Friday night- we managed to wangle a free room to shower in at a nearby hostel. I was in charge of cooking the chapatis (pitta things) on the camp fire, which was handy as it's rather cold here at night cos of the altitude and wind. I chatted to various people- to be fair to them, a few people are making an effort now Sarah has gone.
Saturday: a chilled morning! Me and a German girl offered to do lunch as the Jews are not meant to do anything on Shabbat and yet it turned into a nightmare as everyone felt the need to come and interfere and eat as we were cooking, then moan about everything! We had some visiting spiritual healers who have "higher level perception" and can see your "aura" and "shakra" and all this nonsense. But they were offering free sessions so I had one for the experience. I'm not converted but it was interesting to talk to someone and get a new perspective on my situation. Then I read my book and later walked to a shop with the German girl when they opened in the evening.
Sunday: a relatively easy, flat, boring walk today. I was walking with the pregnant German and a few Israelis, although they were much slower than my usual pace! We were camping in a Bedouin village- these are local people who live a very simple, traditional life. But it was interesting to see their village and spend the time playing with the kids and learning about their culture- one of the elder ladies showed us how to make bread and cook it. I got chatting to a new Polish couple who have joined for 5 days- they were very nice!
Monday: about 20km today, but not too tough and near the end we come to a natural spring with a water hole! So spent a couple of hours chilling there- the water was bloody freezing!! But I jumped in and had a quick swim! It was very refreshing. I walked today with a guy from Lithuania who moved here 25 years ago and joined a Kibbutz- he was very interesting to talk to and knew a lot about the area. I also walked with guy originally from London who moved here 20 yrs ago- again he had some interesting stories! At the camp I helped make dinner and we sat round the fire for a couple of hours- there is a girl here now who is actually pretty good on the guitar!
Tuesday- a long, flat walk! I did most of it alone, stopping at the occasional opportunity of the shade of a bush to read some of my book and eat- waiting for someone to catch up so I could check I was going the right way. Made it to camp early and so we had to wait ages for the truck to arrive!! But Daniel come back (again) and bought me diet coke and a cheese sandwich!!! So it was nice to catch up with him! Then lots of them ordered pizza- who would have thought that you could get pizza delivered to the middle of the desert!? But I was too tight. So ended up cooking again. Although Daniel got a whole pizza and gave me half- bonus!! But still most people ate the lentil mess I made (and complimented it?!).
Wednesday: today is advertised as the hardest day on the trail! As you can imagine only a dozen of us did the proper trail. It started with an hour or two steep climb- it was great fun- literally like being Spider-Man! You had to climb these near vertical walls using rocks and then edge around pools of water on tiny ledges holding the walls. Lucky I'm not scared of heights! I helped this 70-something year old lady who is tiny and looks Japanese although she lives in Hawaii! She is amazing how she just does everything (although she had to get a lift for the last few km's with a few others who were also slow and so wouldn't have made it back before dark). Then it was a lot of ups and downs and scaling a ledge at the top of a mountain for miles. I walked with a French girl for most of it, which meant I walked a bit slower and rested more, but still beat most of those who took the short route.
Throughout the walk you come across various military, ie you often walk through areas that say "warning! Firing zone, entry forbidden"- we still walk!? Then you have the dozens of army bases and the trucks of army people you see driving through the desert. All the war planes and helicopters that fly over every day. And then the "thunder" of the practice explosions (I genuinely thought it was thunder originally). Today we could see the mushroom clouds of dust from these explosions from the mountain. A country obsessed by war!
Thursday: I was on breakfast duty, but as I'd done the breakfast rota I put myself with good people (and the guy also happens to be good looking). We prepared most of the veg last night (which took ages, so it was a late night), but still had to be up for 5.30. Daniel left again this morning and says he may come back for a day or two at the end! I'm currently sat in some shade, 2 hours into today's walk- there is not point rushing as it's a relatively short day and I'm currently ahead of everyone else! So 3 weeks into the walk already and I'm still motivated to complete it and enjoying the experience and wonders of the desert! Hope you're not missing me too much! Keep the messages coming!!