From the North to the South

Day 30: Leaving Tiberius. Although we were not originally scheduled to leave Tiberius until Sunday (today is Saturday), we decided to leave today. We were enjoying Tiberius, but didn’t want to do the entire eight hour drive to Eilat in one day, and were mindful of the warning about driving in the Negev Desert at night. So upon awaking we enjoyed some time in the pool, ate a last lunch in our room, packed the car, and said goodbye to Tiberius. We elected to take the route from the north of Israel to the south traveling along the west side of Israel, instead of the more direct route through the West Bank. The drive was largely uneventful, except the almost-two-hour traffic jam from everyone heading back to Tel Aviv from holiday in the north.

Around 8:00 pm we finally arrived at our destination for the night: Camel Land in Mamshit (the Negev Desert). We had booked a “hut” which turned out to be a 12 by 16 foot wood structure built right onto the desert floor in the tradition of the nomads and shepherds living in the desert. We were the only folks at the place, and Monica kept mumbling “red-rum, red-rum” under her breath. We were shown to our hut and found that the floor was a mat sitting directly on the sand. The hut had five “beds,” each consisting of a padded mat on a cot. Also in the hut were some pillows for sitting on the floor and some low wicker tables. Our host made us some tea with desert plants, lit a fire for us in the wadi (dry gulch) next to our hut, and left us to look at the stars. The night was beautiful, and we all went to sleep and slept great. In fact, the accommodations turned out to be among our favorite.

Day 31: “One hump or two?” We awoke to find that Camel Land was located in a beautiful valley in the desert. And, right outside our hut was a corral with 40 camels. After watching the camels eat breakfast, we ventured over the outdoor café for breakfast ourselves. Breakfast included two types of cheese, breads, hard boiled eggs, yogurts, fresh lemonade, more desert tea, olives, and some coffee for Monica. But the real treat came after breakfast when we climbed onto three camels (Scott and Avi, Monica and Esti, and Beka alone) for our camel ride. The guide took us through the desert talking about the history of the place, while also talking about desert life and life with camels. The morning ended with some relaxing time in our hut before venturing into the desert to head for Eilat.

We decided to take a very minor road leaving Camel Land toward Eilat and wound our way up and over the desert mountains. The desert is striking and stark, and we all enjoyed the sight. Most notable was the Israeli Defense Force fighter jets practicing maneuvers directly overhead with the roar of the jets. Following the minor road we joined up with Route 90 which runs all the way from Lebanon to Eilat and drove the rest of the way. We found our hotel without problem and were pleased to find a spacious two bedroom apartment overlooking the pool. The hotel itself is lovely and the only drawback is the lack of internet access. However, we made up for that by finding a local restaurant with internet access, which allowed us to publish our previous posting. Following dinner, we slept the sleep of angels.

Day 32: Swimming with the Dolphins. Following breakfast in the room, we headed out in the car for the dirty secret of travelers: someone still has to do the laundry. Because there was no washer or dryer in the hotel complex, we dropped off our laundry at a Laundromat and appreciated the convenience for this special occasion. We then headed for Dolphin Reef where we had a chance to spend the day watching the dolphins swim and swimming ourselves. The dolphins were magical, swimming and jumping solo and in pairs, looking like they were part of some wonderful choreography of nature. In between watching the dolphins, we spent time on the beach and swimming with the tropical fish. We finished up the day with dinner in a great vegetarian restaurant and a walk along the Red Sea before retiring to our apartment.