Day Three on the Jesus trail.
We prepared everyone for what was going to be a difficult day by emphasizing the the length of the hike ahead of us 18 km uphill both ways. We were prepared and had lots of water to make it to the next water source on the map. It was a beautiful hike to the Horns of Hattin, site of a crusader battle, where funnily, they lost because of a lack of water. :-) What a gorgeous view, the top was also the site of a early caananite fort. We had left early in the morning so the heat was not unbearable, about 32 celcius. From the summit we trucked on down to a Druize shrine set into the side of the hill, where we were politely told that they would not be accepting visitors today. They meant to say 29 very sweaty, effervescent, Westgaters, but were too nice to be so blunt. In the meantime those that were interested checked out the ruins of a Palestinian village that was abandoned, or forcibly emptied ( need to check the history books on that one) in 1948. It exemplified my assessment of the Holy Land so far: Rock, heat, thorns.....beautiful. From there we set off to find our B and B for the night in Arbel. Navigating down to a crossroad in the trail we ran into a bit of a quandry over which road to take, I stopped to discuss the matter, Terry walked ahead to scout a path and James broke into a sprint running up the road and out of sight around the corner like a man driven by some unknown prize. Terry followed after him at a walk. We watched and waited. The group sat down in the shade of some olive trees and waited for their assessment, and I waited at the road looking for some type of good news to be waved at me from the distance. They disappeared from sight.
Soon a car came down the road and slowed to talk to me. Ah, they've sent me a message! The elderly Asian couple spoke to me in what I assumed was Japanese, I thought they were lost. I explained with sign language my lack of language skills and they continued on down the road. We waited, and waited.... and ....
The same car came back now in the opposite direction, stopped opposite us on the side of the road and the elderly woman with a cane, hobbled out into the lane of oncoming traffic. I walked quickly across the road hoping to avoid a tragedy, wondering what on earth they wanted from us. When I got close enough to speak with her, the woman promptly produced a bag of cucumbers and a 2 litre of cold coffee. She handed me the food and drink, grabbed the cross around her neck and said in thickly accented English. "Christian", then she smiled and said again..."Jesus!" Needless to say, I felt a little chagrined, I had just experienced some heaven sent hospitality when I was expecting a request for help! She smiled, I thanked her, told her "God Bless" and watched as she hobbled back to her seat in the car. It seems that I needed a small reminder in case I hadn't got the message about the prejudging because as they drove away the elderly male driver rolled down his window waved and yelled "Korean!" as they drove away.
I returned to the group distributed our "coffee and cukes" and returned to my post on the road. Soon a car stopped, rolled down their window and told me that there were two "women" waiting for their group down the road. (Apparently James has a very shapely figure, or they were only looking at Terry) With this good news we set off down the road to find James and Terry. They weren't there, but we found the trail marked clearly and finished the trek into town and to the B and B. There we saw Terry and James sitting under the trees in the shade, enjoying a cool beverage and looking positively relaxed and refreshed.
"Where have you been? We've been waiting for you for at least twenty minutes!"
We've taken a vote on whether James should teach a course in communication next year. There was one absention, one opposed, but the motion passed with a majority.
Having fun in the Holy Land. God Bless. Lyndon
We prepared everyone for what was going to be a difficult day by emphasizing the the length of the hike ahead of us 18 km uphill both ways. We were prepared and had lots of water to make it to the next water source on the map. It was a beautiful hike to the Horns of Hattin, site of a crusader battle, where funnily, they lost because of a lack of water. :-) What a gorgeous view, the top was also the site of a early caananite fort. We had left early in the morning so the heat was not unbearable, about 32 celcius. From the summit we trucked on down to a Druize shrine set into the side of the hill, where we were politely told that they would not be accepting visitors today. They meant to say 29 very sweaty, effervescent, Westgaters, but were too nice to be so blunt. In the meantime those that were interested checked out the ruins of a Palestinian village that was abandoned, or forcibly emptied ( need to check the history books on that one) in 1948. It exemplified my assessment of the Holy Land so far: Rock, heat, thorns.....beautiful. From there we set off to find our B and B for the night in Arbel. Navigating down to a crossroad in the trail we ran into a bit of a quandry over which road to take, I stopped to discuss the matter, Terry walked ahead to scout a path and James broke into a sprint running up the road and out of sight around the corner like a man driven by some unknown prize. Terry followed after him at a walk. We watched and waited. The group sat down in the shade of some olive trees and waited for their assessment, and I waited at the road looking for some type of good news to be waved at me from the distance. They disappeared from sight.
Soon a car came down the road and slowed to talk to me. Ah, they've sent me a message! The elderly Asian couple spoke to me in what I assumed was Japanese, I thought they were lost. I explained with sign language my lack of language skills and they continued on down the road. We waited, and waited.... and ....
The same car came back now in the opposite direction, stopped opposite us on the side of the road and the elderly woman with a cane, hobbled out into the lane of oncoming traffic. I walked quickly across the road hoping to avoid a tragedy, wondering what on earth they wanted from us. When I got close enough to speak with her, the woman promptly produced a bag of cucumbers and a 2 litre of cold coffee. She handed me the food and drink, grabbed the cross around her neck and said in thickly accented English. "Christian", then she smiled and said again..."Jesus!" Needless to say, I felt a little chagrined, I had just experienced some heaven sent hospitality when I was expecting a request for help! She smiled, I thanked her, told her "God Bless" and watched as she hobbled back to her seat in the car. It seems that I needed a small reminder in case I hadn't got the message about the prejudging because as they drove away the elderly male driver rolled down his window waved and yelled "Korean!" as they drove away.
I returned to the group distributed our "coffee and cukes" and returned to my post on the road. Soon a car stopped, rolled down their window and told me that there were two "women" waiting for their group down the road. (Apparently James has a very shapely figure, or they were only looking at Terry) With this good news we set off down the road to find James and Terry. They weren't there, but we found the trail marked clearly and finished the trek into town and to the B and B. There we saw Terry and James sitting under the trees in the shade, enjoying a cool beverage and looking positively relaxed and refreshed.
"Where have you been? We've been waiting for you for at least twenty minutes!"
We've taken a vote on whether James should teach a course in communication next year. There was one absention, one opposed, but the motion passed with a majority.
Having fun in the Holy Land. God Bless. Lyndon
Great to read this - keep having fun. Thinking of you all.
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