Thursday night: I ended up doing dinner and got rather pissed off (yeah imagine me getting stressed at people) after people were interfering and messing everything up. But then I was chatting with a couple of nice people who cheered me up.
Friday: a relatively short day: I walked with one of the Israeli girls, Daniela, whose actually pretty nice- she's my age, a hard worker and not really a sociable person either. We arrived at a kibbutz and went in to visit the supermarket. It was a really friendly, traditional Kibbutz and one of only 2 places in Israel to farm pigs- pork is forbidden in Judaism and when they do farm them they have to do it off the Israeli soil (on a platform) as it's illegal. Indeed, Daniela has never seen a pig. The people in the kibbutz offered us to visit for dinner, where they all come together in a huge dining hall- I saw the lunch- it looked amazing! But we found the campsite just outside and couldn't be bothered to walk back. In the Kibbutz the children don't sleep with there parents, instead they all stay together with nannies so that the parents can prepare and focus on work. We had a chilled night round the fire, with the usual Shabbat ritual. I now have an admirer other than Amos- he's only 24 and not my type but he's very funny and it's nice to have someone to talk to.
Saturday: I did my laundry early. Went for a short walk with a couple of the girls. And my admirer followed me round chatting most of the day. It's Passover (the Jews big celebration) this week, so we are having a big meal with 80 people (walkers families, etc) and traditional festivities this week- in which we are expected to do the cooking and serving. But it means we don't walk on Monday or Tuesday. Daniela kindly invited me to go to Tel Aviv to spend Passover with her and her twin brother at his apartment if I wanted to escape the intense Judaism and chaos here.
Sunday: it's fair to say that the running of this affair is atrocious- for the 5th morning in the last week they still hadn't decided where we would be camping tonight, so couldn't tell us where to head for?! You think they have known about this walk for months and yet they are so unorganised. They send the location later in the day on whatsapp, which is no good for those without internet. Similarly, we are frequently running out of food- which is not really acceptable when we each pay £20 a day. And then today we walked to the location, only to get a message to say they'd moved it! So we had to walk another 10km. A relatively flat walk through farm lands, woods and fields. Saw several wild tortoises and loads of storks and birds on their migration journey from Africa to Europe. But it's funny when the Israelis talk about how green it is and I compare it to England, which really is green and not yellow with the odd tree. A quiet night in camp, a few people have left and several have gone home for Passover. But everyone worked together and it's easier to talk when there is less people, so we had a really nice evening. A few of them were drinking and getting stoned round the campfire. I refrained from any such substance, but the humour when you are around stoned people is rather infectious and Miriam was pretty wasted and is very funny when she's pissed! So it was a very funny night! And then it was hilarious- my admirer Ron was also pretty wasted and followed me to my tent- I wasn't interested especially as he was wasted but we ended up laying chatting and then he was suddenly really sick!! He mostly made it out of tent, but there was a splattering! I could have been cross but I thought it was amusing that he'd tried so hard and then ruined every chance he has by puking!! And to be fair, he was understandably really embarrassed and insisted on cleaning it all up and covered his piles of vomit outside my tent with dirt, even though it was late.
Monday: I decided I would go with Daniela to Tel Aviv and luckily a guy had been visiting his friend on the walk and was driving back to Tel Aviv this morning. So we had breakfast in the camp then he gave us a lift an hour or so to the city. It was about 11 but Daniela's brother was still asleep (turns out he's a bit of a party animal)- so we left our bags with his neighbour and walked around the city a bit- it's a more residential area than where I was before. We found a cafe and shared poached egg and smoked salmon muffins. Her brother woke about 1 and let us in and gave us a load of money to go get food, so we walked it a supermarket. Spent £100 on food then bought it back and her brother was back in bed. So we had a shower and sat watching TV for a couple of hours. Done some laundry in a machine! He got up again about 4.30 and we sat watching Armagedon- again they were getting stoned- it's all everyone does here! And the film is one of the s***test I have ever seen! The brother done us a really nice meal- fresh fish, cheese mushrooms, etc. and an amazing dessert. We played some cards and at about 8.30 we started watching the new beauty and the beast, but we all fell asleep. Then woke again about 10.30 and went out to a bar for a drink with her and her brother, but not many places were open because of the holiday. The supermarket was an experience- they don't sell anything with flour in it over the week of Passover, so the shelves are stripped bare of lots of products or covers are put up. And everyone cleans everything today then at 2pm everything shuts down like on Shabbat. But Daniela and her brother are not strict Jews, so we didn't observe the traditions. Slept on the couch but it was still more comfortable than my tent.
Monday: I was sent on the job of finding bread, so following google maps I found an Arab shop that was open and still selling bread. I come back and we had a feast for breakfast at about 11.30- vege omelette, salad, cheeses, hummus, bread, etc. the brother went back to bed, I watched a film about the suffragettes. Then me and Daniela walked to the beach and lay chilling for a couple of hours- it was really busy, so interesting to people watch. We ate ice cream and watermelon and cheese! We walked back and showered and chilled, watched Tamara Drewe- a strange film. Then had salad, cheese, wraps and ice cream before heading out. Just me and Daniela went out and visited numerous bars/clubs- I don't think the night really worked as planned but it was fun to be out and we had a good dance! Guys were hitting on me a lot- they are a bit pervy here! But then we ended up at this club her brother had recommended and it was gay night!! I've never seen so many handsome guys in one place!! And it's fair to say lots of them were getting very intimate with each other, never been to such a gay place, but it was funny! I even had a couple of drinks- I guess it was my birthday night out!! We got back about 2, shortly afterwards a girl turned up and went to the brothers room for a couple of hours- it really is a bachelor pad!
Wednesday: Daniela made us pancakes for breakfast, we got packed and then got a train to the bus station and a couple of buses. It was really nice to have a civilised break from the walk and shower and eat good food, but I don't really like going to people's houses- it's just a bit awkward, although they were so generous! So think I'll stick to the trail for the last 4 weeks, although I think I preferred the desert to this part of the trail because the scenery was so dramatic and the hiking was more adventurous. Although the signage for the trail is not very clear here, so it's much easier to get lost!
We met another girl who was also rejoining the walk and we walked a couple of km to the camp site. I helped do dinner, updated the breakfast rota and caught up with everyone- don't think I missed much at the Passover dinner. Ron had been using my tent while I was away and cleaned it up thank god!
Thursday: about 22km today. I walked by myself most of the day and managed not to get lost, mainly farmland and vineyards. Arrived first at the campsite, so now sat waiting for the truck!!
Tan update: don't think I've ever been so brown or my hair so blonde!
Hope you're all well!! Thanks for the messages! Happy Easter!!