August 6, 2013

This morning we woke up sprawled across the ground in the Negev desert. Although we initially weren't particularly happy about the 6 a.m. wakeup, once we began our hike and experienced the heat of even the early morning, we were grateful.

The bus dropped us off and we began our descent into the valley and traveled along the (dried) river, through the narrow bends and wide stretches out in the sun until we arrived to the middle of the canyon. The view was stunning and the sensation of complete isolation- we couldn't see anything but mountains in all directions- was one that most of us don't often experience and that was refreshing. Upon reaching the end of the hike we continued along a road until we reached the starts of a second hike that would bring us to the bus. The second leg was also beautiful with steep canyons, intricate flint and limestone, and even a stream of water that flowed through a waterfall we walked around. This part of the hike was extremely steep and had several challenging stretches (in one stretch that was literally vertical we had to use a ladder).

 Despite the sweat and stickiness we were all satisfied to have reached the top and glad we had been able to witness the landscape. After a re-energizing schnitzel lunch we headed towards the home of a Bedouin man who spoke to us about his lifestyle. His home was one large room with rugs covering dirt, a woven ceiling and was shared with several camels. Needless to say, it was quite a different experience than the Bay Area lifestyle. The Bedouin man, Salem, told us about how he abandoned his culture and camels in the desert to seize an opportunity to explore modern life in Tel Aviv when he was our age. He explained that after passing through the initial state of awe, he began to see the enormous cultural differences- he was shocked that so many people just walked by one another in the city without acknowledgement and didn't feel comfortable living in that sort of place.

He soon readopted the Bedouin lifestyle to which he was accustomed. He also spoke with us about his Israeli identity- how he and his fellow Bedouins consider themselves Israeli, some join the army, and almost all are willing to sacrifice any of their land if the army were to need it for any reason. It was interesting to witness the blend of cultures evident in his home- traditional stone used by his wife to grind wheat lying next to his laptop that he powers with solar panels outside his home. After meeting with Salem, we made the 2 hour trip to Tel Aviv to the kibbutz that we stayed in earlier in our journey. We are now preparing for our last day in Israel and resting from the exhausting combination of our late night in the desert, early morning and long hike in the sun. 

-Rachel Ferm