Watching the Sun Rise Over the Negev Desert

" The sun rises, and the sun drops away. While hundreds of years roll by. The desert is calm, bursts to storm, then silence steals back too its place."

-Chaim Nachman from 'The Dead of the Desert"

The Alpaca Farm and the Epic of the Lost Keys

The next day, we went to the visitor centre in Mitzipi Ramon and our host took us to see a movie about the desert. We enjoyed the fabulous vistas at a lookout point and Adi dropped us off at the Alpaca farm and left us to our own devices. When we arrived he was adament that he only had one set of keys which were lost by one couchsurfer, thus the blue lanyard attached, so "BE CAREFUL GUYS!". We walked around the farm, had a presentation about Illamas and Alpacas and why there was farm here. Above you can see Jack admiring 'Bambi' the Ilama who was used as a demonstration. Ilamas and Alpacas are indigenous to South America but the owners brought them to Israel after living with native peoples in many countries (such as Bolivia and Peru) and learning about the ways of the animals and their sacredness to the peopes there.

In Israel the Ilamas have begun to be used by the Israeli army to carry supplies. They can withstand extreme temperature, can carry a lot of weight on saddle bags and are very calm. They could be in the midst of war, with bullets flying overhead and will sit quiet and still, chewing their cud. The lady doing our presentation was very nice but did not possess all the words in english to describe some of the Ilamas habits, we had a great time trying to use words to help her describe their poo: "excrement?", "feces?", and we finally decided "turd" was appropriate...like a bunny, heh heh.

The Alpacas are smaller animals and like the ilamas are distant relatives of the camel. They are mostly used for their soft wool, and are a bit more excitable then the Ilamas. When the presentation was through, we were given a canister of food pellets and let loose to walk around. The Ilamas and alpacas mostly were given free range of the farm and ket in check by the border collies...to make sure they did not run away.

We wondered out among them when we heard a peculiar noise. "grough, grough, grough, spppp......", the alpacas had by this point encircled poor Jack as I jumped backwards nervously. He was trying to reach out and feed them, but when one animal was not getting its share it prepared to spit! Ilamas and alpacas spit their cud, food regurgitated from one stomache to another (similar to a cow). We both got spit on a few times but it washed off, although the smell lingered. By the bottom of the food canister we were more content to feed the ponies, donkeys, horses, ilamas and even the dogs...but nt the alapaca's because we prefered not to get spit on.

Afterwards we set off into the desert and walked back into town, had lunch and meandered. We were about to pick up some groceries and to our surprise the keys were missing!!!! An epic search ensued. We walked back to the patio we ate our falafal on, we walked back to the apartment, back to the watertower, we even had the audacity to sneak by our hosts place and peak in his truck to see if they fell on the seat! We felt horrible! After his implicite instructions to "NOT LOSE THE KEY!", back up the big hill to the visitor centre, Jack and I walked dejectedly in the glaring, mid afternoon desert sun. We searched the entire centre while one of the ladies working there diaed the Alapaca farm. The keys were found!!! Now we only had to walk all the way outside f town, about a five mile trek to the farm. We set out, with water in tow and walked along the crater edge, the Ramon Mahktesh. We met a nice dude bicycling and chatted, rested beside an army compound (where we saw an Ibex and two babies!), and began to cut through a rocky outcrop when a large blazing white landrover pulled into view on the road. We ran towards it and the lady asked if we needed a ride. "We are going the otherway"..."jump in" she said and she drove us to the farm, we picked up the keys and deposited us outside of a key cutting centre. She thought we were nuts walking out there without a hat! All is well that ends well, we presented the newly cut keys, our fantastic adventure and a botte of wine to Adi and his wife later that evening...

-DDDDDDD

Mitzipi Ramon and the Negev desert

We took the bus from Tl Aviv to Be'er Sheva and then jumped on another to Mitzipi Ramon (pronounced Mitz-ahh-peh Rah-Mone...Jack had trouble buying the ticket b/c no one could understand his mispronounciation!)

The bus was loaded up with soldiers heading to the huge army/ training base in the Negev and Jack and I stared out the windowin awe at the desolate and alien landscape that stretched before us. The bus driver was a young guy with a smile plastered on his face and was wearing a mint green shirt and black tie. He bopped along to the music as we hurtled through the rocky desert...I remember the song playing distinctly, it was the fifties classic "Its my Party and I'll Cry if I want To."

