(Pictures are coming soon- just having a little trouble uploading 100 pictures on Facebook...)
As the bus traveled by the sign that said, "Eilot", I looked around. Where's the water? It looks like we're still in the Negev... this can't be right. The mountains were dry and of light red in color. Cars were covered in dust and sitting under the hot sun. Everywhere I looked as the bus creeped its way through Eilat to the Central Bus Station, everything just looked sleepy. Probably what you'd expect from a place in the desert.
As the bus traveled by the sign that said, "Eilot", I looked around. Where's the water? It looks like we're still in the Negev... this can't be right. The mountains were dry and of light red in color. Cars were covered in dust and sitting under the hot sun. Everywhere I looked as the bus creeped its way through Eilat to the Central Bus Station, everything just looked sleepy. Probably what you'd expect from a place in the desert.
It was hot when I came out of the bus to find my way to the hostel, Beit Aharva. I had reservations for the prior weekend but had to cancel them. I came up with an idea that I might as well ask for a credit of 160 shekels and stay in the dorms for 3 nights at 50 shekels each. Off I went looking for it with my backpack filled with clothes, a towel, and accessories that I would need for the next 3 days. The directions were actually easy once I realized that the hostel had written Ha'amogolanim in one word in English as the English on the street sign was different (Ha Ma'Golanim). Heh, gotta love Israel sometimes.
I wound up arguing and pushing the front desk guy to settle for my deal- I was here already and I hadn't paid this yet, and I might as well get a damn bed. He also might as well have my business and for me to give a good word. After a good 10 minutes of straight talking, he gave in and showed me a locker to store my stuff for the next few hours until he could figure out which bed I'd sleep on in that particular room (each dorm room was made up of 2 bunk beds). I pulled out my smaller knapsack and put some stuff in from my backpack to roam around with for a bit, including water. At this point, I was a little peeved with the whole thing but forced myself to get out there and figure out Eilat's landscape. And it was hot, did I mention that already? I pulled on my Michigan baseball hat *gasp* which wasn't usual of me to do that- actually wear a hat.
I descended down a small hill towards the water a'peeking through several high rise buildings. I saw the airport, built literally right in middle of the place. European tourists came here- if anything, my guidebook said that Europeans vacation here and never see the rest of Israel. That's just incredible but I must admit, with Eilat's remote location and reputation as a beach resort, why make the effort to see the rest of the country? Just like Americans did with Cancun, Mexico. Anyway, I took a stroll along the boardwalk that lined along the water and gawked at ridiculously fancy architecture of several hotels- Hilton's Queen of Sheba, Dan, Herod's Palace, and few others. They were very ornate that I wondered what's with Israeli hotel architecture. It's still a cultural shock for me given that many hotels in the United States were simple in their external design. I glanced over some amazing clothes and jewelry and handbags that jammed in stalls. I wished that someone had told me that I would find all the clothes and jewelry that I would love, then I'd save way more money! I really liked the casual, easy, and drapey style of the dresses and a lot of the jewelry had pretty gem stones, held by leather strings.
The rest of the day consisted of going back to the hostel, confirming my bed, eating the rest of the sandwich from lunch, and reading for a little while. Still jetlagged, I had a lot of trouble falling asleep at night. The fact that I had air-conditioning blowing in my face on the top bunk didn't help much until I turned to the other end of the bed.
In the morning, I woke up around 9ish and got ready to begin my day. I grabbed yogurt granola from a nearby market for breakfast. While waiting for a bus (I was warned that it came every half hour), a cabbie came by and said, "C'mon, the buses are slow! Where do you want to go?" I protested a little and looked in the cabbie's eyes, "Coral Reef, chamah?" "Twenty shekels." Eh, c'mon, it's less than 3 1/2 miles, I could go for fifteen. He said sixteen. Beseder. Then he coaxed another woman to come in the cab with us. She protested and negotiated as well. He gave her fifteen shekels and I said, "Hey! I want my fifteen too!" "Okay, you get fifteen, and you get fifteen, we're all happy!"
He dropped me off at the Coral Reef Observatory and Marine Park. I saw some "rare" fish- I didn't know, I felt that I had seen at least some of the in some aquariums in the U.S.. I crammed between families to watch a scuba diver feed sharks with cut up bits of fish. Interestingly, one of the shark breeds in the tank was supposedly be a man-eater but I supposed that after living in a tank for a while, they realized that the man was their sole provider of food... Then I watched a film, Oceanarium, and sat in moving seats to follow the action of the camera. It was pretty neat that way but nothing too interesting. It wasn't really worth paying another 10 shekels for. Finally, I meandered my way to the famed Underwater Observatory. I climbed down the stairs underwater to see the coral reefs. I couldn't believe my eyes- this was real stuff, no pretty paintings in the backdrop. I could see the descending floor and the fish swimming down there. It was so neat! The coral reefs were just beautiful to see. For a few moments there, I felt as if I was in Ariel's world, the world of the Little Mermaid!
By the way, all the signs here are in Hebrew, English, and Russian. No Arabic.
Even better, after lunch, I walked 10 minutes to the Coral Reef Nature Reserve Park. The only thing you could do was snorkeling! No swimming or anything of that sort. The woman at the desk offered to watch my stuff while I went snorkeling. I had never really snorkeled before but I remembered how my parents described the differences between snorkeling and diving so it took me a little time to figure out how to breathe. I used to breathe through my mouth and I stopped doing it years ago thanks to speech therapy. So it was hard to adjust and I had to practice swimming around a bit. By the way, the water was cold. It was strange because sometimes Tel Aviv's beaches could get fairly warm sometimes in the summer from intense sun rays and I had expected Eilat's waters to be warm by this point.
