Day Zero

After surprisingly little fuss, we arrived in Israel on Sunday.

It took us about an hour to drive from Tel Aviv down to the Negev, where our friends live. The country was surprisingly lovely. Agricultural areas undulated with sunflowers as low hills stretched across the horizon. When we expressed amazement at the size of a cement factory we passed, our driver pointed out every factory on the way.

We settled in, had lunch, then made a quick dash to Tel Beersheva National Park. The best part: we had the park entirely to ourselves.

I find myself puzzling over the situation of actually standing in Biblical locations. I don't really know how to interpret this. I suspect at rock bottom, part of me thinks very little in the Bible should be treated as historical fact. So I'm startled in every national park here, where the visitors' guides and explanatory plaques contain overt Biblical references. On the other hand, these people did live here. It's obvious that something is going on here. Or went on.

A few weeks ago I was on the Nile in a felucca, looking for bats. I was chatting with some transfer students about living in the Middle East, and we began talking about travel to Israel. One man said, "You know, it's hard for me to picture those places as real. It's like reading Lord of the Rings to me." I thought that was an excellent way of putting things.

Another surprise: camels. There are Bedouins here, including across the street from my friend's house. More to say about this later, but while we were in the archaeological site, we found a herd of camels grazing just outside the park. Very picturesque.


We're leaving for Jerusalem in a few minutes! Yesterday we went to Masada and the Dead Sea. Very cool.