Not sure what happened to the text on yesterday's post. It seems to be a draft problem. I got the pictures up all at once and ran out of time to put text. Next day, I tried to edit post but blogger would not allow so here is an explanation of pictures. I suggest you get 2 different windows up so you can see yesterday and today at same time... that is if you are really curious about the sites and the words together.
Picture #1 is our arriving at Jericho after winding through half-finished road construction supported by the good people of America. As you may already now Jericho is said to be the oldest, continuously lived in city in the world. Some say 10,000 years old. Twelve years ago, Carl and I were able to visit this part of Jericho and were disappointed because it was a pile of rocks with no context. This time we were happy to signs explaining what we were looking at and we were impressed. Like the most ancient staircase ever discovered. A concern is that it won't be around the next time we come? because the site is totally out in the open and the wind seems to be blowing everything away.
Picture #2 What really made the visit memorable was a class of university students from Al Quds University in the city of Abudecs who were visiting the site as well. I think what interested them first was Margaret--that is before it was made known that Chad was her husband! They were interested in using their English skills on us. The young man who talked to us most was a Palestinian who was born in ... US. Was it Tennessee he said? Carl asked him about all the students who were smoking: "Don't they know how bad it is for them?" His reply, "They know, but they don't care, but I care and I don't smoke. They are stupid." He gave us his email and I intend to see if I can decipher the writing enough to send him a note.
Picture #3 and 4 We swam at the most beautiful swimming hole you have ever seen. It is all natural, rocks, spring, rolling hills, etc. This is what all those would-be Las Vegas type pools wish they looked like. The water felt so good because it was such a hot day and we had been in the busy city for two days and we were ready for the water. The name of the place is Ha Shalosha.
Picture #5 Margaret and Chad are ready to head from Nazareth to Kibbutz Lavi on what is called the "Jesus Trail." You can get more info on the web: www.jesustrails.com. It was a good thing that they are experienced cyclists because the markers along the trail were not that clear and they did a number of retracings, but still made it by the end of the day as we picked them up in Lavi, dirty and tired.--Picture #6
Picture #7 This day their desire was to see WATER! so we headed for the coast off Haifa. Chad was looking for a surfing spot. The spots off in the distance are para-gliders attached to surfboards. It was amazing to see. However, Chad was looking for an ordinary long-board so we kept wandering down the coast. Enroute we found a great place for another felafel and chowed down. Picture 8.
Picture #9 The man and the board at last together... for the moment at least. The waves beat the daylights out of him, but he was a happy man for having had the experience.
So now you have the rest of the story... at least THAT story.
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