Party in the Desert

Just when I thought I was going to spend some time resting, relaxing and deciding what to do next... I had one final adventure before Shabbat that I have to share.

My friend from Tekoa, Brian, told me about a "party in the desert". So I invited a friend from Jewel, Mara (and her 2 friends) to Tekoa and was expecting the sort of party I described in an earlier blog. Let me just say that it's important to be specific when asking Israelis questions about parties. This was so not what I expected, but in an awesome way. We drove out into the middle of the desert to an old British fort where there were hundreds of people at a real DJ type of dance and bonfire party. Inside the fort was the dancing and DJ music. Outside, people set up small encampments and bonfires for their smaller circles of friends.

We chopped veggies and drank wine before going back inside to the music that was rhythmically intoxicating... we danced and danced. At some point during the night, I just couldn't take the heat any more, so I asked to borrow a pocket knife and cut my jeans off into shorts. Miracle of miracles I cooled down tremendously.

When we went outside we lied back on the mats and blankets to see more stars than I have ever seen before. I was mesmerized by the milky way and closed my eyes and fell asleep under the stars for a little while. When I woke up, stew and tea were being served hot off the fire. We ate and drank and went back in for more dancing.

The party went on until the sun came up. Someone brought a Shofar which is a ram's horn that's blown during the month of Hebrew month Elul (leading up to Rosh Hashana) and High Holiday season. Sunshine started to come up over the desert skyline and with the Shofar blowing someone yelled "Boker Tov" (good morning)! The dancing was still going. We watched the sunrise, and around 730am we were packed up to head back to Tekoa.

In the day you could see the beauty of the desert and we drove through the West Bank. In the distance I could see Hevron and we drove through Efrat and Gush Etseyon. Just so you know, Hevron is where Abraham, Isac, and Jacob were buried and is considered one of the holiest places in Israel. Hevron has a very large Arab population and is a key disputed area in the land debate of the West Bank.

At the suggestion of our wonderful host and impromptu tour guide we decided to stop and do a short hike down the side of a hill to see a natural water spring. As we got half way down we realized that there was no spring to be found. We stopped for a moment and the silence was such a deafening contrast to how we spent the rest of the night it was amazing. The air was still and crisp and you couldn't hear a sound. The desert looked painted and the Wadi was beautiful. We hiked back up the mountain and decided to check out another place with a water hole.

When we got to the new destination on the highest point in the Gush we walked down a short distance to the water hole to check it out... eventually half of us jumped in. The other half, me included, put our feet in instead. Side note: I wanted to go in, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I knew the water was only green because of the moss that was kicked up, it was just too green for me to want to jump in to. My legs and feet were happy dangling in. So, we stayed for a while and drank coffee, enjoyed the view and cool water in the early morning hours.

Our grand adventure ended shortly thereafter and we finally made it back to Tekoa at 1030 in the morning. What a night. What an adventure. An amazing time was had by all!!