I absolutely adore deserts.
The Negev is no exception. In fact, it might be my new favourite desert. Is it a tiny bit weird to have a favourite desert? What's that? Oh, it's really weird? Well.... I mean.... Okay. Just kidding, I don't care at all. Deserts are awesome.
Tali and I spent a few days a couple weeks ago on a hiking adventure in the desert near Mitzpe Ramon, a sleepy town of 5000 perched on the edge of Makhtesh Ramon, the largest Makhtesh, or canyon caused by erosion, in the world.
On our first full day, we went on a 6 hour hike, hiking down into the makhtesh, across around half of it, up to the top of Shen Ramon, or Ramon's Tooth, the highest point in the canyon, back down, and then walking a bit more until we reached the road, where we caught a ride back up to town.
The view from the start, looking down into the makhtesh:
Happy hikers.
We made it down to the bottom!
The lone acacia tree, ostensibly the only tree in the canyon.
Beginning the trek to the top of Ramon's Tooth; the photo doesn't show it but this was pretty much straight uphill.
Finally at the top, and the view made it all worth it. Looking out in every direction and seeing no people for miles and miles around was insane.
Feeling on top of the world.
Or, on top of a world... because it appears that we might have landed on Mars.
And back at the bottom of the canyon, where we checked out the Ammonite Wall, which contains real prehistoric ammonite fossils.
It's not a night in the desert without some stargazing. Orion (sideways):
The next morning, we set out on a shorter hike, spending a couple hours hiking back down into the makhtesh.
We took a yoga break or two, of course. If you visit a scenic place and don't take dramatic yoga selfies, did you really even visit the place?
Our destination was Ha-Minsara, or the Carpentry, a hill completely covered with black stones that are near-perfect rectangles. Nature is crazy in its precision sometimes.
Very unclear on the bullet holes on this sign.
The view from the top of the Carpentry was gorgeous. We hung out for a while at the top, eating apples and homemade granola bars, taking goofy photos, but mostly just lying on the ground enjoying the sunshine. The only thing that wasn't enjoyable was the deafening sound of fighter jets from the nearby Air Force base passing above us every so often- sometimes flying so low that they were in the makhtesh instead of above it- but that's a classic Israel problem right there.
In the afternoon, we took the bus to a historic site in Avdat, a nearby town, and explored the Nabatean ruins there.
And then, sadly, we loaded our sleepy and sunburnt selves onto a bus and came back to Tel Aviv. It was an awesome little trip, and spending the subsequent weekend in Tel Aviv was lots of fun as well. Traveling with Tali (hi Tali I know you're reading this) and seeing Israel through her eyes was great. Nothing better than a travel companion who's on the same page as you and also genuinely relishes activities such as all-day hikes through the sweltering desert, Tel Aviv chocolate festivals, taking covert photos of ibexes in the desert, and wandering around cities at all hours of the day and night.
At the end of the weekend, I boarded a bus back up north to the Galilee to spend another week on the goat farm. It was lovely to be back; getting back into the rhythm of the farm felt so natural. Really glad I made it back.
On the farm, it's a tradition to give a short speech at dinner on your last night. I'm not much of a speech person, and last time I left, I managed to temporarily get out of the speech by promising I'd come back. This time, though I couldn't avoid it. My little speech was pretty spur-of-the-moment, but it got me reflecting. I sort of stumbled across Goats with the Wind through browsing the WWOOF website when I was planning my trip to Israel, and I feel lucky that I did. There's a palpable sense of magic there, and I feel very fortunate to have gotten to experience it, even for just a few weeks. It's funny, because all my Israeli friends were confused that I wanted to spend several weeks of my limited time in Israel on a farm in the middle of nowhere, away from the hustle and bustle of the cities, away from real life. And I didn't really have an answer for them, other than that "it seems cool."
But what I came to realize is that life on the farm is real life. It's is as real as it gets. Something that's very present there is the sense of impermanence; we pull weeds, new weeds grow in. The goats and the dogs and the sheep, they live and then they die. We grow flowers, and then restaurant guests pick all of them (Seriously. They make bouquets and flower crowns. It's annoying). Volunteers come and go. The only constant is change, and there's something comforting and beautiful about being a part of that cycle of change.
So I'm happy I found the farm. And I'm happy I came back this past week. Leaving was tough, but I know I'll be back again someday.
Now I'm in Jerusalem. I've spent the past couple days doing some last-minute souvenir shopping and sightseeing. I finally got the chance to explore the Old City at my own pace, but my Jerusalem adventures will be another post for another day- probably after I get home. First priority is my post on leaving Israel, which is coming up next.
xo
M
