Israel 2013: Sweet and Salty--Day 4

The fourth and final day of hiking was a beautiful one. We hiked at Nahal Amud, most of which is now a nature reserve, and contains a stream with the same name. The picture of the pillar below is considered its namesake:

We did not reach the pillar until the end of our hike, near a cave that contained the remains of a Neanderthal. The pillar resembles a Neanderthal. The hike started out with cloudy skies but quickly they broke up and allowed the sunlight to come through, causing the colors of our surroundings--the wildflowers, tall grass, palm trees, rocky cliffs with their caves--to explode.

The start of our hike

We squeezed through the fence to gain access to the reserve

I wanted to lay on this hill and watch the clouds--maybe I will get to later

One of many caves

The terrain on this hike was annoying most of the time because we had to walk through what looked like a dry riverbed, which was home to softball-sized rocks. At one point, while making our way down a dirt path, the girl in front of me slid and almost rolled all the way down. When we reached the bottom and started walking on the rocks, I saw why:

She was hiking in Toms!! Wow. I had a muscle spasm in my foot on the first day, and I was wearing real shoes; I'm not sure how she felt after walking on all those stones. While hiking this day, I talked a lot with one of our guides; his name is Asav (not sure the English spelling is right). We talked a lot about Jewish writers, the Hebrew language--he even taught me some new words--and what the United States is like. He has never been, but is wanting to visit some day. I didn't think to get a picture with him, but he was a lot of fun to talk with. He even tried to talk me into finishing my degree here in Jerusalem. Anyway, we seemed to spend more time walking on rocks than anything else, but besides that, I think this was one of my favorite hiking days in addition to the first one.

One of many breaks

I kept thinking of the burning bush from Exodus when I saw this tree

Crossing the stream near the end of the trail

Our security guard showed us a plant that is safe to eat. The taste is hard to describe, but was actually not bad. He said they're "good for munchies". He was right.

This is what they look like when you pull them from the stem

Unpeel and eat; they resemble mini pumpkins

Stopping to take in the scenery

A friend took our picture as we meandered through dirt and brush

When we reached the bus, we drove to our final destination for the trip--Tiberias to relax at Bora Bora Beach in the Sea of Galilee, where the bottle that contained water from the Mediterranean was poured into the Galilee. The water was beautiful here too, not as blue as the Mediterranean, but definitely clean and clear. And yes, cold. So cold in fact that my friend Becca (who previously made fun of me for thinking the Dead Sea was icy--the water temp might have been 60 degrees--it was February, after all), would not go in to swim. The beach was not sandy, but rocky. After stepping foot in the chilly Galilee I found a cozy, cushion-covered bench and lay under the shade of a giant palm tree. Shortly thereafter, they announced it was time to eat; one of my favorite times. They served various wines, cheeses, and amazing baked bread and pitas with dip that I couldn't get enough of. I won't even say how much pita and bread I ate, but my sole motive was to eat the dip. The name of it is escaping me right now, but I know it was made mostly of cream cheese. After more than two hours of relaxing, eating, talking, eating, and even reading/discussing the bible, we were back on the bus for our 3 hour trip back to Jerusalem.