What can I say about today? With what glorious, wonderful event should I begin? With our shoes getting soaked in ankle-deep water on the hike? With a trek through goatshit-infested cliffs? With the wonderful sunset over the Galil, that popped up just when my camera disappeared? Or perhaps with getting locked out of our own hotel room because the key didn't work?
Actually, I'm exaggerating: today was even better than that! It started with a wake-up at 6:30am, the usual breakfast, and loading our stuff onto the bus. We had to put our suitcases on as well, since this morning we left Havat Habaron, and Zichron Yaakov, for good.
Our first activity of the morning was a trip up to the northern Galil, where we went on a beautiful (if slightly wet) hike down a steep hill; along (and through) a river that wound its way furiously through the valley; and back up again.
The Crusader castle overlooking Nahal KzivNimrod showed us a Crusader castle from the 11th century, built by a German order called the Rafidians (or Titaniums, as Romy called them). These knights had to build their castle in the middle of nowhere, because the Templars and the Hospitallers (mainly French and English) kicked them out of Akko.
Trying unsuccessfully to remain dryThe hike down the hill was easy going, and quite pleasant really. But once we were down, the path forced us to cross the river about 10 times; and because it recently rained a great deal, the water at the fords was ankle deep! So everyone's shoes got soaked, including mine, which are still quite damp at this very moment.
Raf commands the waters to split before himWe all got very wet, but we all made it through the river crossings, and after that it was just a question of going back up the hill to the bus. The hike back up was strenuous, but the views were great, and it wasn't really all that long. Certainly nothing compared to the mountains we scaled in desert survival!
We were supposed to have lunch at this place [Nahal Kziv] (drying our feet would have been nice, too), but it wasn't yet ready; so we went to the park up on the Lebanese border, where we were to go abseiling, and ate there.
Keshet Cave, here I come!After lunch, we abseiled about 30 metres down, on a sheer rock face. I was one of the earlier ones to go down: it was pretty fun, not much different to the desert one a week before. I don't get much of a thrill out of abseiling - since I have no fear of heights whatsoever - but it's good fun nonetheless.
The place we abseiled into looked like a giant toilet bowl, since the rock above was in the shape of a huge donut. However, because the place was inhabited by a mammoth herd of mountain goats, it literally was a giant toilet bowl: the place was covered in goatshit!
Because I was among the first few to go down, I had to sit on rocks, surrounded by goatshit, for at least an hour while we waited for everyone else to abseil down. It was pretty grotty.
Once everyone was down, we were faced with the difficult task of getting out of this goatshit-riddled dunghole. And the way we did this was by half-slipping, half-sliding, half-skiing down through the rocks and the olive-like pellets of shit. It was totally grotty: my shoes were covered in, and soaked with, goatshit; and all the way down, the mountain goats themselves were just staring at us and jumping nimbly among the rocks, clearly in blatant mockery of us.
But soon the cliff slopes gave way to a proper, relatively flat path; and around here, the place was inundated with goats. We had a perfect view of the northern Galilee - of the farmlands, the sea, and the coast that curved all the way down to the jutting head of Haifa - except I didn't have my camera (more on that story later, folks!). And there were literally hundreds of goats: old ones with grey beards; angry mothers watching their children; and adorable little kid goats that you could pick up and cuddle.
One little kid (Had Gad Ya!) wouldn't leave me alone after I gave it just one pat. It was so cute! I kept on walking along the path, cause we had to hurry: and this baby goat just kept following me, and nuzzling up to me! Eventually I just told it to "zooz" (piss off), and I ran off along the path before it could follow.
So we left the lovely (if slightly shitty) goats behind, and climbed back up to the top. From there, we sat and watched the sun set, into the Mediterranean, over all the Western Galilee. It was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen! And, as Murphy's Law dictates, everyone was snapping away on their cameras, except me, because I still didn't have my camera!
Apparently, after we abseiled down the cliff, all the stuff we left at the top (including my camera and jumper) was collected and dumped on the bus. And in the brief time we had to look, I found my hat/sunnies/wallet/phone, but not my jumper or my camera.
So I watched the beautiful sunset over the Galil in the cold, and without a camera. I tried to enjoy it; but let me tell you, I was feeling pretty pissed off! [Reading this again, as I type it up onto computer six weeks later, I feel just as pissed off now as I did then]
Naturally, the minute we got back on the warm bus - after the sun had set, and we were on our way to Nahariya for the night - my camera and jumper turned up immediately.
The bus ride to Nahariya didn't take that long; and when we got to our hotel, we unpacked our stuff and showered to get over the wet hike from this morning [and to wash off the goatshit].
Tonight's been a relaxing night: the only drama tonight was when we returned from the shops, and the key to our room simply would not open the door. But luckily, a security guy came up, and was able to get it open.
Although I've bitched about it a fair bit, today's actually been a really fun day. Never mind that I had no camera: sunset over the Galil was a beautiful sight, even if it's only in my memory.