Day 8. April 12, 2017.  one day of yomtov.

Well, today was… something.  Today was the pits. The most redeeming moment was my Magnum ice cream bar around 5, but lets get there shall we.

We got up around 8 and got ready as quick as we could.  We were supposed to leave at 9, but we all knew that wasn’t happening.  We made it to breakfast around 845 and spent most of the time cutting up food for Hallie for the day.  We also managed to eat a little something ourselves, and then before we knew it, it was 930 and time to go.

Our guide for the day was Omer, and our driver was Sarak (maybe).  We couldn’t figure out if the driver was Israeli or an Arab.  Our transportation for the day was a 15 passenger Mercedes van, which we all (Feits and Cohens) piled into and headed out of Jerusalem in.  Our first stop for the day was Tel Arad, about two hours south of Jerusalem.  Initially my mother had asked the tour company to plan a tour that took us to the Yatir Winery in Arad and the archaeological site at Tel Arad.  Well, the winery was closed, but we still ended up going to Tel Arad.  The guide talked about a lot of things, but all I remember is that the top four exports of Israel are (1) high tech, (2) pharmaceuticals, (3) polished diamonds, and (4) weapons.

After the two hour ride, during which Hallie got pretty restless, we were finally there. We stopped once for a bathroom break. We walked around the archeological ruins, while Omer told us something about them, but we were basically too busy chasing after Hallie to get much of it.  The wind was ridiculous. At some point while walking it became clear that it was lunch time, so we pulled out Hallie’s matzah rolls and cheese and started feeding her in the ruins of the ancient temple.  All I can tell you about Tel Arad are three things:

1)  The city had a temple – the only Jewish temple ever found outside of Jerusalem – but it was forbidden to have temple worship outside of Jerusalem during the biblical times, so I guess go figure that one out.

2)  Tel Arad is mentioned in the book of Bamidbar, except the ruins of the city pre-date the exodus from Egypt by 800 years, so I guess go figure that one out too.

3)  They had really weird bugs there.

At some point he also started talking about the authors of the bible.  I’m not sure, but it reminded Tzvi of Con West and reading the Book of J.

Tel Arad had an upper and a lower city.  We visited the smaller upper city, but there wasn’t time to see the more expansive lower city.  When we were done, we went back to the van and drove about a half hour to our next stop, the Bedouin village of Kfar something.  Apparently there are a lot of Bedouins living in unrecognized villages, and mostly in corrugated steel huts.  What we visited was more of a tourist center (not associated with Holocaust center).  Some of the people working there were just Israelis though, so I don’t really know.  Also, I had thought we were supposed to be interacting with the Bedouins, but they kind of just watched us eat and served us lunch.  I don’t think we really learned much about Bedouins.

Speaking of lunch, they wanted us to ride the camels before lunch, but Tzvi told our guide that it was already 145 and the non-natives were getting restless, so we needed to eat first.  We were taken into a massive tent with a lot of different carpets.  It was kind of dirty, but also very atmospheric at the same time.  There were dozens of tables, but only one was set for lunch.  We washed and then sat down for lunch and were served matzah.  There were already a bunch of small bowls on the table with different little mezzes, including humus, which is made of chickpeas and is kitniyot, which we don’t eat on pesach.  There was also Israeli salad, eggplant salad, cabbage salad and tehina.  Tzvi ate some of those.  Next they brought out two beautiful and massive platters of food, which probably would’ve been pretty good to eat, except it was basically all kitniyot.  Also, the Cohens will only eat mehadrin meat (a Sephardic thing) so they could only eat chicken. The middle of the platter was a massive mound of yellow rice, and there were a dozen corns on the cob around the platter.  There were also some stewed vegetables and meat stuffed artichokes, which we could eat, but it was hard to get to it around the rice.  Later they brought out skewers of lamb and chicken.  Tzvi ate the lamb and said it was edible.  I had some matzah. That’s it. Awesome lunch. The whole thing was ridiculous.  I’m not sure what they were thinking, and I don’t know if it was the guide’s fault or the place or who, but whatever.  For dessert there was some pastry type thing I didn’t try, and Tzvi and I ate three pears.

After lunch we left the tent and headed over to the camels for a camel ride.  Someone had to stay back with Hallie, so Tzvi didn’t ride and I shared a camel with Austin. We rode for a half hour. I never need to do it again.  While we rode the camels, Tzvi took Hallie into the petting zoo/doodie laden goat pen.  Hallie kept trying to run up to the goats, but then got scared and ran back to Tzvi.  Apparently it was really cute. She’s probably caught some goat disease.