Upon our arrival to the tiny town of Mitzipi Ramon, we hunkered down for a falafal to find our bearings. All one could see for miles was rocks, dust, and an endless blue sky. We had arranged two couchsurfers in the town, and we dialed up our first host Adi. When he arrivd he excused himself to go into the corner store then drove us to where we would be staying. To our surprise we would be occupying Adi's mothers apartment that she frequented every few monthes, in other words we got our own pad! Out of the bag of things he bought at the store he pulled out chocolate chip-hazelnut cookies and a few beers. We got acquainted and Adi showed us around the place.

That night we went over to his beautiful house down the street. He gave us a tour of their garden in the back, full of herbs and fruit trees. Then we relaxed on the rooftop terrace with his wife, who served us tea (made from the garden herbs) and wraps (veggie for me and chicken swarma for Jack). They were the most hospitable hosts and we chatted for a bit. Adi is a theatre teacer at the local highschool and spends his summer vacation writing (currently a book of shortstories based inthe serene desert town of Mitzipi Ramon).

I gotta wrap up the post for now...we are going snorkling (we are in Egypt by the way)...but internet access is secure so more posts will follow shortly! I will regal you with stories about Alpacas spitting, the lost keys, traversing the endless desert, seeing a hyena, sleeping under the stars, hitchhiking, the longwinded process of trying to cross the egyptian border, the crazy bedouin drivers in the Sinai and all about Moses and the Ten Commandments! Phew, that was alot. I am going to get biblical on you!

-Delilah

P.S The weather in the desert was beautiful...imagine...it even got cold at night! It is a dry heat during the day- no humidity like Tel Aviv and nighttime was comfortable and breezy....

Shalom שָׁלוֹם

Sorry it has been so long for a post! After our initial arrival in Tel Aviv we have been sightseeing and absorbing the Israeli culture! We have been staying with a girl named Noa from the couchsurfing community (if you have not heard of it check it out!) who had been so kind to host us for a couple of days. She tok us out with her friends, to the beach, a restaurant she enjoys and we have had many great adventures. It is extremely interesting meeting somebody from Israel, to recieve the inside scoop about the city and about Israeli life in general. Noa (not like Noah's ark she informed us...which is mispronounced when it is anglicized....it should sound like Noa(esh)) grew up on the Kibbutz and has been living in Tel Aviv for the last year.

Jack and I were excited to meet Noa. After we called we set up a meeting place near her house, where we waited for her after work after having a nice nap in the park. We walked to her place in a quiet and beautiful suburb of the city called Kiryat Ono. After introductions...and a much needed shower!.... we hit the town. We spent a few days traversing Tel Aviv...going to an outdoor antique market on Sabath (Israeli weekends span Friday and Saturday and the week starts Sunday unlike our own weekend), went to the beach, went hat shopping for her friend, visited an awesome indian restaurant (where we spent the night on the terrace roof for very cheap). We split up for an evening and Jack and I stayed in a hostel in the Old Jaffa District of the city and spent some time being smashed by the waves on the mediteranean coast plus getting a mean sunburn (Boo).

Last night we returned to Noa's for a farewell dinner and to retrieve our bags. We are planning a trip to Galilee for the weekend after next so we will meet again. I have to finish up the post as we are catching a bus to the Negev desert in the south...will update soon! Lots to say!!!!

The beach at sunset.....breathtaking!

The Port of Old Jaffa.

The crazy cats in Kiryat Ono, whom are fed by an old lady. There are so many of them, I could not believe it! When we went back to Noa's we remembered how to get there after seeing the cats milling about near dusk...heh heh...
A cool performance artist at the artists market that opens on Friday mornings....He was surreal.

-DDDDD and JJJJJJ

Amazing Graffiti in Tel Aviv

Well Tel Aviv take ths prize for the best Graffiti we have seen on our trip so far. The walls of this city are plastered with amazing street art which reveals the cool vibe the city emotes. Some are politicized, some pose for pure asthetic purposes, and there are many identifiable artists who do multiple pieces around the city. We'll post more from around Israel as we head south!

-Jack

Arrival!!! At Last!!!

We finally have arrived!

The last three days have been absolutely exhausting but Jack and I are ready to go explore the city of Tel Aviv...After a much needed shower that is. We notice that flies were suspiciously hovering only around us at the airport in Bucharest...hmmm...hope our smell did not offend anyone.

