Day 12

Day 12 Petra and Eilat

Splitting up the group definitely felt odd. Half of us took a side trip into Jordan today, and the rest did their thing in Eilat (diving, snorkeling, touring). But what fun to be able to share our varied experiences!

I hope that these impressions help to jog the memory of those that were there and paint a bit of a picture for everyone else.

We entered a kingdom….yes, a kingdom with pictures of the monarch everywhere and an official stamp in our passports.

Just before we crossed the border, our perky English border helper warned, “You can get a free horse back ride, but you’ll have to pay a tip to get off.”

Our guide, Husseiya, stuck to his script, and only his script. How we missed Muki’s explanations (and his impeccable English!).

We climbed 5000 feet into the Edom mountains, covered with brilliant strips of minerals. So very rugged!

On the two hour journey to Petra we saw snapshots of life—Sunni women carrying young children; a group of boys running up a hillside with the dust flying; two goats following each other out of a store that was filled with chickens; a boy cleaning a rooftop with water and a broom and his mother appearing with her arms crossed; a herd of goats crossing the road. The poverty was evident, but so was the beauty--trees in every courtyard, rolling hills covered in rock and scrub, vistas and valleys, camels and sheep.

The cooler mountain air surprised us all. Our walk, we thought, wouldn’t be so bad after all. Down, down, down we went. Those holes aren’t caves, they’re ancient tombs, tombs, and more tombs. If you were rich, a tomb to yourself, if not, up to nine people shared your final resting place. Oh, but the beauty! Red rocks laced with yellow, black and brown. Carvings graced the walls as we continued down the path.

We went through the Siq (narrow canyon), went around a corner, and, just like Indiana Jones, beheld the spectacular view of the treasury. Wow. It really is as cool as it seems—just bigger. Those Nabateans were amazing!

Horses and horse drawn carriages helped some of us make it back up the hill (it was hot after all!), and Allison even had an adventure of her own, riding double along the hillsides with Mischa. We were all pleased she made it back safely.

A quick, yummy meal later, we were back on the bus. Two hours later we were at the border crossing—and home. Home. Yes, home. Israel.
After we arrived back at the kibbutz, we had a lovely dinner, and afterwards, some listened to a resident of the kibbutz talk about the kibbutz while others of us went out and played soccer.

The Red Sea is perennially listed as one of the best places to scuba dive in the world, and five of us took a wonderful opportunity to dive in Eilat. Three Glicks and two Schiffs did three dives and spent nearly three hours underwater. With 80-foot visibility and a huge amount of sea life, the experience was full of discoveries! Many of the species are similar to what one sees in Florida or the Caribbean: parrotfish, butterfly fish, wrasses, and sergeant majors, but the colors were often quite different. A cobalt-blue butterfly fish with concentric white circles around its whole body provided a gorgeous example. Then there were lots of species that were less familiar: lionfish, a stonefish, and large schools of two-inch bright orange fish with sky-blue eyes. Classic views of clownfish in anemone made us think of Finding Nemo!

At one point near the end of one dive, a family of parrotfish, including a male, female and a couple adolescents (identifiable by different colorations), entertained us by swimming in circles around us a mere arm’s length away. We just relaxed on the sandy bottom, watching, taking pictures and enjoying their choice to interact. I think they would have kept the show going all day, but unfortunately, we had to continue to shore.

Like everything else on this trip, we feel like we got a taste of what Red Sea diving has to offer, and only whetted our appetite for more! I guess we’ll just have to come back soon!

An evening soccer game was EPIC! Players accumulated over the course of the game until we had about seven or eight players on a team. In order to score a goal, you had to actually hit a specific tree with the ball, which proved to be very difficult. We were playing on grass (it was very cushy), so some of us went barefoot, which felt spectacular! Satchel was on the field the whole time and acted as the mediator, which was a good thing. There were a bunch of kibbutz kids who also played with us and were so much better than us for the most part. One of the things that was most fun to see was this tiny little kibbutz kid, Amos, totally whupping everybody. It was TONS of fun!

Sally, Dave, Rachel and Daniel Glick