Wandering in the Desert

Not really.  We have a car, after all, and Google maps.  And Benjamin.  But our touring today was in the accessible parts of the Negev.

Nir, in his professional tour guide way, had estimated that we would be ready to head out of the hotel by about 9:00.  We were slower than that, but we were on the road by 10.  We drove through Tel Aviv so we could see some of the city with Benjamin as our  guide and then we headed south.  

It's a small country so we were allowed to dawdle on the way because our destination was about 2 hours and 11 minutes from our starting point.  We stopped at the Ben Gurion University to meet a couple of B's friends who are grad students there.  One is working on a project experimenting with turning chicken manure into coal -- and she says they showed a group of school kids that the coal actually burns.  She says you lose about half the mass of the original manure in the process of the heating and squishing.  Israel is known for its constant innovation: you never know, there may be coal producing sites on the Eastern Shore one of these days.

While we were there, we walked over to see Ben Gurion's grave which overlooks a vast expanse of desert valleys and cliffs -- the last time I was here, we hiked in one of the wadis up to a pool.  The last time B was here, he did a very steep hike that includes ladders, apparently.  This time we just looked at the view.

It felt like lunchtime by then so we went into Mitzpeh Ramon and looked for somewhere to sit down and order some food.  We found a bar/restaurant that was empty when we arrived, but by the time we finished, every table was full.  Everyone around us ordered huge, delicious looking hamburgers and french fries.  We had a full meal of soups, hummus, labne (cultured cheese), salad and bread.  It is very nice to travel with B who speaks good restaurant Hebrew and is unafraid to ask questions anywhere.

On to the crater -- which is 6 miles wide and 27 miles long, according to Nir -- a geological formation that exists only in Israel. It is called a makhtesh.  Benjamin played with his new (to him) camera, tryiing out double exposures and other tricks.  Unlike the last time I was here, there was evidence of lots of rain.  They had a big storm here just the other day.  Puddles and mud and general dampness.  We saw tiny flowers blooming on the side of the road.

After such a long and arduous day of driving (about 100 miles) and eating, we headed to Carmey Avdat, a vineyard/farm/B&B that was built on an ancient agricultural settlement (1500 years ago they grew grapes here).  In 2008, Nancy and Sara and Sophia and I stayed here, arriving in the dark.  This time it seems much less spooky and much easier to get oriented.  It is a very small place, nestled into a valley, with grapes planted along the bottoms of the valley so they will get water if it ever rains.  This time there is a heater in the room, which I don't remember from last time when it seemed really chilly. But the floors are still made of river rock -- something we have never seen anywhere else.

Benj is heating up some sandwiches that we bought at a market in Mitzeh Ramon, so I have to go eat now.