We got back in the car around 330.  Omer said we were going to take the long way back to Jerusalem, passing by the Dead Sea. Yay, extra driving!  We drove straight for at least an hour and finally stopped at Ein Gedi for a bathroom break.  Wherever we were (the entrance to some nature preserve?) it was a weird place.  There were all different kinds of people there, from religious looking people having picnics to women walking around in their bras.  We also picked up snacks from the kiosk.  Since everyone was still meat, they all got a weird watermelon pop.  I got a magnum bar because I hadn’t eaten any meat at the Bedouin place.  However, Judah and the Cohens ended up stopping for mincha (Tzvi, my dad and Austin stood their ground and didn’t go. Take that God.) and by the time that was done, our family was dairy too (the Cohens wait 5.5 hours, even though they used to wait 5 until a few years ago when a Rabbi told Judah he should really wait 5.5. I’ll bet Gabs is just counting the days). 

It was back on the bus to drive up a hill and look out on the Dead Sea and learn some more things, except I’m not sure what we learned because Hallie was losing it and Tzvi ended up putting her in the stroller and wheeling her to try to get her to fall asleep.  That didn’t work.  Oh, the Dead Sea is receding.  We learned that, and that the border between Israel and Jordan keeps moving, because it’s in the middle of the Dead Sea, so eventually the Dead Sea will recede so much that the only thing separating Israel and Jordan will be a narrow strip of sea (but it’ll never dry up entirely, because it’s 400m deep). 

Back in the car then and another drive to the Qumrun caves, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.  Of course, we didn’t actually go into the caves, we just saw them from the road below.  Of course this ended with Tzvi wheeling Hallie around to try to get her to sleep again.  Again, it didn’t work.

Back in the car again!  It was finally time to be done and start heading back to Jerusalem for good.  I think it was about 645 by then, and we were supposed to have been back in Jerusalem by 7 or 730.  As soon as we started driving, Omer informed us that there was some traffic, and that our ETA in Jerusalem was 830.  I think we were all pretty floored, especially me and Tzvi because Hallie was completely losing it, due only in part to the fact that it was 630 – dinner time – and we really had no food for her.  We started feeding her whatever we had – apple sauce pouch, jarred sweet potato, dried fruit.  After about 45 minutes we made yet another bathroom stop and we were able to buy yogurt, which she only wanted to eat half of.  She was just losing it from being strapped into her car seat for almost the entire day, so we just gave in and took her out and let my parents hold her for the rest of the drive.

TO CLARIFY – TODAY’S TOURING INCLUDED 7 HOURS OF DRIVING, SOME STOPS AT ROCKS AND VIEWS, A CAMEL RIDE, AND PIECE OF MATZAH FOR LUNCH.

We finally made it back to the hotel around 830, feeling pretty hungry, tired and just blah.  We let my parents take Hallie upstairs to change her diaper and give her bamba while Tzvi and I went to the lobby for a quick dinner in the lobby cafe.  I ordered a tuna salad without the cucumber and tomato, and Tzvi ordered an onion soup and a Greek salad.  I also got a hot chocolate and Tzvi got a cappuccino.  The drinks took a while, and eventually Tzvi got his soup.  Then they brought me a gigantic plate just piled high with cucumbers and tomatoes.  I didn’t even know what to say to that.  They took that away, and after another 20 minutes they brought me my salad, but by then my mother showed up with Hallie.

Tzvi followed Hallie around the lobby as she wandered between the tables while I ate my salad.  But don’t worry, it wasn’t a problem for Tzvi, because in the 20 minutes that I ate my salad, his salad still hadn’t come. Finally he asked what was going on and they said it’s almost ready.  Five minutes later he asked again and they said “it’s done, some one went to get it, so it’s just going to be two minutes.” 

Tzvi asked, “where are they getting it from?”

“The kitchen.”

He didn’t bother asking how far away the kitchen was, but two minutes later a man wheeled a cart out of the kitchen (which was basically in the lobby), and finally the Greek salad was there.  Tzvi said it was fine, though maybe a little strange to put pickles on a Greek salad.

We finished eating, paid the check and went upstairs, where we bathed Hallie and put her to bed.  Now we’re here in the dark.  Tomorrow is a big day.  In the morning we are going to see caves.  And then, in the afternoon, we are going to see more caves.