Sinai was one of the most beautiful places I have experienced, and I was only one hour’s drive in from the border. If you look on a map, you will see how huge Sinai is and what I am talking about. I just got to see the tip of the iceberg.
First off, it was an amazing time. The amount of relaxation and calm I felt was unreal.
I think I would like to go there for my honeymoon. It feels like you are returning to a natural state. And Noa’s dad told her he would like to be buried in Sinai. Being there is like going back in time.
The journey began with multiple bus rides. We took the night bus to Eilat. All the way the moon was shining over the desert. We got to Eilat at about 5 am. We took a cab to Taba, which is the border crossing. Crossing was pretty easy considering. We changed money to Egyptian pounds. I called my Dad from Taba right before we left since I still had Israeli reception and I would miss his birthday.
Then we bordered a van with a bunch of other people and left. The drive was beautiful. The area that we stayed looks a lot like Arizona, except there is the huge sea.
We were the second to last to leave the taxi. It is funny because we really didn’t know where we were going. Noa’s cousin recommended a place, but it is actually just the area, not a specific place to stay. And I think the taxi picked the best place to stop. We stayed at Ramadan Camp in Rassa Satan.
Let me do the math for you. Egyptian pounds are a little less in value than Israeli shekels, but not much. So to stay in the youth hostel in Eilat (it is more expensive than the rest of Israel) costs you about 100 shekels a night. To stay where we slept was 15 pounds a night. See the difference. Also the peace and quiet cannot compare to Eilat. Eliat is like Las Vegas in my opinion.
We slept in a little hut with no electricity. Actually our whole camp had no electricity; they cooked with gas I guess. They were so nice and charged Noa’s phone in their car.
Some things I learned about myself those four days:
I really would like to not have a toilet, but rather just a hole in the ground. There were porcelain things, with a hole and a hose to wash the bowl when you are finished. I am sure this isn’t what you want to hear all about, but it is so much easier to go tot he bathroom in that position.
Also I really like sitting on the floor to eat. It is so relaxed and calm. And when you are too full, you can just lay down a bit!
Now a bad thing:
Many of the Israeli’s there (really only guys) were very rude to our hosts. If you don’t know Hebrew you might not notice. But they would talk to the workers in the female form and make fun of them to their faces. They really treated them with little to no respect and that was hard to see. Then you can wonder why they hate Israeli’s.
Not all the people there were rude. There were many Israeli-Arabs in our camp. And a woman who really got pissed when she heard some guys talking badly.
I think the Egyptians who worked in our camp were the best. We went over to another camp one night and it felt like they were so drugged out. The workers kept sitting asking us questions. In our camp, of course they talked to us, but they didn’t bother. The food was really good. No one got sick, so that is most important. For breakfast we ate fried egg, Israeli salad, a falafel, that tasted different than in Israel, eggplant, and this flat Arabic bread that is like a cross between a tortilla and chapatti. For the other meals we either had salad, shakshuka (Yemenite style eggs), or some times meat. They had really good meat there. Fresh fish, chicken, or lamb kabobs. I had saklab for the first time. I am not really sure what it is. Someone said it is actually made of a type of flower. I think it tastes like porridge that was sweetened and with banana, coconut and chocolate sauce.
One day Noa and Yora ordered saklab and the waiter brought it with strawberries and lots of chocolate, really nice ok. And some guys sitting next to us said, “Oh, we want it too.” As the waiter was walking away he said; “Only for the girls.” And when he brought theirs out they had ONE strawberry in it. We laughed so hard.
There were woman walking around selling jewelry they made. It was sad to see because I think they were really poor. Yora speaks a bit of Arabic and she talked to most of them and promised to buy from them. I wanted to buy something on the last day from one of the little girls in exchange for a picture, because she was so beautiful. But I couldn’t find her so I bought an ankle bracelet from this really funny lady, who couldn’t stop laughing. It broke already, but it’s the thought that counts.
It was funny, because on the first day I thought:
This place is so great, because you know they would never bomb it. I mean two years ago there were bombs in Sinai, but I am sure they were only in hotels where there could be great damage. In these little places it would be harder to kill a lot of people.
Then I found out that a few camps down, two years ago there was a bomb. So there went my theory. I can tell you I didn’t feel scared after I heard that, just sad. There was a police force around checking up on things.
I didn’t meet any girls, but I met a few really cool guys. The first two were Germans. They were in Israel for a year doing their Civil Service. In Germany if you don’t serve in the army then you have to do something to help for a year. They picked to come to Israel. One of the guys Freedman, works on a mosav that I read about and really want to visit. This is the only moshav that is Arab and Israelis working together, sending their kids to school together. I thought of volunteering there when I first came to Israel. So this guy is a volunteer and works in the school. He had such great opinions on both Arabs and Israelis. He loved Israel and said it was nothing like he imagined.
The other German, Oley (he looked like Tzvi with dreadlocks!!) was working with blind people in Jerusalem. He said he loved Jerusalem and as a person with no religion spoke so beautifully about the power of the city. He said he loves to go to the wall.
Yora and were blown away at how mature these two 18 year olds were. We exchanged numbers and are going to get together since they are only in Israel for 3 months. I told them they are the most amazing ambassadors for Israel. The one working on the moshav asked, “Have you ever been to the West Bank? Ramallah is great!” I have never heard of Ramallah as being “great”.
On the last day, Noa got really sunburned. Luckily I didn’t get burned at all. Now I am a brown bear. But it is funny, I didn’t take one picture.
I wish I could have stayed longer, but all things must pass.
Yora left a day and a half before Noa and I. We left on Monday at 6pm and got to Tel Aviv at 1 in the morning. We walked to Noa’s sister’s apartment and slept there. Boy were we surprised to hear there was a bombing in Tel Aviv. The next day Noa went around Tel Aviv a little bit and you wouldn’t even know there was a bombing. The streets were packed, there was no fear in the air.
And that is Israel for you. Some things are not as they appear.
