Hanging in the Balance

Friday, December 31, 2010

Eilat...a beach town on a rainy day

Well here we are in the desert, the southern most tip of Israel in the beautiful beach resort area of Eilat. Only one problem....it's cloudy with a little rain.Now, it hasn't rain here in 3 months and rain is very unusual, but leave it to us..today the temperature dropped to 60 from 80 when we arrived and clouds came in. Almost unheard of! Yesterday after arriving here , we decided we were going to spend a day relaxing at the beach, since we have been doing so much hiking and walking.Well, the bathing suits remained in the luggage ,but we managed to nicely make lemonade out of lemons and had a nice day despite the weather.Rebecca and I slept in....I mean really slept in until about 11:30....I haven't done that since college ! But it felt great, my body needed it.We have been getting up early 6-6:30 each day to get an early start so we can do as much possible in a crammed itinerary . Finishing when the sun goes down, maybe taking a short rest then out again at night.It's been busy but we are seeing and experiencing such fabulous things .There is so much to see in this little country,it amazing! Israel is the size of New Jersey. We can fit more than two Israels' in the state of Florida. But as you can see from my blog , there is endless possibilities for fun no matter what your tastes are. The last time we came here in 2006, We saw all the main highlights of Israel. This time I tried to gear the itinerary to a more " off the beaten tracts" of things to do. Doing a lot of things local Israelis would do, not the tourists.So far it's been a great itinerary and we all all having a blast. New adventures every day and some much over due time with Rebecca..well I am going to brag just a bit here. It's amazing to see how independent she has become, so confident, do daring to be herself, not what anyone else wants her to be. She speaks Hebrew beautifully and I love watching her converse to Israelis. She has such a good soul and a real zest for life and new adventures. It is contagious and I feel young and spry around her, even at 50 years old. At the same time she is mature enough to talk to about anything with ease. I hope she feels the same way. These past few weeks have been great quality time with her, with lots of laughter and pure old fashioned fun! She has a childlike sense of adventure and learning that is wonderful to see. I have been a proud mama......well back to Eilat..after a leisurely morning, we started walking around Eilat, which was nice. We did some eating ( Israeli style) in a local cafe. Went to a local mall and did some shopping for a few things Rebecca needed. Her suitcase is ripping ,but instead of a new suitcase, she wanted one of those huge backpacks like you see backpackers going through Europe with . They can fit as much as a medium suitcase.Her next break is in April and she and some of her friends are going to be going traveling to Europe. They aren't sure of the exact itinerary but right now they are thinking Greece, Italy and Spain.I always want my kids to do this kind of independent travel, but I also think of her safety. I will worry no matter what. Like I have said in previous blogs, it's my job to worry about them, no matter how old , mature or independent they are.But I want them to do things to broaden their knowledge of the world and to see the wonders out there. We have been doing this since they were little, traveling since they were toddlers, taking them with wherever we went all over the world from much of the United states including Hawaii,to Italy, England, Ireland, Israel, Austria,Switzerland,China , Japan, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Vancover, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and multiple cruises etc. We always though it was a source of education for them as well as time together as a family, and with our busy lifestyles was always a challenge, but always at the top of our list. My kids both feel comfortable traveling on their own now, which is great...and the traveling bug we implanted in them will surely be passed down to their children. ( which i am hoping come not to far off so I can take my grandkids on a trip)........I keep diverting from Eilat. After a full day we went to a movie..The little Fockers....it was interesting to see how Israelis go to the movies. It was a huge theater that looked like it had been for live performances at one time.All done in that theater red like on Broadway. There was also an intermission which Rebecca says is the norm.Then we went back to the hotel and packed up for a trip to Jordan in the morning.
European

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

More pictures of a day of adventure

And the day continues

That is where I just rappelled! It was Sababa! ( awesome in Hebrew)

An ibex at the bottom of the cliff

Looking for sand dunes. That's our car in the backround. We know they are here somewhere .....

Dunes!

Rolling....

Rolling

Jeff rolling

Arrived at rock canyon

A trio

Whoa!

Suck it in

Almost there

Family photo

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A day of Adventure !

Today was a day packed with an adrenaline rush! We started the day off rappelling off the side of the Ramon Crater. It was so much fun( actually a mixture of sheer terror and exhilaration )that I did it twice. After this morning jolt( better than coffee) we headed further into the Negev desert to the Kassui sand dunes where after a longer than expected hike off the main road we rolled down huge sand dunes like we were kids again. Needless to say ,when we were done rolling , we had sand everywhere,even where the sun doesn't shine. But we got our second adrenaline fix for the day. Continuing deeper into the desert, we came to Red Rock Canyon where we went on the best hike of the trip so far. We slid down narrow passages,climbed steep rocky canyon walls with huge cliffs only inches away from us.It was not only fun ,but beautiful as well with a new adventure at each turn.Rebecca said she felt like she was 10 years old playing on the rocks, sliding down slippery slides made of rock. It really was great.Again, a beautiful day with lots of adventure in the land of milk and honey.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Getting geared up for rappellin

Learning the ropes...haha...I made a funny!

Here I go -first time

This is great!

Am I down yet?

Gamla

Today we started off with a new guide,Sara. She is a medical researcher in the endocrinology dept. She has worked on some chemotherapy including some estrogen blockers in various cancers. We tried not to talk shop. She has also been an archeologist and knows every flower and plant that grows in Israel and what it is used for.She knows her country inside out and is a fabulous guide in contrast to the one we had before .We went to Gamla in the Golan heights for some hiking .We started out hiking to a beautiful waterfall, one of the largest in Israel.The day is beautiful, sunny and about 70 degrees, great hiking weather.She pointed out a lot of new vegetation coming out after a dry summer and some fires last summer.We also went to the vulture observatory .Here in the Gamla they take care of sick vultures, mostly by poison used by farmers to try to protect their cattle and other animals from wolves and other animals in the wild.The vultures get accidentally poisoned when they eat the dead animals.The people who work at the Gamla in cooperation with Tel Aviv University have a rehab area here to take care of these sick vultures . The Gamla has the largest number of vultures in the whole middle east and they try to protect these birds from extinction.They collect the eggs laid by the females and keep them in a hatchery until they hatch since so few eggs can survive predators. They keep the babies in cages in Gamla for 3 years teaching them how to eat, then let them go. We saw several flying in the sky, but I couldn't get them on my camera, however Jeff did. The whole vulture drama was really interesting. We then hiked down another very steep and rocky path towards the ruins of the old village of Gamla which was destroyed in a very bloody battle with the Romans. The hike was 2 hours there and 2 back,but as sundown is at 4:30, we rsn out of daylight to complete the whole trip.Hiking all day was a lot of fun. We then drove through the Golan which belonged to Syria until 1967 a and they tried to reclaim it from the Israelis in 1973, but failed in a massive tank battle with leftover mines in the area . We were warned to stay on the hiking paths as last year a little boy lost his leg when he stepped on one of those old mines. After a great day full of information and great hiking we drove to Jerusalem to our next hotel, the beautiful and grand Dan Jerusalem on Mount Scopous. the 2 hour car ride was filled with political talk between Jeff and Sara.Fortunately they had similar views on Israeli politics in contrast to the last guide was a sharp contrast to Jeff's views.
It was a great day!

View of Gamla

The flower from this makes coumarin

Waterfall

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Negev part 3

More pictures of the Negev Desert....

Going into the

tent for a bedouin lunch . These people wander the desert known for their hospitality. They also have multiple wives. This is another group from New York