This is a story about a hiking trip to the desert that went a little crazy.
It all started when my friend convinced me to pack a bag for two days trip during Passover vacation. Passover is a Jewish holiday when we don’t eat bread or any food with wheat that has been leavened.
Passover brings a lot of stress, because everyone needs to clean their houses from anything not kosher. So obviously, it was the perfect time to run away ;)
I met with my German friend Nomi in Tel Aviv, where she jumped inside my car for a 2 hours drive till Ein Bokek beach. But, since the beach was so full of people, we decided to keep driving next the shore until we find something nicer.
I started to get worried we are not going to find any other beach, and for sure we had no intentions to drive all the way back to Ein Bokek.
But I forced only positive thoughts, asked some people around, and ta-da! we found the perfect place, meaning a beach without a sign “WARNING: Danger of Sink Holes.”
Yeah, I really didn’t feel like taking a risk and being swallowed by the ground.
The perfect beach was quiet and beautiful. The mountains behind you, the sea in front of you, and the silence only nature can give you.
We parked in a small area and walked carefully all the way down (around 10 min walk).
It’s even better in real life.
We sat next to the salty water that feels like oil. You need to be carefull not to touch your eyes, because it will burn. Besides that, the mud and the water are very healthy for your skin.
The weather was SO hot, we had to go inside the sea, where we floated without even trying (another benefit of the dead sea.)
Afterwards we made dinner. And black coffee on gas (we failed at lighting up a bone-fire.)
We forgot to bring salt, then looked around and laughed so hard.
After some hours of chilling, talking and reading poems, an Israeli and two Arabs came to give us bananas and offered us to sit with them next to their bonefire. We thought it was nice of them so we did.
They had a caravan, chairs, electricity, lots of food, etc. We felt safe, but anyway we were careful to stay together and outside where more people sat not so far away. We talked and laughed for about two hours, and then we left to sleep in my car.
Remember the little crazy I mentioned at the beginning? Here it comes...
We were about to fall asleep comfortably inside the car, when a car with two Arab men entered the parking lot and stopped in front of us.
We asked a passer by to tell them to turn off the lights, they were blinding us. The two men turned it off, but the moment the passer by left they turned it back on.
They kepy the engine running their entire stay, and also didn’t go out or anything. Why would they even go there at 2am? We started to get freaked out.
We asked another guy who passed next to us to tell them, and the same thing happened.
Then they put loud music, and drove so close to our windows, only few centimeters separated us.
We almost drove away, but we were sure they had follow us, and we didn’t even know where to go. At least in that place we had some people around, if we screamed they would have heard.
The crazy dudes kept it going for over an hour, disturbing us and trying to scare us.
We live in a conflicted country, you never know when someone tries to piss you off or actully harm you. All we did was waiting.
They drove next to us again, and another man came to our aid. He talked to them through their window, and because they were so close I heard everything.
This stranger said, “They are like my sisters,” -we don’t know him, but this is the other side of this complex place, we always have each other’s backs- “I am asking you to leave them alone.”
They talked some more, and then they actually left!
We couldn’t believe it, we were so relieved (also because we could finally leave the car and go to pee haha.)
We survived the night! And after two hours of sleep and breakfast in the form of a matzha (Passover bread), we were ready to hike!
Wadi / Nachal Arugot
After two hours or more of climbing mountains, going through rivers and drinking lots of water, we reached the end of the route.
We ate lunch and sat between small waterfalls, looking at all the beauty around us and being happy.
It took us overall 6 hours, and we were so exhausted at the end- but it was so worth it.
Nothing like a good hike, warm water and good snacks in the middle of the desert to get some perspective.
