yam el yam/ sea to sea
We left for Yam El Yam on Friday morning and drove to a spot on the Mediterranean coast where we met our guides, Tzukim. It was blazing hot by the water and a rough day for walking! Of course, since it was Pesach, our meals mostly consisted of matzah with chocolate spread of course(!), cucumbers, apples, pickles, canned corn, and easy food like that. We got backpacks where we carried our personal stuff as well as pots for cooking and the breakfast and lunch food. But, the buses met us every night, so we didn't have to carry our clothes and the company set up tents for us and made dinner!!!! Not at all like Kroka, for those of you who know what I'm talking about! The land in the north is beautiful, much greener than I expected with lots of taller foliage. We hiked all afternoon until we ascended a steep mountain to an overlook in the mountains where our camp was. It was an amazing view of some old fortresses and green hills, no civilization! There we had Shabbat services, ate dinner, and made a bonfire. I slept around the bonfire because it was so warm, although I didn't get much sleep because of other students talking late into the night.
Each morning, we were woken by a loud 'boker tov'(good morning) around 6:30, and we packed our food and loaded the bus. Saturday morning we had services and then left in the afternoon for a hike. Our guide Lee was amazing with the nature; she told us stories about the plants and animals and which plants were edible. We ate lunch by a stream and then hiked a different trail up the same mountain from the night before. This night, I slept in a tent! It was very tight with 4 people, but good for the body heat!
On Day 3, it was raining, and because I guess they didn't want to deal with 100 complaining people, we changed the schedule and drove back to the Mediterranean coast to Akko, an old Arab/Israeli city. There we got to go into an Arab market where the jewelry, clothes, music, and food were all tempting, especially because they were selling break on Passover!! I bought some bracelets and we just had a good time. It stopped raining after lunch so we drove to Mt. Moron where Rabbi Yochanan ben Zacchai escaped to and wrote the Zohar(kabbalah). From there we could see the ancient city of Tzfat. That night, we drove to a campground that had a covered area to sleep under because of the rain. The counselors slept in a completely different area where we also ate dinner and had a fire. It was very cold at night and so we had to wear very warm clothes inside our sleeping bags!
Day 4 is one of my favorite days... It was by far the longest-about 12 Km, but it was a beautiful day outside and we saw amazing scenery. At one point, we hiked through a field of wildflowers that overlooked other mountains and of course everyone began singing the Sound of Music songs! We also hiked down a mountain on a windy trail that overlooked a small village where some sort of festivities were happening and we could hear the music very loudly! And then we navigated in small groups for a while through cow pastures, following a spring until we reached an area to swim. It was shallow and cold, but we waded in anyway. It was amazing to see all of the families out on hikes throughout the trip, enjoying their week off for Pesach. And then we started ascending into deep forest that reminded me of the rainforest with roots and tall trees until we reached our campsite again! Our last night of Yam El Yam! Around 9 PM, we went out on a night hike and had about 45 min. of solitary time in nature to listen to the sounds around, etc... and then I went to sleep.
The last day was amazing also! We rode bikes for about 6 miles on dirt roads, mostly flat, but overlooking rolling hills, a stream, and the Kineret(Sea of Galilee). It was easy for me because I am used to riding bikes on much harder terrain and I guess just have willpower to keep going. It was also very hot and I got sunburned a bit.
Altogether, it was an amazing trip, although we didn't exactly hike from Sea to Sea. And, we ate a LOT of matzah and chocolate! Basically my diet for the whole week!!
We then spent a night in Haifa. All of EIE is divided into 3 sections of about 30 people each. The girls in my group, Yitzhar, stayed at a separate hotel from everyone else in Haifa. It was a nice hotel, a little sketchy because it rented by the hour. But, it was fun and we got to know each other better because there wasn't anything else to do (everything's closed because of Pesach). We went to services at night at a reform synagogue in Haifa where we ate dinner. It reminded me a lot of a synagogue in America, and they even had an American flag! On Wednesday, we went to Caesaria Beach which was beautiful for about 2 hrs. We weren't allowed to go in the water because of insurance, but we had a good time on the sand anyway. It was a nice relaxing day, one of the only ones here on EIE!!!
