After stopping in Akko and visiting the castle there, we went through a gift shop in order to get back on to the main street. They shooed us through the shop without really telling us why. Later on we found out that the proprietor spent 2 years in prison for attempted murder of another proprietor and that was why they didn't want us supporting the shop.
We drove about 90 minutes north to Kibbutz Hagoshrim. This kibbutz is beautiful - more like a resort than a cooperative. The grounds are gorgeously manicured and there are many dorm-like buildings with guest rooms.
When we arrived, the last leg of the Tour de France was on so we watched them loop around the Champs Elysees a number of times before ending with Lance's stunning 7th straight victory! Very exciting stuff.
We went to dinner around 7p. It was an amazing buffet - tons of food, lots of meats, marinated veggies like eggplant and zucchini, plus a really great rice pilaf. Took a swim in the pool for 45 minutes, playing with funoodles before someone yelled at us. Then it was an early bed time since we had had such a long day.
This morning there was another amazing buffet - there's so much food and we eat all the time - typical Jews! We took a Jeep tour in the Golan Heights, which was beautiful but sort of scary. All around us were barbed wires saying, "Danger, Mines." There are apparently still live land mines buried there from the 6 day war, when Israel took control of the Heights from Syria.
The most disturbing thing happened during the ride - we were in the Jeep with Paul's family and an older woman named Edyth. She turned to the drive and said, "I don't understand why there's all this fighting. If they just gave it up and let us have it [Gaza], there wouldn't be any more fighting." I said, "They're probably saying the same thing about us." She said, "But it's ours - the Torah tells us it's ours." I said, "The Koran probably says the same thing." She said, "But we're right."
I wasn't trying to get her to change her point of view, just to point out that it's not that simple; there's more than one side to the story. Probably not a fruitful discussion, but it opened my eyes to how ignorance is not a one-sided element.
After the Jeep ride (which despite the conversation was quite fun), we had a surprise visit to Nimrod's fortress. It was really pretty, with interesting architecture and design. Now we're on the bus, heading towards the Syrian border.
We went to the Syrian border, which was on the other side of the valley from the Golan Heights. After, we stopped for lunch and then saw these really interesting ruins. In the old synagogue, Ilona tossed her hat onto a ledge and it got stuck. I climbed up to the ledge and out on to it to retrieve the hat, to many cheers.
Next we went to the Lebanese border where we talked with a border patrol policeman named Mike, an ex-Brooklyn boy. He was so interesting and his description of his experience defending the northern most Israeli border for 35+ years was fascinating. He talked about how he didn't always agree with the government's decisions but he defended his country regardless. What an incredible man.
We came back around 5p and swam for a bit, then came in for dinner in the kibbutz again. Delish!
After dinner we had a meeting with one of the workers in the kibbutz. Hannah was originally from Bolivia and moved to Israel when she was 14. She compared life on the kibbutz from then to now. Now is much different - in the last 6-10 years, the kibbutz went Capitalist. This means people have jobs outside the kibbutz, have to pay for houses, groceries, health care, plus taxes to the kibbutz. I don't understand how that's any different from a small community's local government, but I didn't want to be rude or offend anyone by asking.
In the evening, myself, Paul, Ilona, Aaron, and some of the other kids (Jodie and Josh) got together to play hearts. Despite thinking I'd do poorly, I didn't end up doing so bad. We postponed the game at 10p so the young ones could get to bed. There was music playing outside so Paul and I danced for a little bit before heading back to the room.
Two interesting things of note:
Tomorrow we visit an artist's colony and go rafting.
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