Joey had asked me to take a shift behind the bar on Friday. He is short on bartenders...
A friend's friend is here from England, for the first time, and they wanted to go hiking on Saturday. Well, if you put the two together you don't come out with too much sleep.
So after working through the night I crashed on Joey's couch for about three hours. Chicha and 8ball (his dogs) were happy for the company.
At 9:00 my friend gave me the wake up call. I was very close to saying "Here's the map, I hope you have fun", but I got up anyway and dragged my ass down to the car. It took us about five minutes of brainstorming until we decided where we were going to fulfill the friend's-friend's desire for an Israeli adventure. Since he is English, we decided the desert would be a good choice.
With My friend behind the wheel and his friend to keep him company- I shut my eyes.
Got down to Sde Boker. There is a good trail there that goes acrross to the other side of the canyon and around the rim and drops down to Ein Akev from the back.
Ein Akev is a great spot- a running spring in the middle of this desert canyon. Took us about 2.5 hours to get there- which is really good time considering FF had never hiked before. What a spot!!! It was a very hot day- not a cloud in the sky, and the look on FF's face after he dove into the pool was worth listening to him complaining about the heat the whole way there. Can't blame the guy though- it was his first time in the desert.
The way back took about an hour and a half in the blasting sun of mid-afternoon. I had my big hat on, but my face still kept getting sunburned. Took me until today to figure out that the white lime-stone cliffs were reflecting the sun... much like how snow reflects the sun when you go skiing (As if I'd know).
FF was not happy on the way up- it was a tough climb- we chose the "short but steep" trail.
When we finaly threw ourselves over the low wall of Ben Guryon's grave-plot- at the final end of the trail, we had the opportunity to show FF another thing that only happens in Israel. A group of young british tourists were there, looking at the scenery. We started talking and after about 30 seconds we found out that the Rabbi of a couple of the girls on the group who also is the good friend of the head of the group used to work at the Bar, and was actually the one that hired my friend. 15 seconds later, the head of the group said "Oh! you're Yoash?! My friend (The Rabbi) gave me your number so you could help me get a table at the bar for the group on Friday night. Haven't had time to call you yet..."
Well, I guess hiking in the desert for 6 hours is good for business after all...
When we finally got to the car and turned on the AC, I pulled my phone out of my bag and turned it on. An SMS from my Dad was waiting for me- "Cong, you're an uncle. Baby was born at 3pm and he is a healthy 3.3kg boy. The proud mother and father are exhausted and well".My friend was all ready to drive me to the hospital that second, but after talking to my sister we realized the hospital kicked everyone home after the end of visiting hours- no exceptions, and I could see the baby the next day. Disappointing but smart.
Not a bad weekend.
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