Eilat

Ahhh Eilat.. So much to tell. We started our journey.. 6 am.. Meet at the bus. We were told to be dressed to hike, with 3 liters of water. That was an understatement, should have brought 10! After a 4 hour ride we reached what we thought was Eilat... not quite. We jumped out of the bus ready to start the day with a lovely hike… umm more of a Ready to HIKE kind of hike. Peaking I’m guessing very close to 100 degrees weather... mountains, rocks, ladders and ropes (that Moses and Abraham put there according to my comedian of a roommate)

It was far more than exhilarating, exhausting, and a thousand times more than AMAZING... We had 2 choices as we stepped into the heat... Lazy hike or HIKE HIKE, I obviously chose the HIKE HIKE, (Yariv. I’m thinking is definitely super-human was guiding it, easy choice) and they weren’t lying. I can’t vividly explain the beauty of it... just picture nothing but endless enormous mountain ranges, walking on huge pebbles, rocks, and gravel, sliding down ropes that reached 60 feet at the least, one slip and I would be rolling down hiiiills. Suddenly after a 4 hour sweat of magical, uphill death we saw the Red Sea perch through a valley of huge orange mountains. BREATHTAKING! I won’t lie at times my legs trembled at the thought of slipping off the ropes, and ladders and my fear of falling down huuuge hills in the desert crept up a few times, but I did it... and felt proud.

5 hour hike

Team Strap On

Desert

Well we ended the hike, red faced, famished, soaked head to toe in sweat, with utmost accomplishment and a huge smile. Legs feeling like Jell-O, we made our way to our bus and within 30 minutes reached Eilat.

Eilat... Israelis southernmost city. To put it in the fewest words.. Take your imagination and picture Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Tijuana, Great Barrier Reef, house music wherever you go, and blistering HEAT.

Driving into Eilat is EXACLTY as if you were driving into Las Vegas, miles and miles of desert and POOF to the distance you see a stretch of ritzy hotels. The only difference -- well its def NOT Vegas, this is after all in Israel. There is a LUXOR which we all joked about, which ended up being a triangular pyramid: an IMAX, and unlike Vegas there were no fake girlies and rich dudes trying to throw money around, well maybe but not an obvious amount, instead its filled with skinny Isrealis showing off their bods in itty bity speedos, or well.. in most cases underwear.
The city is comparable to Palms Springs because of the HEAT, and desert, making you beg for a quick jump in the pool kind of place... which luckily was one of our hotel amenities. The fluorescent HEINEKEN, SMINRNOFF and random light signs all over the place remind me of Mexico, as well as the random kiosks at the street market blasting house music.

Oh I can't neglect to mention the endless choices of slushy's wherever you go, every flavor imaginable, puts 7-11 to shame!

Eilats Reef is comparable to the Great Barrier Reef however set behind the Jordan mountain range. Eilat is home to the most BEAUTIFUL wonders of the sea. It holds an insanely majestic underwater haven. Rainbow colored fish, little, big and beautiful sea creatures swim right by you, in turquoise coral filled, chill waters, unbelievable. It’s the kind of place you pause and stare at for a while, capturing the memory and saving it close to your heart. A few of us took a caby to the coral reef, 30 sheks later we were face to face with natures wonder. I frolicked in the water with mask and snorkel and loved every second. Next time im going diving! Does it count that I followed the divers and swam over their bubbles that resembled huge jellyfish... and poked at them like I was a five-year-old kid super exited about BUBBLES.

Coral Reef

Reef

Well there’s no question that Eilat is beautiful. One thing that pretty much made this trip was our sunrise hike. After the 5 hours up and down our first hike, I was one of the few that signed up for the sunrise hike. There we were ready to play in the city and they asked us... “Who’s in for waking up at 4 am and hiking to welcome the sunrise?” Party, or witness nature at its best... An obvious answer for me... we went out for probably an hour at most and were so proud to be in bed to make it... OOOOPS, our alarm didn’t go off; we woke up to a phone call at 3:58 am... you guys coming??? JUMPED out of bed, threw on some clothes, no water or even hair tie... but full of energy ready for a leisure, pleasure-full hike... hmmm pleasure I did receive from the accomplishment, but what I thought would be an easy hike was far from it. AHHHH climbing up hills that were almost sky high, dodging camel poop in the pitch black sky… not easy but there is no doubt in the world I am thankful for partaking in the adventure. We got to guide ourselves through the stars, where our trip leader pointed out Mars and Venus... GORGOUES BRIGHT STARS that could probably light up a village, balancing on rocks, climbing up hills, and alas... after an hour… the most unbelievable view... There we were in the middle of an oasis, all we saw were a mixture of yellow, red and orange mountains, the stretch of the Red Sea, not to mention the borders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt peaking in the distance, all while sitting on an Israeli mountain... Pictures can’t capture the beauty but it was truly magical. I was so thankful to be purely lost in nature. I can’t think of a better way to begin a day.

Sunrise Hike

Egypt from a distance

Good Morning Sun

Ibex

The rest of the weekend was a blast... we ended our hike at the peak of the ocean, where we were greeted with an insanely delicious breakfast buffet at the hotel. Later played in the pool where our lifeguard was part lifeguard part DJ, part creeper.

Playtime in Our Room

Lindsay and I.. not sure where I was looking

Overall three blissful days spent.

Thank you Eilat..

We had a not so fab (6-ish hour bus treck home) back to Tel-Aviv. I woke up the next morning, feeling worked out, bronzed and couldn’t think of anything better than jumping into the Mediterranean, went for an AM swim and well now I’m here writing this at a café... on Shenkin...eating a delightful salad with teriyaki (or the Israeli version of teriyaki chicken.. not too tastey) and sipping on a lunchtime glass of chardonnay.. Please forgive me that it’s not red Jawgy Jhana.

LIFE IS TRULY BEAUTIFUL.

Le’chaim. (To-life)