The Holy Land

Our fear of borders has evolved from fear to excitement. We breezed through security with no issues. We did notice however that Israel is a little more serious about security than Jordan or Egypt. I mean, Jordanian immigration flirted with Yode and gave her an extra month on her visa just so she would stay longer.

We were finally here! We triumphantly entered Jerusalem. On my friend Clare's recomendation, we did a free tour of Jerusalem, and got the low down on the four quarters of the old city... Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Armenian. 2 points to anyone who knows why the Armenians get a quarter. Oh we don't know either, both of us tuned out for a second. For me some soldier with a gun walked by (a new obsession of mine) and Yode has the attention span of a 4 year old... her words not mine.

We saw some amazing sights, the place of the crucifixion, the place of the ascension to heaven, the garden of Gethsemane and the stations of the cross (where Jesus walked with the cross.) To be honest our reactions to these sights were mixed and might be worth a longer conversation later. Striking was the tourists that rent crosses to carry them through the streets. We didn't check on the going "cross rate"... not our style.

Bethleham was the most interesting. Specifically crossing over to Palestine in the West Bank. There were a lot of moments on this trip where I felt slightly ignorant of world politics, but this was the worst. The wall surrounding Palestine was unnerving. Again, perhaps a conversation for later.

A notable moment for me was a soldier with a gun at the checkpoint. Wow, do they get models to do this work?

We went off the beaten tourist path and explored the markets of Bethleham. We got caught in a random rain storm and had to take shelter under a tarp with a bunch of Palestinians, who welcomed us with perfect English. Yode wants me to mention that Bethleham had the best shwarma yet this trip. Neither of these things were what we were expecting from Bethleham.

Jerusalem with its Suqs and sights tired us out a bit. However we woke up early Sunday to see one more sight, The Dome of The Rock. Again, one more insight into the difficult religous/political situation here, as this one rock is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians.

We left Jerusalem tired and thoughtful, and welcomed the laid back style of Tel Aviv. Arriving in Tel Aviv, we saw people walking around practically naked. Strapless dresses, tank tops, and shorts! There were people jogging in the streets in tight work out gear and lounging in bathing suites, these people should be ashamed. Wait a minute, did we just find the Isreali Kitsilano? To be honest, my slight self esteem issues had warmed to the conservative Muslim and Jewish dress codes. Great, I would have to look at my body again... worse yet, I would have to look at Yode's!

We had planned to stay for only 2 nights in Tel Aviv and then move on to the North, but we have now discovered a new passion .. surfing. We tried surfing in Brazil, but as our instructor didn't speak english, this didn't go well (the only thing we learned there was the portugues word for wave). We had high hopes for Tel Aviv. It turns out that our surfing instructor was from Newfoundland. Strangley, this did not actually help us surf. We are going out again tomorrow, despite the fact that the act of typing kinda hurts Yode's arms and I think I might have broken my toe.

We also had the chance to meet up with my friend Clare's parents and her cousin for a nice night out. We spent some time talking to Clare's cousin regarding all our questions on Isreal that we thought might be inapproapriate to ask. Turns out she thought we were funny, not inappropriate. I think we might have been a bit of both .. and a little tipsy.

We still have a few days left before I head home and Yode heads to India, so I will leave it up to Yode to update her blog from now on. I have a feeling she might pawn this off again. Shauna beware. Guest writer out.