Off-Roading

We spent Saturday in the Golan.  This disputed territory sticks up like a small northern lump off the main body of Israel, ooching its way between Lebanon and Syria.  Upon reaching the Golan, we exchanged our comfy car for an open-air Jeep and sped off.  

We wove our way through a kibbutz, admiring the blooming plants heavy with plums, pomegranates, dates, and various citrus fruits.  Smaller greenery was identified as cotton or peanut plants.  Our guide had grown up on the kibbutz but had moved off of it years ago to a nearby development.  He was still good friends with the kibbutz owners, though, so he felt comfortable stopping and feeding us fresh fruit from the trees.  The black diamond plums that we tried have probably ruined us for all other plums, forever.

After turning off the kibbutz, we drove along a highway that has formed the 1948 border of Israel, back when Syria glared down from the neighboring hill.  We then turned and drove up this hill, now a national park.  Beside the reclaimed farm areas (Israel has done a pretty incredible job of reclaiming land), the area was very dry.  We rumbled up the rocky path, the car rocking up and down and the nearby shrubbery and trees rubbing up against the sides of the Jeep.  

Ibex stood proudly and silently on the hill, melting into the colors of the hill.  We stopped to pick fresh figs, biting into the sweet fruit.  The fresh fruit is so different from the dried versions that you find in the U.S.  We continued our bumpy journey through the national park, eyeing the rubble of former Syrian army bases, the signs that warned of landlines off the path, the cows that are used to graze away the grass to create barren areas so that forest fires cannot spread.  Near the ridge line, we stopped to spread out a blanket, share a watermelon, and hear the history of the area and see the maps. 

 We learned about the struggle over water that had shaped these borders; water security is a recurring issue in this part of the world, with a greater urgency than in a place like the United States.

In that vein, we ended our Jeep excursion with a dip in the Stream of the Fig, wandering a watery path that cooled our feet.  The cold was jarring after the sun's heat, but felt so good.  Locals scampered through the water, similarly reveling in the cool relief.  It was nice to see the place where locals went to relax on the weekend.

Drawn to water as we were, our next stop was kayaking down one of the streams that feeds the Jordan River.  It moved quite quickly, making it easy to float down with minimal effort. The only paddling truly required was to turn your boat or thread your way through the other groups that splashed each other and generally blocked the way.  The river was full of inflatable rafts and kayaks and laughter.  The water swished in and out of the holes along the bottom of the kayaks, keeping us cool.  The promised "rapids" were about four feet long and had the similar bump-bump feel of riding an elephant just above its shoulders.

In the afternoon, we stopped at Kursi, where Jesus cast out the demons from a man and sent them into the pigs, which ran into the Sea of Galilee and drowned.  

We also stopped at a commercial baptismal site, which isn't actually where John the Baptist baptized Jesus, but the owners want you to think that it's close enough.  

The actual site is further upstream, in a less friendly area.  It was interesting to wander around, seeing the giant plaques where preachers from different nations and languages offered their version of the relevant scripture verse describing baptism.  

Definitely my favorite.

There were photos of Christian "celebrities" (many American, like Mike Huckabee), who had been baptized here.  You buy a flowing white robe with a rather cheesy image screen-printed on the chest, submerge yourself, and - voila - a fresh new Christian is (re)born.

Spotted: Thai labor.  Due to the extreme heat and heavy farm labor, many Thai workers are imported to work on the farms.  Due to the obsession with pale skin in that part of the world, they cover themselves completely while working in the sun.  Danny said that they are the only people willing to work in the greenhouses when it is 110 degrees in there.