I4- One third of the Shviel complete!

After Erez and I left his parents' house in Haifa (where we waited out a storm that delayed us from continuing on our cross-Israel journey), we bussed back to the north to meet up with Iris (pronounced ear-iz) - our group coordinator, Elisheva - who also met on the same website I did, and Doobie - Iris' dog. The day was a disaster because we didn't even hit our 20km goal and Doobie was annoying because he would roll around in cow pies all day long then want to play with you. Iris injured herself and dropped out after that day and Shiran, Rickie, and Loet joined up. We camped at a military base on the top of a hill and the wind blowing made it really chilly. Off to a bad start.

The next day, Erez and I decided that with the girls behind us, we needed separate. Not because we didn't like them... just because we were moving at different speeds and felt like we were always waiting for them. We stayed that night at a Kibbutz where our host (Shlomi), who we found from the Shviel Israel handbook as one of the "Angels of the Shviel," let us stay for ten shekles, eat dinner for ten shekles, and shop at the store for whatever we needed. Out the door, I spent less than ten dollars. Not too bad.

Erez and I woke up early the next day, hitchhiked to the point where we left off, and completed around 25km rather easily with time to spare. We camped outside of Meron (a religious community) after the day's hike. In Meron, I we bought a nice new pot because we now didn't have one because we separated from the girls. After Meron, the E-unit and I trekked to Migdal which is near the Kineret (Sea of Gallalee) via Nahal Amud (Pillar River). That was a very tough hike because there was no easy path and many times we had to climb up and down the sides of cliffs with our heavy backpacks! I was thinking that there probably aren't too many trails in the US that would be like this: marked for the public and extremely difficult. We stayed that night at Erez's girlfriend's best friend's kibbutz. It is the very first kibbutz to have been built in Israel and was located on the southwestern shore of the Kineret. We were fed well and got to take our first shower since Haifa.

The next morning, Ori (Erez's girlfriend's best friend's boyfriend) gave us a ride and we were back on the trail. We climbed Ar Arbel and past a lot of school children who were also on outings. Made me think "how come I never see classes out hiking in California?" We ended the day in the town of Kineret and I even jumped in the water for a bit. It was cold, but whatever. Erez and I camped that night on the beach and a couple of his buddies from the Navy joined us. They would hike with us for the next couple of days because they were off for the weekend. After they left, Erez and I camped on public land in a city (definitely feeling a bit homeless at this point) and ate Barakas for dinner - kinda like small croissants, but with various flavors like spinach, mushroom, cheese, and even a pizza one. We hiked the following day to Osafia and passed various villages including a Muslim one and a Druze one.

Then the hardest day. It started off alright. We woke up at 4:30am (usual time) and packed our stuff and were off by 5:08. The first part was ok, then it started to rain. Not heavily, but a consistant drizzle. It made the trails really slick and as we hiked through the Carmel region, I slipped three times on rocks. The only injury was my bruised right hand, but skipping breakfast because we didn't want to sit in the rain, hurt my stomach! We eventually finished that section around 10:30am and the sun came out. We dried our stuff and continued on an hour later. The rest of the day was blazing hot and we followed the trail through endless fields of thorned plants, cactus, etc. We "only" did 20km that day but were glad when we set up camp on the top of a peak and watched the sunset over the Mediterranean for the first time on the trek. We could see the smokestacks of the Chadera powerplant (called Rabin Lights) 20km due southwest, which was our ending goal for the next day. We did make it to Chadera and beyond for a 35km trek... our longest in one day thusfar! I took a picture of the power plant up close, but got yelled at because of security reasons. But I still got the picture!

We woke up the following morning at 4am (30min earlier than normal) and pumped out a 40km trek along the shore of the Med all day! I got black and can say that that was the longest beach hike I have ever taken. That is about 30 miles for you Americans! So in those two days, we walked 75km and ended up in Tel Aviv. That's where I am now (if you made it this far down) and we are staying at Erez's girlfriend's parents. They are really nice and we are about to sit down for a nice Shabbat meal so I better hurry up. Today's hike was through the city of Tel Aviv and a bit beyond. 25km in all, but we got to leave our bags at the house because we spent last night and are spending tonight here. Last night's shower was the first one I had since hiking to Migdal, so when we showed up, we were immediately given towels and told to clean up!

My friend Ben joined Erez and I on today's trek. He said he might join us for another few parts of the Shviel. He is in Israel for his first time also and he's from Ohio. We didn't meet on Taglit. One day, I was taking a bus from Sherachut in the south to Tel Aviv and I was sitting near the front. When he got on (some other random spot in the desert) I heard him say "Tel Aviv" with a very American accent so I thought I would talk to him. He's a nice guy, 21 years old, and is making Aliyah to Israel (immigrating to Israel) next month. He'll be in the Army by June! That is some hard core dedication!

I must admit that I have contemplated a similar move at various points on this trip, but at this point, that is now the last option I am considering. I mean, I may immigrate here one day (my Army commitment would be maximum 6months, but with prior service in the US Army, I might even get out of that), but my mind at the moment is focused on this summer. Where am I going? What am I doing? I really have no limits. I have contemplated everything from returning to Argentina, working in Mexico, hitchhiking through Canada, taking a train through the US and visiting friends, or just flying back to California. It's really kinda a pressure that I am neglecting because right now, I'm in Israel. I'm walking on the Shviel (which means "trail" in hebrew) and in 28 days (April30), Erez and I will hopefully be at the border fence with Eilat, Israel and Taba, Egypt after having completed the longest trek in my life: a 940km (700mile) trail that started a stone's throw from Lebanon an took 42 days to complete. That night, Erez and I already have plans to get a hotel room, buy go out and party, order room service, get massages, and lie all the next day on the beach of the Red Sea and c-h-i-l-l. It will be my last day of chillin in Israel, because that night, I will be busing to Be'er Sheva to pick up my stuff and the next day, Monday, May2, I'm off to Ben Gurion airport to fly back to JFK in NYC.

THEN I will start worrying about what this summer will bring. Oh, if you are reading this and you live somewhere in the US outside of SF and NY, I will probably be emailing you within the next month to see what you are up to. I have a couple of spots I have contemplated on checking out like the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, maybe another Cubs game at Wrigley, maybe the deep south..... ahh, we will see.....

Ok, Shabbat Shalom y'all. My next posting will probably not be for another couple of weeks. Oh and Happy Pesach and Easter! PEACE