Our last day in Bulgaria we loitered at the train station aka laid on the floor and devoured our books until our departure time at 22:00. Side note: currently Jack is reading 'What is the What' by Dave Eggers and I am infatuated with 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' by Azar Nafisi. Anyways our last super cheap meal in Bulgaria was pizza and peanuts and then, as I mentioned previously, our destroyed loaf of bread that was better suited to feeding birds.

The train was a soviet era 1950's contraption, which had windows that would not open, despite the ferocity we used to try and crank them. I slept fitfully in the heat but at least it was a bed not the ground or an uncomfortable bus seat. The toilet on the train, when you flush it your excrement and pee goes right onto the tracks!!!! I personally could not get over that part! But I guess it is better, au natural.

The comrades arrived in arms in Bucharest at 6 am, a city not known for its good reputation. We meandered, we weighed our options and slept in a park. One was on lookout duty with the other caught some much needed shut eye. We only saw a few questionable characters, including a raving old lady complete with a cigarette dangling in her mouth and a two-litre bottle of the cheapest beer money can buy in Eastern Europe. Luckily she chose to bypass us in her ramblings, likely because she thought we were in the same circumstance as herself...sleeping on a park bench and all, or so we joked.

Arrived at the Otopeni International Airport and killed time playing Rummy and chess with our new friend Clara... a nice Romanian woman who could speak Spanish, Italian, Romanian, English and Dutch! She fed us traditional Romanian pastries and a green pepper (who she curiously ate like an apple)! It was amazing! She had a soft spot for Canadians as her husband hailed from Vancouver.

Our flight did not board until 21:00. It was a small Romanian Airlines plane; 737 Boeing. Eager to take off, Jack and I sat and waited while the engines revved up. We held hands as the plane prepared for take off when, all of the sudden a muffled voice came over the speaker phone. We could not quite make out what th voice had informed us of as we exchanged hesitant glances with the Romanian gentlemen seated next to Jack. The plane returned to the hanger. People stretched their legs as the lights cam back on. After a half hour delay, Jack and I held hands, tighter than before as I had become quite nervous about the flight by this point. The plane shuddered to life, we approached the runway, the pilot tested the brakes one more time and we ascended into the dark, starless night... A blood red moon hanging low on the horizon was creeping towards us, visible from the right hand window. It leant an eeriness to the whole experience. Anyways, we arrived in one peice after almost three hours. And to our delight, they fed us! The food was terrific!

Israel. Customs was no problem. We spent the night sleeping in the airport as it was past midnight by the time we arrived and we (a) were too cheap to pay for accomodation for the night and (b) were hesitant to go wandering around a city we knew nothing about in the dead of night. The chairs were very uncomfortable but we made do. Ventured into the city and here we are!!!

Arranging to meet up with a friend of a friend to see the city and get a tutorial in Hebrew...so far our impressions/ observations of Israel:

• It's hot!
• There are palm trees everywhere
• The food looks delicious
• There are soldiers everywhere (military enrollment is a requirement for both men and women)

Too tired to think of anymore, will update soon....

Shalom, Delilah

Heading out today....

Quick update.... We are jumping on a night train to Bucharest, scrambling to the airport and flying to Isreal (Israel...I can never spell it!).... Next post will be from Tel Aviv!!!! We are starting to run short on funds so we are eating a loaf of bread for dinner, bon apetite....


-DDDDDD + JJJJJJ

P.S

Picture via Engage

Back in Good Old Eastern Europe...

Where erotic sex shops are on every street corner and women can not only wear shorts (yeah I can wear shorts comfortably again without men Oggling me like in Turkey!) but they can wear pretty much any amount of cloths they desire! Women go topless on the beach!

We arrived in Varna, Bulgaria on Saturday. We wandered around for a bit, followed some dude from our bus looking for a hostel which was unsuccessful (a french canadian muscle man), had tea, slept in a park, and finally found accomodation using the internet at a gamer lair called DOOM. The initial thing we noticed is that it is so much different from Turkey here although it is only about an eight hour bus ride away...we noticed the culture is much more liberalized as I mentioned above the freedom women possess; women work in shops, go to bars alone etc etc....

Anyways we are having the strangest experience in the strangest hostel that I am not so keen on... we have a few days to kill before we have to get to Bucharest (Romania) to catch or flight to Israel. Yes! We are going to Israel!!! Woo hoo!!! So basically we have been relaxing on the coast of the Black Sea. There is not much otherwise to do in Varna except drink cheap beer.

