today was doing the wadi walk through En Avdat. Dr. Rasmussen had warned us that the second half of the hike was pretty tough, but beautiful. I was worried about completing the hike, but I wanted to give it a go. When we first walked into the wadi, I was impressed with just how high the walls towered above us, and how much plant life there was in a location that was essentially desert. I know that the desert supports a lot of life, but this was beyond what I’d seen before. We even got to see a small lizard briefly. As we walked along, we came upon a small stream of water. Even though I knew to expect water, it was still a surprise because of the amount of water.
One of the first pools we encountered in the wadi.
As we continued to walk up steam, we encountered larger and larger pools of water and eventually we came upon a waterfall. It just seems crazy to see a waterfall in the middle of the wadi. It was at this point that I realized that our only options were to turn around, or to start climbing up. The only problem for me was that they only ascent I had noticed was a terrifyingly narrow set of steps. What was really impressive to me is that I kept seeing ibex scat all over the walls of the wadi. I knew in theory that ibex are capable of climbing up very steep terrain, but I didn’t expect them to climb terrain that steep. It almost makes me think that they have duct tape on their feet to allow them to do this.
The steps we took up to the top of the wadi are just to the right of this photo.
About half way up the climb, I took some time to pop into a cave that monks used to live in. They would have lived in these caves before there were the nice steps, handles, and ladders built into the wall of the wadi. The cave itself was just two rooms with one much smaller than the other. They both smelled strongly of ibex. Some people didn’t appreciate the smell, but it reminded me of the goats at the zoo. I’m a fan of the smell.
A view of the inside of the larger of the two rooms in the cave.
I asked Dr. Stone about the whole monk living in a cave thing and he gave me a good brief overview of why it was so popular. I had no idea that it was as popular as it was. He said it was not unusual for someone to have to wait several years for a cave to open it up. He described it as a form of “Extreme Spirituality.” He also pointed out that holiness living isn’t quite as hard when you’re living in a cave in the side of a wadi in the middle of a desert. It was all very enlightening, and I can almost see the appeal of this kind of extended spiritual retreat. Almost.
A view from inside a monk's cave looking out into the wadi. This is about half way to the top of the wadi.
While some people were prepping lunch, I decided to walk over to Ben Gurion’s tomb since we were already there. Sadly, I never made it to the tomb. The reason is that we encountered a bunch of ibex. I spent some time photographing them and watching them, and decided to move on. And then I found a large ram with massive horns, so of course I stayed and watched him for a few minutes. Just a little further down the path, I found two females and their babies. I sat down on a rock to watch them and the babies slowly came closer to me over a period of about ten minutes. The moms did not seem happy about this, but they allowed it. They got within about five feet of me and posed wonderfully for the camera. It was awesome! At this point, I was perfectly prepared to skip supper and enjoy the wildlife. Unfortunately, a man from another group came walking down the path making a lot of noise and startled them. At that point, staying would have been a lost cause. It was awesome while it lasted though!
Two young ibex. Their mothers are up above them but watching me warily.
The youth hostel we stayed at in Arad was really nice. It even had a square in the middle with lots of beautiful plants. The food was exceptional and served family style. Sitting there eating such delicious food with several friends was a great experience. It was one of the biggest highlights of the whole trip for me! After supper, a group of us enjoyed exploring a little bit of Arad. We stumbled upon the bakery that Dr. Rasmussen had ordered our pitas from for the next day. We went inside, and found some fantastic pastries. Four shekels got me a cheese filled pastry and an apple filled pastry. They were fantastic. After that, we found the mall and wandered around it for a few minutes. It confirmed my opinion of malls. No matter where they are, they just don’t appeal to me. But, it was fun walking around a new city and seeing where the residents of that community shop. It was an exhausting, but fantastic day.
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