The Negev

Saturday dawned bright and early but we didn’t. Deb and I went out for dinner Friday night. Thai food. There are some good Thai restaurants around here and I was feeling pretty sick and wanted soup so Thai it was. Dinner was good and since they asked us to switch tables to accommodate a larger party they gave us a free desert. It was fabulous. They said was tapioca and there was tapioca in it but it was not a pudding. It had coconut milk and fresh fruit and something else we couldn’t identify but Deb and I were hard pressed to not lick the bowl! When Saturday rolled around we were pretty dead. We went out to rent the car and after that really, really, really wanted to spend the day in the apartment watching Angel. Deb was exhausted with bronchitis and work and I was at the peak of the cold. We vegged for a while and then looked at each other and said, "We HAVE to leave the apartment.” We decided we would just take the car and explore to the south and if we still felt bad after an hour or two we would come back. After we made it out into the warm sunshine (in the air-conditioned car) we actually felt okay. Since we were driving, it wasn’t too strenuous and we decided to head to the desert and see what we could see.

It was very interesting. We had originally thought we would head to Eilat, which is the south-est spot in the country, but we never made it all the way. We drove down into the Negev enjoying the scenery. Very stark and grand. We stopped in Be’er Sheva. Because it was Shabbat, the town was dead. And I mean dead. I think we saw about 10 people the whole time. It was like a movie where there had been some sort of nuclear disaster! But it actually worked out well because then Deb didn’t have to worry about the crazy drivers and could enjoy the scenery. There is a big university in the town and lots of apartment complexes and some stores. And I saw the first black people since I arrived. (photo: view from car of desert)
A lot of the Ethiopian Jews settled in Be’er Sheva so it has a larger black population. At this point we were getting pretty hungry. We knew our only chance for dinner would be an Arab restaurant (since their Holy day is Friday) and we happened to see a couple cars turning onto our street up ahead. I said, “ Deb, follow the cars. That is the most people we have seen since we have been here. If there is anything open in this town, they must be coming from it!” And sure enough, we found a little shopping center with a few stores open and yeah! A restaurant. We would have taken what we could get at that point but Allah was smiling on us. The place was called (translated) Heaven on the Table and boy was it. It was a fancy Arab restaurant and after we ordered they brought out 14 dishes of appetizers from hummus to various salads, pickles baba gounush, you name it and a yummy giant pita. I got a garlic steak and Deb got goose liver kabobs. I hat hot lemon grass tea and they were so unhappy that we didn’t want desert that they brought us watermelon and baklava for free! We basically thought we had died and gone to heaven. We also thought they would have to drive us back to Tel Aviv because we were so stuffed! We did a little shopping (I was desperate for puffs plus for my aching nose) and got back in the car. Nearby was a modern Bedouin village which we drove through (sort of Israeli projects) and then a gorgeous tiny suburb-like place where obviously the wealthy Israeli’s have their homes. It reminded me of Coral Ridge in Ft. Lauderdale. Shabbat had ended and there were lots of folks out rollerblading, walking the dogs, pushing baby carriages (there are LOTS of babies in Israel.)

We then headed back into the desert. We saw herds of goats with traditionally dressed goatherds, we passed many camels on the roadside; we even passed an Ostrich farm! We realized we were not going to make it all the way to Eilat so I devised a scenic route back. Unfortunately, it took us rather close to the Gaza strip. If Deb gets caught in Gaza, she’s immediately fired and deported from Israel! (That’s assuming we make it back from Gaza) (photo:road cuts through giant rocks in desert) (Photo:one of many camel crossing signs we passed) So there were some tense moments, especially since we were only assuming that the pink strip in the on the map WAS the Gaza strip. It’s not clearly marked and the major Israeli highways go through it, so it’s not entirely clear where it is. As the sun was setting and (remember we are in the desert and there are no street lights) we see up ahead a bunch of soldiers, tanks and machine guns! There was some panicking in the car. Fortunately they were Israeli soldiers. I assured Deb and myself that we would see Israeli soldiers before Palestinian ones so we should have plenty of time to turn around before hitting Gaza. Right? The soldiers were waving us through, but Deb was rather concerned we were being waved through to Palestine so she stopped one of them and tried to ask if we were in Israel without coming straight out and saying it that way. Luckily we clearly appeared like lost American tourists with our car full of water bottles, Kleenex boxes, maps, guide books and country music playing on the tape deck! They said the road ahead was closed and guarded by the Israeli soldiers do to the upcoming military withdrawal from Gaza (let me be clear I had NOT navigated us into Palestine) and asked where we were headed. When we told them Tel Aviv, they looked quite shocked and one started to laugh. We were a long way off and pleasure driving in the car is not really an Israeli concept. He showed us how to get there on the map, basically go into the restricted zone and take the first right turn we could. That road would take us to the highway back to Tel Aviv. With some trepidation, we headed into the military zone and believe me, we took the first right available! After a time, we passed through some more soldiers and machine guns and continued on our way in the safe zone.
More driving through desert taking in the scenery in the waning light. We passed a huge array of giant satellites, which I think is one of the space watching places (think Contact.) Our next little bit of excitement came when we came to the intersection which I was pretty sure was still in Israel but due to the aforesaid nebulousness of the map was not entirely sure. We were okay but it was a bit disconcerting to be at the red light in front the sign that pointed right to Tel Aviv and left to Gaza. We were about 5 minutes away from the entrance. A little freaky. The rest of the trip home was uneventful and we made it back and collapsed, glad that we had made it out of the apartment and still with enough time for one more Angle episode! Tomorrow Caesarea.