Once I got used to the tube and googles, I went snorkeling. I almost shirked back when I saw a big fish nibbling at a reef. Whoa, no glass between me and that fish. I felt a little nervous when a school of fish swam past me. Somehow my brain kept thinking that these animals were going to attack me or hit me or something. Nevertheless, the reefs were just breathtaking and I wished that I had a protective case for my camera for underwater photography. If these reefs were only the surface of the entire reef in the Gulf of Eilat, I could not imagine how amazing the reefs down by Sinai must be where a lot of deep dives occur. I hoped that my dad still had his scuba license so he could go diving for a day to see more than these reefs. I swam and snorkeled, much to my surprise, for almost two hours! Then I laid on a bench to dry off my bathing suit. The combination of the heat and sun dried me off in no time- no towels necessary.
I took the bus back to the town. Apparently buses actually run only once an hour. Ridiculous. I saw plenty of cabs but you know, tourists. I walked along the boardwalk once again for a bit. It was getting mighty dark out so I grabbed some take-out sushi on the way back to the hotel. There wasn't really much to eat in town- the real eateries were actually around the boardwalk and hotels. Anyway, the sushi wasn't worth it- they were so tiny....
I woke up from a long night of peaceful sleep, finally, on Thursday morning, ready to see the dolphins! I took a bus to the Dolphin Reef. The driver almost kicked me off because I wasn't ready to pay or something but I yelled at bim a bit, no way I was getting off, and he made a hand motion moving me to the back of the bus. How aggravating.
The Dolphin Reef was an oasis itself with lots of palm trees and wooden structures that reminded me of pictures of the South Seas or like Hawaii. I could choose to snorkel with the dolphins or try my hand at diving. If the fish yesterday made me a bit nervous, then I wasn't ready to deal with the dolphins yet. Besides, it's something I'd like to do with my parents so I wanted to save it for another time. I paid the entrance fee and walked to the observation deck. There, I watched the staff feed the dolphins and give lecture in Hebrew about the dolphins. The last time I remember being close to the dolphins was that fateful day at the Sea World. They didn't come to us visitors so we just made do with watch them play with the staff and in the distance with each other while splashing our feet in the water. Taking pictures of them was hard because they moved unpredictably and quickly. I watched the divers on the shore, preparing for their 20 minute dive with the dolphins down below. I was sure that the dolphins had fun playing with the divers. Afterwards, I peeked in a little room to watch a couple of dolphins films, including an award winning one, and read about each dolphin near the deck. The original pod originated from the Black Sea in cooperation with the Russian Academy of Sciences. They have had several new babies since the late 1990s and the male leader died a few years ago, so no new calves for the time being for this place.
I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. I was very surprised to see fish swimming around there as well! A couple of kids attempted to catch them with their hats but for most part, people swam a bit and laid on their floating toys. The water was very calm as opposed to the coast since the wind was coming from the north, driving the waves in the other direction. I just sat there, staring out to the blue sea with the dusty red mountains of Jordan in the back. My mind was truly at peace. I could think of nothing. My brain was routinely overactive that it's difficult for me to find a place or time that truly quiet it, put it in position where it just fail to comprehend an idea or a thought.
Before leaving, I went back on the deck to watch the dolphins some more. It was peaceful to watch them play and swim. What I noticed was that they loved touch- they're always close to each other. It would be problematic to see a lone dolphin. I wonder how they worked for the deaf and blind in terms of providing therapy.
I hailed a cab back but the *gasp* woman driver refused to negotiate so we used the meter. Good thing I bargained the day before- Dolphin Reef was quite bit closer than Coral Reef so I got a big deal with the other cab driver. When I arrived at the boardwalk, I took a stroll, once again, just to see what I wanted to buy. I was so tempted that I had little idea of what I really wanted to buy. So I bought a bag for 20 shekels while figuring out how much I wanted that beach dress for 80 shekels. I treated myself to a good dinner of salmon steak in a dairy fish restaurant. It got dark quickly again so I made my way back to the hostel. The shopping would have to wait until the morning. Maybe by then I would come up with something else to buy.
On the last day, I had a little time.... and I was in pain with sunburns in areas that had been covered by my running shorts when I got my first layer of tan in San Francisco. Owwww.... maybe that sundress would be good for the skin. I tucked in my tank (which I never, ever did) to protect the skin from my shorts and that was better anyway. I bought some aloe vera at a drugstore before going anywhere. As for shopping, well, I ended up with a necklace with a gemstone. The seller was awfully nice that I was sorry to be off quickly to catch my bus back to Tel Aviv. He asked about my CI and apologized for asking and I told him that I was 23 years old and I lived with that all my life, so no big deal.
The bus ride back to Tel Aviv seemed a little faster than usual. It was a good thing that I bought my round trip ticket as it appeared that it's really recommended to buy a return ticket as the bus was full (as well as the previous bus that whizzed by me when I went to get the aloe vera). I wound up sitting next to some French snob who didn't want to share her seat and told me to move back when she saw my ticket. I got really annoyed because for god's sakes, the rest of the damn bus was full! Then an Israeli saw my ticket and pointed out to that empty seat and a couple of other Israelis motioned for me to sit there while the woman looked away and avoided my glare. Again, gotta love this country.
I was almost kind of sad to be leaving Eilat, it was a paradise in a way. I need more beach vacations, like to Fuji or Hawaii. As long I'm in my 20s and still a student, I can still get those student travel deals to those places for cheap. And my Michigan student ID doesn't expire until 2013 anyway.
As for the hostel? They waived the 160 shekel reservation fee and charged me 150 shekels. I told them if I see the first charge on my credit card bill, I would call them. And when I looked at my credit card bill hours later, they stood by their word. Thumbs up for Beit Aharva then.
No comments:
Post a Comment