Sea to Sea

Classes ended last Wednesday for Pesach break, which was a welcome hiatus! We all went out for burgers and then came home early. My friends and I were leaving early the next morning for a four day hike "Sea to Sea". Even packing was so exciting- like preparing to go to camp or something.

We boarded buses at 6 am on Thursday and headed to the Mediterranean Sea, the official kick-off of the trip. There were about 100 students, divided into three groups. One group was made up of the hiking club and would be sleeping outdoors and taking a further route. Needless to say, I was not in this group. the remaining two groups,of which I was a part, divided up with tour guides. Our tour guide was this crazy man named Raffi- I've had him before for a tour of Jaffa and he is absolutely nuts- in a good way. We circled up and filled up a bottle with water from the sea to carry with us along our way, each having a turn to carry the water bottle. We were also assigned "secret santas" (Their phrasing, weird, right?) and told to deliver them little presents along the way. We had just enough time to dip our toes in before starting out.

Our first hike was near a Jewish village where one of the kidnapped soldiers from the summer, Gilad Shalit, grew up. We started walking down a mountain toward Lebanon, which snaked around crumbling ruins from the Crusader era and through little rushing rivers from the Med. The hike was mostly shady and downhill or flat, which allowed for a lot fluid conversation and singing. Our group leader, Michal taught us a Hebrew song about going to the shuk to buy animals, which included doing animal noises. Roosters say "coo-coo-coo-coo-ree-coo-coo", puppies say "how how how" and ducks say "ga ga ga", which I guess is no more inane onomatopoeia than "quack". Lana fell, scratching up her leg a good deal, but was a good sport and was easily fixed up by the medic/body guard, Muli. We then all signed her bandages. The only other time we stopped was for Raffi to dole out temporary tattoos he had collected from the choclate milk. I was given a fierce looking spider for my bicep.

After about 4 hours and one wrong turn, we were delivered to our hostel in a remote Druze village called Pk'kin. The Druze are an Arab religious sect that are friendly toward Jews and Israel, but incredibly secretive and mysterious. Our youth hostel was huge and our room fit five; me, Molly, Lana, Bethany, and Danielle, in bunk beds that folded out from the wall. We also had all of our favorite boys right next door. That first night was quite chilly, so we were pleased to not be in the "real" hiking club. we had a huge bonfire, roasting potatoes, making pita, and the Israeli take on "smores"- Kosher marshmallows are foul. We sang some Beatles and Coldplay and were careful to bat at the flint that threatened to burn through our pullovers. it was avery dark night and we could make out Orion's belt and other brilliant constellations.

The next morning we awoke early for breakfast at the hostel; Lana and I were thrilled about the chocolate spread on white bread, a chocolate sandwich, if you will, for breakfast. And then began our hike on Mt. Meron, which was gorgeous. It offered some incredible views and lush terrain, as we were in the North. We wound down through valleys, through farmland with ponds, and on cliffs with trees hanging on to sheer stone. Again, we found some ruins, probably an old tomb or something, which the guys just had to climb, heel-click, on, and try to squeeze in, so we could take pictures of their limbs dangling out of cracks in the huge grey stones. It stayed sunny all day with huge, billowy, white clouds. It was the longest day of hiking and we came back to the hostel, grateful for a long nap and shower. That night we had Shabbat services and dinner in the huge dining hall. One of the hikers from the other group broke her leg on the trail and had to be carried back by some of the guys and then taken to the village doctor where whe was given a cast that looked like little more than plaster of Paris.

Since the next day was Shabbat, we did not hike. Instead, we took a long walk through the village, which was fascinating. The houses were enormous, with elaborate pebble mosaics on the outside, or flamoyant paintings and fences. Donkeys and goats stared back at us from the yards as women hung wash and men drove by in all sorts of craft. The "walk" actually required some exertion, as the street winds around the houses which are set in the steep mountainside. The buildings are cramped together, and from the hostel, they resembled a sea. We stopped at a shrine with carob trees were people come to light a candle to find their soulmate, an old synagogue, and into the center of the city were vendors sold fresh-squeezed juice and bread. Druze flags; red, white, blue, yellow, and green lines, flew everywhere. And the man that sold me an ice cream gestured toward a Druze flag flying alongside the Israeli flag. We had some downtime back at the hostel and then had Havdallah to end Shabbat, with our peers singing, swaying and playing the guitar. That night, the leader of the trip, A Sephardic Jew from Morocco, informed us that he was bringing his family and throwing a faux "wedding" in the hostile to show us what a real Moroccan Henna party and wedding are like. They pulled names from a hat to decide on the roles of the "bride" and "groom", deciding on our friend Rod as the groom and our very own Molly as the bride-to-be. We showered quickly and ran back to the common room to find it totally transformed- ceremonial gold vases sat on a low table, chairs were gathered on either side, and oriental rugs overlapped across the floor. A DJ had been hired to play the latest in Moroccan music. We were whicked into a small room by Moti's mother and aunts, none of whom spoke English, all of whom were efficient at pulling at our clothes and gesturing toward a rack of beautiful Moroccan dresses and head scarves. They picked colors for us, choosing a burnt orange for Lana and a bright pink for me. Molly was taken to another room, not to be seen before the ceremony. It was decided that Lana and I would serve as Molly's sisters, placing us at the head of the ceremony, with Rod's "family". As we sstlled, the men cam in, sporting long robes and fezs, followed by the strongest men, who carried Molly in a gold carriage, far above the room with Rod walking in front, holding a bowl of yellow roses. After a couple of turns around the room, we all danced with Molly and Rod, and then settled for the ceremony. Having signed a wedding contract, affirming the terms of the dowry and such, we were all given Henna in our palms to dry as a sign we had witnessed and approved the contract. As Molly's family, we then danced around her before everyone joined in. after eating some sweet bread, we were all free to dance, limboing and being crazy until late into the night. It was so much fun, and so interesting.

The next day we packed up and hit the trail again, though it had rained most of the night. Clouds rolled in over Pk'kin as we left, partially obscuring the village and adding to the mysterious allure. The leaders weren't sure about hiking, but we eventually persuaded them to let us go. We arrived at our destination, a lush countryside that was incredibly dense and green, with sunshine streaming through the grey clouds and a light mist. We walked for a little over an hour toward the Jordan River where we relaxed for a while, before trying a more difficult trail that took us straight up a cliff and had us walking for hours in a tight single file with a sheer drop-off hundreds of feet above the Jordan, wildflowers all around us, and our first view of the Sea of the Galillee directly in front of us. The mud proved difficult, and we took turns routinely falling, making us muddy and tired quite quickly. it was definitely the most trying but lovely of the hikes. We were so happy to see our bus at the end which then had to drive in reverse for 10 minutes, all the way back up to the road.

We were finally delivered to Tiberius, one of my favorite cities, and thrown a huge barbeque with fresh strawberries and hot dogs in pitas. We took off our shoes, enjoyed the grass and happily ate overlooking the Sea of the Galillee before ceremoniously tossing the Mediterranean water into the Galille and taking pictures with our group. After a 4 hour bus ride back, we arrived back in Jerusalem, bid farewell to Raffi and happily showered and slept.