3 Day Desert Experience and Shabbat

I have spent the past 2 nights and 3 days hiking in the negev.  The trip started out Wednesday morning when we all woke up at 4:30 am and left Beit Nativ not much later.  We were separated by track (Yerucham, Be'er Sheva, Kibbutz), so from now on when I say "we", I just mean the Yerucham group.  We stopped at the youth hostel in Ein Gedi for shacharit, which included shaking our lulavim, and breakfast.  We very briefly got to see people on Kivunim, who had just arrived in Israel, which was fun because I have a bunch of friends on it.  We then continued further down into the south.  We got off the bus and got loaded into jeeps which took us further into the desert where the bus could not go.  We each got to pack a backpack for hiking, which had to have at least 3 liters of water in it, and a separate overnight bag, so we loaded all of the overnight bags into a separate jeep which got taken straight to the campsite (kind of cheating in the whole mega-intense hiking/camping thing, I know).  We all had to carry something in our backpacks for lunch.  I carried nectarines and apples.  Then we began our hike.  Our guides name was Norit.  She has a really intense hiker and I liked her a lot.  We hiked for about 3-4 hours then stopped to have lunch on this plateau.  Lunch consisted of tuna, bread, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, bamba, wafers, apples, nectarines, and pickles.  I made a pretty good tuna sandwich, so I was happy.  Then we all had to take some trash in our bags, and we continued hiking again.  We did a lot of going to the bathroom by squatting this whole time (I didn't want to forget to mention that, so I'm just throwing it in there now).  

We hiked for a few more hours, playing lots of games such as geography, the movie game, etc., and listening to Norit's funny stories, and then we finally we arrived at our campsite (when I say campsite I mean lots of desert... no running water or anything like that).  The kibbutz group was staying at the same campsite, but we did completely separate activities, we just said hi to them really quickly.  Our camping staff had dinner all ready for us (we were kind of spoiled).  We had this delicious soup, shnitzel, and some other stuff.  At this time we got to watch the moon rise, which was amazing and beautiful.  It was a full moon and it was so bright.  Then we had a bonfire!  We had a big massage circle around the bonfire and then our staff Eyal made us play this game called tank where we all get in our sleeping bags in one big long line and then the person on the end has to roll across everyone else, and then the next person and then the next until everyone has gone.  That was silly.  Then we just all sat around the fire for a little while longer listening to one kid play guitar and singing, roasting marshmallows, and just relaxing.  We all went to bed at around 9:30 pm in sleeping bags on these little mats under the bright desert sky.  There were millions of little stars surrounding the moon.

We woke up with the sun the next morning, Thursday, at 5:00 am.  We did shacharit (we brought our lulavim and etrogim, so we did hoshanot and all that), ate breakfast (cereal, tuna, eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.), made pack out lunches (deli meat with all the toppings), and set out on our hike.  We stopped after about 5 minutes to do some morning stretches, and the continued on.  We hiked for hours, stopped at some point to eat lunch, did trust falls and then a blindfold walk with a partner (this was nice because we paired up with people we don't talk to that much), hiked more, finally arriving at machtesh Ramon (the Ramon crater).  It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  Norit, had us all lay down along the southern wall of the crater, close our eyes, and listen to the song "Kol Galgal".  We laid there for about 45 minutes in almost silence.  It was so amazing, especially after all that hiking!  We walked about another hour after that before arriving at our next campsite, just outside the crater.  We ate dinner (soup, hamburgers, chicken kabobs, french fries, Israeli salad, and more), and then made another camp fire and did another massage circle.  We played some new games this time, such as psychiatrist and this other game that I don't know what to call it.  We roasted marshmallows again, and just sat around before going to bed.  That night was even more beautiful that the previous, with brighter stars and an even bigger and brighter moon.

We woke up the next day, Friday, even earlier: 4:30 am.  Same routine of services and breakfast.  We walked about 5 minutes out of the campsite and then stopped to do some morning stretches, separate boy and girl trust activities, and then finally a big game of red rover.  Then we kept hiking.  The hike on Friday, I think, I was the most physically trying.  There was this one enormous, steep uphill that took a lot of focus and self control to climb.  I hiked in the front of the group pretty much the whole time, and this uphill was no exception.  When we reached the top and looked our over the Ramon crater for the second time, I was completely taken aback.  My friend Ashley and I hiked up a little bit more so we could sit quietly away from the group.  We listened to the song "Hallelujah" and looked out at the crater for about 20 minutes.  I don't even think I can begin to describe how I felt at that moment, but I will try.  Looking out over the crater, I could definitely feel God's presence.  I knew at that moment that God created this enormous, sprawling crater to show us how small we are, to humble us, and to show us the more important things in life besides petty fights we have with our friends, drama, and gossip.  After that we hiked for a few more minutes and then came to the top of a big downhill straightaway.  Ashley, Misha and I were the first ones to run down it and reach the bus, and we really ran.  It was so cool.  We all eventually made it onto the bus which took us to this park about an hour away to have lunch.  We all really had to go to the bathroom when we got to the park but the only place to go was a gas station next door, but you had to pay a shekel to go there.  Luckily someone had money.  After lunch we got back on the bus for the 3 hour bus ride to Jerusalem, just in time for shabbat.

Shabbat was pretty relaxing.  Right before it started I got two packages in the mail from my mom!  That was exciting.  I took a much needed shower (first one in three days :) ) and then went to kabbalat shabbat at Kol Rina.  It was nice, good singing, and I enjoyed it a lot.  I ate dinner at Beit Nativ, sang some zmirot, and went to bed shortly thereafter.  Today I went to services at Kedem, had lunch at Beit Nativ, took a long nap, played taboo, did mincha, ate dinner, did ma'ariv and havdallah, and that brings us to right now.  Shavua tov!!

Enjoy reading this super long post!!

-Sarah