A Trip of So Many Firsts
A lot of time, people travel for the experience. Whether those experiences are new or familiar, being somewhere else can evoke some of the most meaningful experiences that a person can have in their life. For me, I travel for the "first-times": the first gothic cathedral I saw, the first time I drove on the left side of the road, and the first Israeli soldier I met. Today, I experienced a myriad first-times.
After getting only 45 minutes of sleep, I woke up in a Bedouin tent. As a part of the Birthright Negev Experience, all members of Bus 273 were crammed into a 50 foot long, authentically covered in goat hair tent. Omitting the switch-powered lights strung from the ceiling and the dozen iPhones charging in the corner, the experience was notably authentic. An orchestra of my peers' snoring, crickets cricking, and my own crowded thoughts kept me up until our 7am wakeup call.
Groggy and a little dusty, we all made our way over to take a camel ride around a small portion of the Negev. Think of it as a 1-loop go-cart track for camels -- anti-climactic maybe, but extremely entertaining.
Re-boarding the bus, we set out for Ben Gurion's grave. Ben Gurion was Israel's first Prime Minister and we briefly studied his life in a mock game show activity. Mounted on the sides of the path leading to the site, several ibex stared us down while we gawked at their ribbed horns.
From the grave, insipid views of Ein Uvdat (the white rock gorge we would soon be hiking) appeared. The white rock gorge required an hour long, strictly uphill hike that challenged us with vertical ladders and distracting views of the impressive nature-scape behind our group. After many victorious pictures at the top, Bus 273 made its way to Machtesh Ramon -- the largest naturally-formed crater in the world.
We paired the idyllic views with a short meditation led by another group member that served as a much-needed pause from the chaos of our daily schedule. As our fatigue slowly left us after lunch, we bussed to the Dead Sea. After seeing so many advertisements of the weightless waters, floating for a good hour in this famous landform was so exciting for me. The advertisements were true, but what they didn't include was how salty the water actually was!
Across the water, the border of Israel and Jordan was marked by shallow mountains and the hazy horizon. It was another first for me, an extremely memorable one at that; but after 20 minutes in the water, we were ready to continue on in our adventure. Our hostel resided just down the road, and our heightened energy was soon channeled into our third location of the day and a closing game for the evening. As the day came to an end, many of us wearily moved to our rooms since our impending 3am wakeup call would soon lead us to the top of Masada.
Reflecting on the new experiences I had today reminded me of how lucky I am to have received this gift. There is no gift like it anywhere.
Photo Credits: @lilpnina,
