Israel is incredible. It exceeded all of my expectations in every possible way. The land is beautiful, the culture is fascinating, the food was so varied and delicoius and the people so so open.
We visited Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Haifa, Tel Aviv, the River Jordan and Masada. Our guide, Eldad, was brilliant. If I could, I would have taken him home with me. He had so much to say about Islam, Israel, Jerusalem, history…. gosh, so much left to learn about this part of the world!
The Dead Sea has got to be my favourite body of water for the mere fact that it’s as warm as bath water. So slippery and amazing. That water is chemical! They say if you drink one glass of water from the Dead Sea, you will die a terrible death. I accidentally got some of it in my eye and it was SCARY! Such an amazing experience!
Jerusalem was the most spiritual part of the trip for me. You can just feel a spiritual presence there, from all three of the world’s major religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. There is an awe inspiring vibe there that I couldn’t really grasp but you could feel it in the air. The place is so fragile and unstable that many say world war III will star there. For a place to be so contested and fought over amazes me and brought even more power to the place. Something moved inside of me, though I can’t really pinpoint what.
I managed to learn some Hebrew as well:
“Toda” – Thank you
“achla sababa” – slang for “awesome time” or “special occasion”
“madlika” – hot
Petra was also an amazing experience. I rode a camel there for the first time. It really felt like Indiana Jones. The way the light hit that place was just magic. So orange and glowy and beautiful. The day trip there from Eilat was whirlwind, exotic and really kind of unbelievable. Dudy and I walked across the Israeli-Jordanian border on foot. Ha! So great. I LOVE random travel experiences like that. I relish them. I met some great Bedouin people there. One man offered to marry me for 4 camels. I told him I’m worth at least 200! =) Ha!
Some new Arabic words
“Shukran” – Thank you
“Taybeh” – delicious
“Kifak” – hi, how are you, greeting between friends
“Wadi Musa” – a town near Petra, meaning the Valley of Moses
