Today the MBIers awoke to the sunrise at 5am in the soon to be warm Bedouin tents where they slept. They were greeted in the morning with another round of traditional Bedouin tea which the MBIers apparently quite enjoyed and also had Israeli tea biscuits as morning snack before they headed off for their journey up Masada. After collecting water the MBIers headed off for their hike up Masada.
The hike up Masada early in the morning allowed the MBIers to avoid some of the desert heat while getting some of the stunning views of atop the mountain and the Dead Sea off in the distance. While on Masada the groups got to tour the ruins left behind and hear about the stories relating to Masada's story and its place in the Israeli and Jewish narrative. After the hike the MBIers set off for their special experience in the Dead Sea.
For those who forgot about various cuts and scrapes they had gotten earlier in the week the Dead Sea kindly reminded them. Of course floating the highly concentrated water was enjoyed as was utilizing Dead Sea mud rich in minerals. A one of a kind, in many ways a once in a lifetime opportunity was had for all. Afterwards they began their long trek further south in the Negev Desert down to Eilat!
When they go to Eilat they settled into their rooms at the Eilat Youth Hostel, ate dinner and prepared for the fun evening ahead of them on the Disco Boat. They set off on the boat a ways into the Red Sea and were able to see Jordan, Egypt, and even Saudi Arabia lit up in the distance. The boat had levels of dance floors and a fun night of dancing and games were had as the boat traversed the Red Sea.
Tomorrow the MBIers will be going to spend the morning snorkelling as well as having a chance to walk about the Tayelet(Boardwalk) and go to the Eilat Kenyon(mall) to do a little more shopping as MBI comes to an end. They will have lunch at Kfar Hachof(The Village Beach) and then will get to spend some time on the beach of the Red Sea as well as going swimming there. Then they will head out back North to Jerusalem where they will be staying until the end of the program. They will be staying at Neve Ilan which is set in the beautiful hills of Jerusalem and in the evening they will have a big final karaoke party as MBI enters its final days.
A quick overview of the travel plans with a note to start. New York today experienced some kind of crazy storm today including a small tornado that touched down about 15 blocks from where I live. This meant that not only did the basement where I live flooded, but transportation for much of New York came to a halt with Jamie spending over three hours getting to the office and Kenan effectively getting shut out by the trains stopping to run. In a nutshell we experienced some technical difficulties here and as such I will be giving a brief explanation of the travel plan followed by a detailed one tomorrow. Your patience and understanding is appreciated.
The 2 ELAL flights will land on Sunday August 12th at 5:30 and 5:35am respectively. From there the buses for Galil and Moshava will depart at approximately 7:00-30am and make the same stops as before. Everyone else will be helped to their connecting flights by my tzevet(staff). The Seattle flight is scheduled to land at 11:53am and will have a bus to Vancouver at approximately 1pm.
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1 comment:
Michael -
just wanted to weigh in with thanks for all your hard work, including keeping us up to date thru the blog. With limited communication from our own MBIer it's been a great way to feel connected with this fabulous adventure. I've taken to printing your daily updates. I think he will appreciate having this daily record of their activities as much as we have done. Huge thanks to you & all of your crew!!
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