Mimi Koenig on the Cretaceous Period to David Ben Gurion in the South

Mimi Koenig (blog author)
Makhtesh Raman

Today was the most intensely tiring day of the trip so far. To begin with, wake up was at 6:30, which was just about as difficult as it sounds. We then had tefillot (torah reading day!), breakfast, then shortly after departed for the Negev town of Sde Boker. We hiked a short way, saw wild ibex, and then arrived at David and Paula Ben Gurion’s graves. The view from the site overlooking the Zin Valley was incredible. While Ilan taught us a brief history of Ben Gurion’s dream of the development of southern Israel, another tour group from Japan assembled around the site. There, they presented us with, what was in my opinion, the highlight of not only the day, but of the trip so far (apart from the tomato farm): they began to sing Hatikvah, which resonated with me and the rest of the group in an amazing show of unity across cultures. Danny then proceeded to introduce himself to their tour leaders and infiltrate their group photo, which was hilarious.

Learning about millions of years of rock formations
Ein Avdat 

We then got back on the bus and made our way to the site of our next hike at Ein Avdat. There we began our “simple and super easy hike.” It was actually kind of difficult, and I was roasted by Andrew at the top for being out of breath, which I really enjoyed! We then headed to the supermarket in Mitzpe Ramon to experience the feeling of everyday Israeli life. We then headed to the Mitzpe Ramon Visitor Center to learn about the life of Ilan Ramon and the geological formation of the makhtesh (“crater”). After some educational videos, we enjoyed the view and went rappelling a short distance down the mountain. I was incredibly slow going down the face of the mountain, partially due to the fact that I lost my footing trying to get over the edge and promptly saw my life flash before my eyes. After that harrowing yet somehow equally amusing experience, we returned to our kibbutz lodging for some down time before dinner. Some of us went to the pool, while others tried to catch up on sleep in the hopes that by the time we wake up on Wednesday to hike Masada; where we’ll only be partially wiped from sleep exhaustion as opposed to completely rundown. We then ate dinner, listened to the plan for the coming days and ended the day by doing a short activity based on reliving the first four days of the trip through weird skits and incredible haikus (my group).

Mimi Koenig

Mashabei Sadeh,
Western Negev, Israel