Everyone camps here. It's crazy, really, how much of the Israeli culture is centered around one's ability to "make it" in nature, to be one with their campsite. I, however, have not always been one for these type of outdoor activities. Sure, I enjoy the sun and frolicking outside as much as the next girl, but it's things like bugs, rocks, lack of sleeping surfaces, and hard work that generally keep from being an avid camper. Aside from these potential setbacks, the ladies (Shosh, Anna, Becca, Keren, Steph, Alee & myself) threw together an impromptu camping trip. And by impromptu, I mean we figured out we wanted to go camping about 6:30pm on Tuesday, decided where to go about 7:30pm, how to get there around 8:15pm, made a supplies list about 9:00pm, etc. Early Wednesday morning (the day we were leaving), Keren and I set out for the grocery store at 7:45am to get food for the group, we all had Ulpan, then had to catch a bus at 2:55pm to get to our destination of Nachsholim (midway between Natanya & Haifa). We made it onto the bus literally by the skin of our teeth and were on our way! The bus ride took about 2 hours, then we had a bit of walk ahead of us to get to the beach...and of course, by the time we arrived the sun was setting, so we had to find our camping site and set up mostly in the dark - which was interesting! All I can say is thank goodness some of the group had some legitimate camping skills, as I felt pretty helpless wandering around the camp shining lights on people who were actually doing important things like putting up the tents.
After settling in, we set about to making dinner. Being the self appointed culinary director of this excursion, with the help of my Aussie friend (Keren) we had decided on some sort of stew for Wednesday dinner. This consisted of peppers, white beans in tomato sauce & corn, basically thrown into a pot and set on the burner. It actually came out really well, and with the addition of some rolls made for a pretty decent meal. We polished off a few bottles of wine and had some quality girl talk before we made our way to bed. Apparently there was some night swimming, but I was far too exhausted to be up for any of that!
When the sun came up the next morning, it pretty much woke everyone, between the heat and the raging beams of sun through our camp. Upon rising, we finally got a true glimpse of where we had set up camp:
Not too shabby for doing this in the dark! And yes, that is the Mediterranean Sea in the background. Please pardon the slightly dilapidated tent, as we had very limited resources to work with! Most of Thursday was spent lying around on the beach, or exploring the opposite side of the beach we were camping at - ruins of the ancient city of Dor. You could walk around excavated foundations of this old city, which was pretty cool. The best part of this adventure, was near the coast of the little peninsula, where you could climb down from the rocks and into natural pools formed by the rocks and coral. A bit of a challenge to get down into, but completely worth it once you were floating, swimming and splashing about right on the cusp of the Med, feeling the waves crash over you and fill the pools with slightly warm, and very salty aquamarine-colored water. Completely surreal and so beautiful!
By the end of the day, I was pretty exhausted from all the exploring and time in the sun, and the sunset brought about some very welcomed shade and cool sea breezes. The group sat around our campsite, cooked up a dinner of pasta, potatoes, corn and garlic bread and drank cold beer as we listened to the Beatles and watched the night sky for shooting stars (which I am happy to report, that I spotted one for the first time in my life! Made a seriously intense wish that will be a secret until it comes true...). All in all, a great trip (excluding the fact that my back was in complete knots from sleeping on a seashell & rock filled beach and that my legs were covered in more bug bites than I care to count). It's absolutely true what they say, that it's all about who you are with, and I feel very lucky to have been with the people I was, as they are quickly turning into some great friends of mine, and I look forward to sharing more adventures with them over the next few months...
Shabbat Shalom from Tel Aviv!
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