Our first full day
Trip Start
May 26, 2008
1
2
18
Trip End
Jun 13, 2008
Mitzpe Ramon, Israel
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
We started off with a morning hike at Ein Avdat in the Negev dessert. That's the southern tip of Israel. We hiked in a canyon that had been carved by water many eons ago. Now there is only a tiny spring of water left. Our guide, Nitzan, has her degree in geography and geology, so we got a very thorough story of the canyon and the desert.
After the Ein Avdat hike, we went to meet 8 Israeli soldiers who would be traveling with us for the next 5 days. No, they were not for more security. The Taglit Birthright program includes what they call "migfash," were the students from the US meet young Israelis and travel together. The idea of course is a two-way exchange of friendship and information. Since military service is mandatory, the Israelis our age are all soldiers in the Israeli Defense Force. Since we are a 22+ birthright group, they paired us with a group of officers (who would be older then the new recruits-- Israelis generally perform their required military service before going to university). We went with the soldiers to a lookout over Ramon Crater. This is not a crater formed by some sort of meteor impact, rather it is created by erosion. Rare geological circumstances are needed to create this, and there are only 5 in the world-- 3 in Israel, out of all 5 Ramon is the biggest.
