Hiking around Eilat

At the summit
I've returned from three glorious days hiking around the Negev and through the mountains of Eilat. Pardes organized this trip, so many of the students and several staff traveled with us - a sweet way to build the sense of community I haven't quite found, as a part-time student, until this semester.

Drama in the landscape
This has probably been the first institutional group trip I've done as an "adult" entrusted with my own safety, and free to come and go as I felt I should. For instance, I left when my Hasidut teacher lead a "drama sports" activity the first night, opting to meditate on the beach, across from Jordan's enormous flag (possibly the world's largest), before returning to the main strip of kitschy shops along the beach-front, and observing a few kids, probably rolling on ecstasy as they momentarily stopped to dance in front of the stores blaring with the loudest trance music (a pretty typical category of music to hear in the most unlikely places because of Israel's big trance scene).

Ibex at Makhtesh Ramon
The hikes we set out on each day ranged from 3-5 hours in length, and often involved cables, ladders and rungs built through steep inclines or declines so we didn't slip. I can hardly find words to describe the landscape that unfolded before me, so hopefully these pictures will begin to give you an idea.

The Red Sea
Our guide was hard to type. He looked like an American cowboy (and, as a matter of fact, works with horses) and made pretty politically rightist statements - but also led us on a silent visual meditation involving a blue crystal ball, our heart and a shaft of light, is into alternative medicine, and read Walt Whitman to us.