We arrived at our hostel which is inhabited by S.African, British, American men who all like to drink. Here they serve Vodka for breakfast out of the 'famous' funnel while free beer and icecream is handed out at seven. I politely declined the funnel at nine in the morning before we were shown our room. The main hostel is full so we have been placed in another apartment about ten minutes away. The apartment is occupied by said men who work for accomodation. It is pretty filthy; think six single dudes who drink a lot of beer in one small apartment...hmmm... They are pretty nice I guess, but it is not my cup of tea for sure.

Jack and I are not sure of our plans for the next couple of days, we fly out Wednesday night... we will see what happens... it might be another beach day tomorrow.... I'll update soon....

-Dededededelililililahahahahaha

Some more Pictures From Turkey...

We left Turkey...hopped on the bus and hit the open road! It was sad departing our little apartment, but we were itching for something new. Here are a few of my favorite pics from when we were traveling about with the units....

PPPPeeaaacccee, Delilah

Interview with the Parents

So our whirlwind tour of Turkey has sadly come to an end. Shipped the parental units off last night (with postcards to mail from Canada b/c it is so much cheaper! heh heh). To conclude their travels I decided to host a brief interview of their experiences, perceptions and (mis)perceptions of Turkish culture.

Question 1. You were culture shocked! What were the most shocking things you saw?

• Your neighbourhood; kids running around at all hours, garbage floating around, stray cats and dogs everywhere, the men selling random things from the backs of trucks, when a truck came spraying pesticides on the kids and women, when they had a herd of sheep and they slaughtered one right in the street! Roosters crowing although we are in the most urban part of the city.
• The toilets!!! " 'cuz they are just a hole in the ground surrounded by ceramic and you have to squat over it. Not a big fan."
• The streets; people weaving among cars, taxis driving aggressively, narrow steep streets
• The restaurant district and how pushy they can be.
• A woman sitting in the dirty street in her wedding dress
• How well dressed people in the slums are
• No one wears a helmet on motorcycles and mopeds
• How cows and horses graze beside a four lane highway and there is no fences to stop them from going on the road
• Men selling water on a big highway at night, weaving between cars
• How men sometimes gawk at single women... especially the blondes! More so than home even!
• How swank the buses are- stewards serving drinks and treats; also how the spare bus driver sleep under the bus with the luggage!
• In small towns people drive tractors like cars with the whole family loaded in the back
• Muslim women swimming the full hijabb
• The food! not like home hence Daddy-O's gastrointestinal illness

Question 2: What is the same to home?

• McDonalds, Burger King etc... (McDonalds has a McTurk burger heh heh)
• Irish Pubs
• People dress pretty much the same except for the predominance of muslim women, which we have at home but not as many

Question 3: Favorite places or experiences?

Mom-

1. Shopping in the bazaar and Istiklal cadessi... "I am bad at haggling though!"
2. Visiting my first mosque, much different than a church but very beautiful.
3. Boat cruise of the Bosphorus was relaxing
4. Loved the Topkapi palace, the Harem and the "Big diamond... which was 186 karats!!!"
5. Cappadocia was "Freaking awesome"; the underground city was "amazing but scary"; our cave hotel was beautiful, peaceful and the staff was astoundingly friendly
6. Fields upon fields of sunflowers on the Gallipoli peninsula
7. Trying 'real' Turkish Delight

Dad-

1. Seeing the old mopeds they drive around, some more than 30 years old!
2. Gallipoli, the tour of Anzac cove
3. Going to the Flintstone bar with a young Canadian couple we met, they have a fire going there...and good music
4. The best night was the night on the town with our Turkish movie star friend in Istanbul!
5. The 160 km per hour ride down the mountain from our Cabbie guide that took us on the Anzac tour; Mom put her seatbelt on as they hammered it down winding roads and he laughed exclaiming "Do not worry! I drove a tank for 18 months!"

Question 4: Overall impressions? Messages?

• Even more different than we expected! But fun!
• The Turkish people were extremely friendly and very hospitable and nice (way friendlier compared to our trip to Scotland!)
• It is safe! Some people in Canada view Turkey as a very dangerous place which it is not at all... we felt safe the entire time!

And so Jack and I continue on the last leg of our journey... Two brave souls set out into the great unknown... We are thinking about camping out on the Black Sea for a few days before catching a flight to Isreal.