Reflecting on my Favorite Taglit Day
The day began with Elaun-And-Ill-Be-Your-Tourguide (though we call him Elaun for short) running around the Bedouin tent and obnoxiously blasting music. With tired eyes, we shoved aside the shi-shi-fru-fru gals putting on make-up, ate breakfast, and got in line for riding camels.
It turns out that camels are really sassy, kind of smelly, and a bit scary. It was pretty awesome. After a rickety ride, it was time to leave the Bedouin tent and go hiking. Today was the day in the Negev. Despite being in the desert, there was a lot of life around us. We took a hike in a canyon that was home to many birds and other strange animals. There were also many plants, like the tasty maluah and the merciful shady trees. It was a beautiful hike to a waterfall and up to a gorgeous view. Like all Israeli trails, it ended with a giant staircase and ice cream (for some reason hikes in Israel all seem to end that way).
We breaked for lunch and headed off to the salad trail. The salad trail is basically a delicious garden/farm located right in the middle of the desert. We were lead from greenhouse to greenhouse (with cheesy farm music) and got to taste fresh fruits and vegetables. We visited Elauns safe-place, a "wonderland of cornicultural magic". It was a the tomato green house, and it had by far the best tomatoes I had ever never tasted. Elaun ran around like a three-year-old, jumping up and down and screaming with joy. There were four or five different types of tomatos, each one tastier than the one before. My favorite was the zebra tomato. We also got to pick carrots (I got a large purple one and several yellow ones), and eat fresh strawberries. They also had a pasionfruit slushy that was the tastiest slushy I had ever had, made from then passion fruit they grow on premise. The salad trail ended much too early and we were off again to our home away from home away from home (or bus).
We went to a location from the Israeli war for independence. It was the location of the first battle. Apparently, a crucial piece in winning that war was being able to tell central command at Tel-Aviv quickly that the enemies were attacking. Here, carrier pigeons were used to carry the message, which were much faster than most other ways to transfer messages at the time. At this location, the tour guide brought some carrier pigeons and I got to hold one. It was really fuzzy and had a tendency of turning its head 180 degrees around and trying to peck at me. From there we drove to the Ein Gedi field school, where we would nap until waking up at 3:30 am to climb Masada.
Photo credit: @s_gibbor (header)
